Ephesians Series: Ephesians 2:11a-Gentile Christians Must Remember God Brought Them Near to Himself and Israel Despite Their Unregenerate State

Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands—2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (NET)

Now, Ephesians 2:11 begins with the command mnēmoneuete hoti pote hymeis ta ethnē en sarki (μνημονεύετε ὅτι ποτὲ ὑμεῖς τὰ ἔθνη ἐν σαρκί), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of remembering that formerly each and every one of you as a corporate unit who belong to the Gentile race with respect to the human body.” (Author’s translation)

A comparison of the contents of Ephesians 2:12-13 with this command and the rest of the contents of Ephesians 2:11 indicates that Paul is commanding these Gentile Christians who were called “uncircumcision” by the Jews and possessed absolutely no relationship with God or His covenant people Israel were to remember that they were brought near to God and His covenant people Israel by the blood of Christ.

This took place because of their faith in Christ at justification and their union and identification with Christ despite the fact that they possessed absolutely no relationship whatsoever with God or His covenant people, Israel.

The second person plural present active imperative conjugation of the verb mnēmoneuō(μνημονεύω), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit must make it your habit of remembering” pertains to recalling information repeatedly from memory but without necessarily implying that the thing has actually been forgotten.

Therefore, this verb indicates that Paul is requesting that the recipients of this epistle, who he identifies as Gentile Christians, to remember or recall that they were brought near to God and His covenant people, Israel by the blood of Christ because of their faith in Christ at justification and union and identification with Christ.

The implication is that they were taught in the past by Paul and their pastors that they were brought near to God and His covenant people, Israel by the blood of Christ because of their faith in Christ at justification and union and identification with Christ.

There are several reasons why Paul issues this command to the recipients of this letter who we noted he identifies in Ephesians 2:11 as Gentile Christians.

First, it is designed to promote unity among the Gentile and Jewish Christian communities or in other words, the purpose of this command was to maintain unity experientially between these two communities.

The implication is that they would not enter into divisions so as to sever their fellowship with each other.

This unity would be maintained experientially when these Gentile Christians practice the love of God when interacting with members of the Jewish Christian community and this we noted in our introduction is the main purpose for the contents of this entire epistle.

This is indicated by the fact that Paul opens the practical application of his teaching in the first three chapters by commanding the recipients of the letter to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in Ephesians 4:3.

This would be accomplished by living in a manner worthy of their calling and by practicing humility, gentleness, patience and tolerance of one another through the practice of the command to love one another, which Paul instructs them to do in Ephesians 4:1-2.

Thus, motivation to practice the command to love another is the second reason for this command in Ephesians 2:11.

They are obligated to do so because God the Father exercised His love on behalf of them when they were spiritually dead and possessing absolutely no relationship with Him or His covenant people, Israel.

The third reason for this command in Ephesians 2:11 is to keep the Gentile Christians humble by preventing them from being arrogant in relation to their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ.

If God treated them according to His grace policy when they were spiritually dead and possessing absolutely no relationship with Him and His covenant people Israel, they should remain humble and not be arrogant towards those in the Jewish Christian community who do possess a covenant relationship with God.

Again, they are obligated to treat their brothers and sisters in Christ in the Jewish community according to this same grace and love because God exercised His grace and love toward them when they were not His covenant people and possessed absolutely no relationship with Him whatsoever.

The fourth reason why Paul issues this command in Ephesians 2:11 is to promote thankfulness to God on the part of these Gentile Christians and they should always express their gratitude to the Father for the great deliverance He provided them through faith in His Son Jesus Christ and their union and identification with Him.

Thus, they should live their lives in a manner which reflects this new relationship that they have with God the Father through their union and identification with His Son, Jesus Christ, which they received through the baptism of the Spirit the moment the Father declared them justified through faith in His Son.

The fifth and final reason that Paul issues this command in Ephesians 2:11 is so that these Gentile Christians will ultimately praise the Father for His glorious grace policy which He exercised towards them when they were spiritually dead and possessed absolutely no relationship with Him and His covenant people Israel.

If you recall, Paul in Ephesians 1:3-6 asserts that the Father is worthy of praise because He elected both Gentile and Jewish Christians by predestinating them to adoption as sons because of their faith in His Son Jesus Christ at justification as well as their union and identification with Him.

Now, here in Ephesians 2:11-13, Paul wants these Gentile Christians to praise the Father for His glorious grace policy which He manifested when He declared them justified through faith in His Son and simultaneously made them alive together with His Son, which echoes Ephesians 2:5.

If you recall, in Ephesians 2:6, Paul defines being made alive together with His Son as being identified with Him in His resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand.

The referent of the second person plural form of this verb mnēmoneuō (μνημονεύω), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit must make it your habit of remembering” is Gentile Christians.

This is indicated by the hoti (ὅτι) direct object hoti pote hymeis ta ethnē en sarki (ὅτι ποτὲ ὑμεῖς τὰ ἔθνη ἐν σαρκί), “that formerly each and everyone of you as a corporate who belong to the Gentile race of people with respect to the human body” (Author’s translation), which modifies it.

The second person plural form of this verb means “each and every one of you” because it is not only referring to these Gentile Christians as a corporate unit but it is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

The latter emphasizes that “each and every one of” these Gentile Christians must remember that they were brought near to God and His covenant people Israel by the blood of Christ because of their faith in Christ at justification and union and identification with Christ.

The present imperative conjugation of this verb mnēmoneuō (μνημονεύω) is the only verb in the imperative conjugation in the first three chapters of Ephesians.

Here in Ephesians 2:11 the present imperative conjugation is “not” an ingressive-progressive present imperative, which emphasizes both the inception and progress of an action commanded.

The implication is that the command was issued but not obeyed or it was never given to the recipients of this command.

Therefore, this would express the idea that these Gentile Christians were “to enter into the habit of” remembering that they were brought near to God and His covenant people Israel by the blood of Christ because of their faith in Christ at justification and union and identification with Christ and must “continue doing so.”

The implication is that they were issued this command before but were not obeying it or they never received this command in the first place.

I interpret the present imperative conjugation of this verb mnēmoneuō (μνημονεύω) as a customary present imperative whose force is for these Gentile Christians to simply “continue making it their habit of” performing the action of this verb.

Therefore, it indicates that these Gentile Christians as the subject were “to continue making it their habit of” remembering that they were brought near to God and His covenant people Israel by the blood of Christ because of their faith in Christ at justification and union and identification with Christ.

This interpretation of the present imperative is supported by the contents of this epistle, which do not give any indication whatsoever that these Gentile Christians were not already doing this.

Nor is it implied within the contents of this letter that they never received this command in the past to execute.

The meaning of the verb itself implies that they were taught in the past that they were brought near to God and His covenant people by the blood of Christ because of their faith in Christ at justification and union and identification with Christ.