Paul wanted them to understand all that God had done for them. They were Gentiles who had no hope of knowing God, but now they were near to God through the blood of Jesus.
Read Ephesians 2:11-13
A long time ago, God had told Abraham to mark himself and his boys as a sign of his relationship with God. This mark was called circumcision. All Jewish boys are marked this way. When Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians, most non-Jewish people (Gentiles) were not circumcised. So, the Circumcised Jewish men called the Gentile men the Uncircumcised. Not only were Gentiles not marked, they also did not have the Bible or a relationship with God. Paul wanted them to remember how amazing it was for them to have become Christians since they had been so far away from God.
Before God changed them, they had three problems: (1) They were separated from God by their sins. (2) They were foreigners who did not know Israel—the people who knew God. (3) They were strangers to God’s covenants of promises. Because of this, they had no hope and were living without God in the world. But these problems had been solved in Christ Jesus. Because Jesus bled and died for their sins, these Gentile people had been brought near to God.
- What mark did every Jewish boy have to show he was one of God’s chosen people?
- True or False: Gentile boys are circumcised when they are little.
- Before they became Christians, what three problems did the Ephesians have?
a. They were ______________________ from God.
b. They did not know _________________________.
c. They were ___________________________ to God’s promises. - Who solved these problems for the Ephesians?
- What did he do that brought the Ephesians close to God?
