Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 2:11

"Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands;" — Ephesians 2:11 (ASV)

“Therefore” refers back not simply to v.10 but to the entire paragraph (vv.1– 10), which presents a single sentence in the Greek text. Second-generation Gentile Christians, such as those now emerging, were apt to forget their former disadvantages. They had been and indeed still were “the Gentiles”: the article specifies the underprivileged group to which they belonged. They were nonJews or pagans so far as their physical descent was concerned. The rest of the verse elaborates on the distinction by citing the contemptuous nickname attached to them by the Jews: “uncircumcised.” Paul does not himself use it in a derogatory manner: he simply reports its use. As a Jew, however, he points out that the self-styled circumcisionists have nothing to boast about, since an external man-made mark in itself holds no spiritual significance. Real circumcision is of the heart (Galatians 5:6). Physical circumcision used to be a token of the covenant, but its function ceased when redemption was accomplished in Christ.