Ephesians 2:12

“that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

“Gentile Christians needed to remember five major conditions in which they formerly lived. They were Christ-less, stateless, homeless, hopeless, and Godless” (Caldwell p. 90). “In Romans he had listed Jewish privileges (Ephesians 9:3-5); here he lists Gentiles disabilities” (Stott p. 95). “At that time”: Before they became Christians. “Separate from Christ”: Hence cut off from "all spiritual blessings" (Ephesians 1:3). Which also means that being "in Christ" is conditioned upon man doing something. Christ would die for all men, but that didn't mean that everyone was automatically saved in Christ.

While the Jews had the hope of. Messiah to sustain them, even during the most trying times, the Gentiles did not have any such hope. While it was God's plan to bless all the families of the earth through Christ, the Gentiles either knew little or cared little about all of this. “Alienated”: To be estranged, an alien, or. non-participant. “From the common wealth of Israel”: “Shut out from the citizenship of Israel” (TCNT). “Utter strangers to God's chosen community, Israel” (Phi). Israel constituted God's chosen people (Exodus 2:7; Exodus 2:5; Psalms 147:20; Amos 2:2). From this relationship other nations were excluded (Deuteronomy 7:1). “Gentiles were specifically prohibited from joining that society and enjoying those privileges except through proselytization” (Caldwell p. 91). Even the God-fearing and respected Cornelius (Acts 10:1; Acts 10:22), found himself excluded from Jewish circles (Ephesians 10:28). “Strangers from the covenants”: “The several renewals of God's covenant with the patriarchs” (Vincent p. 377). “Of the promise”: That being the promise given to Abraham (Genesis 12:1). Even though the promise to Abraham included the "nations", the Gentiles did not know that and really didn't seem too interested in learning about it (Romans 1:18 ff). Most Jews would have rejected such an interpretation. “Having no hope”: “You had nothing to look forward to” (Phi). “Having no real hope, no objective basis of hope. Whatever the Gentiles subjectively hoped for after death had no reality, rested on air, would never be realized” (Lenski p. 434).

“The Jewish view of history was essentially optimistic. On the other hand, for the Gentile history was going nowhere. To the Stoics history was cyclic. They believed that it went on for three thousand years; then came. conflagration in which the whole universe was consumed in flames; then the whole process began all over again, and the same events and the same people exactly repeated themselves” (Barclay p. 108). “The absence of hope in the face of death is amply attested in the literature and epigraphy of the Graeco-Roman world of that day” (Bruce p. 294). People do not like the term, but the truth is that people outside of Christ are "hopeless". There is no hope for the person who dies outside of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13).. while back. ran into the following article which mentions some of the dying words of people who tried to live without acknowledging God: “Ingersoll: ‘O God, if there be. God, save my soul, if. have. soul, from hell, if there be. hell'. Caesar Borgia: ‘While. lived,. provided for everything but death; now. must die and am unprovided to die'. Voltaire: ‘I am abandoned by God and man;. will give you half of what. am worth, if you will give me six month's life', he said to the doctor treating him. When told it could not be done, he continued, ‘Then. shall die and go to hell'. Sir Thomas Scott: ‘Until this moment. thought there was neither. God nor. hell. Now. know and feel there are both, and. am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty'” [Note:. 'Dying Words of Atheists'. Wallace H. Little. Gospel Anchor.]

“And without God in the world”: The Greek word rendered "without God", is where we get the English word "atheist". “And no God to whom you could turn” (Phi). The Gentiles had many gods in which they professed belief but they were all false. The city of Athens was full of idols (Acts 17:16). Hence. powerful truth is taught here, being religious is not the same as being "with God". The ancient world was full of religious people (1 Corinthians 8:5), religious people who were "without the one true God". No other God exists, except the God who authored the Bible. Caldwell makes. good point when he says, “Not all their former condition was due to Jewish pride and exclusion. They were not. part of God's chosen people, that is true, but the nations had excluded themselves by their own determination to turn their backs on the one true God through lack of faith” (pp. 92-93). Compare with Romans 1:18. This same condition is basically true of all non-Christians in our time: “And we ourselves in our pre-Christian days, it is necessary to add, were in exactly the same plight. Now the Apostle says ‘Therefore remember' (verse 11), and again ‘remember' (verse 12). There are some things which Scripture tells us to forget, but there is one thing in particular which we are commanded to remember and never to forget. This is what we were before God's love reached down and found us. For only if we remember our former alienation (distasteful as some of it may be to us), shall we be able to remember the greatness of the grace which forgave and is transforming us” (Stott p. 96).

Christ made the difference