Ephesians 2:19

Now therefore ye He now turns direct to the Gentile believers, and rejoicingly recounts to them the actual grandeur of their privileges in grace.

no more as you once were. See on Ephesians 2:12 above. The finished work of Christ, realized by accepting faith, has entirely broken for them the old régime.

strangers "to the covenants of the Promise;" Ephesians 2:12.

foreigners In secular matters, the word would mean a resident alien, a non-naturalized foreigner; liable to legal removal at any moment, e.g.on outbreak of war. If such a word were true of Gentile Christians, they would be merely toleratedsojourners, as it were, in the "city" of Messianic light and mercy, without any claim to abide. The glorious contrary was the case. "If they were Christ's, they were Abraham's seed, and heirs[of the Gospel Canaan] according to Promise" (Galatians 3:29).

but Insert, with MSS., ye are, after this word; an additional emphasis of assertion.

fellowcitizens Cp. Galatians 4:26; Philippians 3:20 (Greek); Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 11:16; Revelation 3:12, &c.

the saints "Not angels, nor Jews, nor Christians then alivemerely, but the saints of God in the widest sense all members of the mystical body of Christ" (Alford). See further on the word, note on Ephesians 1:1.

of the household Members of the family, kinsfolk. So the word always means in N. T. (Gal 6:10; 1 Timothy 5:8; here;) and LXX. The idea is not of domestic service, but of the "child at home." In the deepest sense the Gentile believer, once "far off" in both position and condition, is now at homewith his Living Father in Christ.