Covenantal Hope
20th of September, 2026
Ephesians 2:11-13
Elder Matthew McGimpsey
Audio Sermon:
*The below transcript was generated and formatted by AI and may not accurately represent the recording.
All right, if you have a Bible with you, turn it, if you can, to the Epistle to the Ephesians as we return there. We’ll be in chapter 2, verses 11 to 13 tonight. But just as a sort of recap, seeing as it has been a couple of months since we were last here, I do apologize for that.
Just as a reminder of where Paul has gone in this epistle so far: Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, has begun in chapter one by reminding the church in Ephesus of their supreme and spiritual blessings found in Christ. He has spent a number of verses showing them that in Christ they have excellent blessings that far outweigh any others, that are ultimately found in Christ alone. And knowing that they are supremely blessed, he moved on to reminding them and encouraging them of their faith and of their love towards the saints. And in these things he prayed that they would know Christ, that they would further know him, know him as the source of their marvelous inheritance, their salvation, to know his great love toward them, to know how he is seated in authority and power and dominion over the world today.
And then in chapter 2, we had a little bit of a change-up. After that, we saw in the first 10 verses—a couple of months ago we looked at this—we saw as he turns, that he was reminding them of what they were. He’s explained to them in chapter one how greatly blessed they are, and in chapter 2 he wants to remind them of what they were. And one of the reasons he’s done this is to remind them that these great blessings come from one source and one source only. They come from Christ. These are not the works of man; these blessings are not to be found in them alone. And so this is stated to them in the first 10 verses of chapter 2, reminding them that they were dead in their sins, and one who is dead, being able to do nothing else, could do nothing against that. But in verse 4, we are reminded, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” So these great blessings, these wonderful excellencies we have in Christ, these are the works of Christ alone.
And so as we continue and find ourselves in verses 11 to 13 this evening, Paul is very much doing a similar thing with a slightly different focus. They have been reminded of their spiritual death in the first 10 verses and the life that they needed in Christ. Well, now, knowing that Ephesus is not primarily a Jewish place—this is a church that was primarily filled with Gentiles—he begins to remind them of what they once were in separation from God covenantally.
Now, if you’ve read through the Scriptures in their entirety, you will know that a significant chunk of it is primarily addressed to Israel, to God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel. In fact, the majority of the Scriptures, at least initially, seem to be addressed primarily to these people. If you’ve ever split the Bible between Old Testament and New Testament, you will know that the Old Testament is, in size at least, far greater than the New Testament. And this nation is first talked about in only the 12th chapter of the whole Bible, and so we get a significant chunk of the scriptures which are addressed to these people.
And we may ask, in the 21st century, in the nation of New Zealand, does this actually matter? Does this have any effect to us? I mean, when Paul wrote these words, reminding them that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, he is writing this merely a generation or so after Christ walked the earth, after the time where the Jewish people knew they themselves were God’s chosen people at this point, that they knew that by their outward nature they were set apart. And yet we find, in both the nature of what is being said in these verses and in the principles that go along with it, that this is both impactful to us today and reminds us of many solid biblical truths.
And so, as I shared earlier in the encouraging chat, I have three main focuses tonight. The first one is the focus of remembrance, which Paul mentions twice in these verses. We will then move on to an acknowledgement that comes out of what we remember, and then finally we will look at the hope that we receive.
Remembrance
So let us first delve into remembrance. So what is Paul asking us to remember? What is Paul asking the Christians in Ephesus to remember? Well, the first thing he reminds them of is this: “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision.”
So he’s reminding them firstly that they are Gentiles. And as we’ve seen with most of the scripture being addressed to the Jewish nation, Gentiles basically just means anyone who is not a Jew. If you are not a Jew, then you are a Gentile. And so he’s reminding the church there that they are Gentiles, and they were Gentiles in the flesh. He is reminding them that of God’s covenant promises that he’s given throughout history, that at one point they were not the recipients of this, at least outwardly. They were outwardly not considered God’s people.
You see, it was a great point of pride at this point in time for the Jewish nation that they were God’s chosen people. And to some degree, that’s fair, and rightfully so. I mean, if we are God’s chosen people, as they were called, then that is something to rejoice in. But for them, it was something to, even more so, to lord it over—that to be a Gentile was to be dirty, to be a Gentile was to be unclean.
You see, the Jewish people were given the law, and we read a little bit about the law in our Belgic Confession. They were given the law, and the law showed them how they were to present themselves as clean before God and toward others. And they were given an extensive list of rules on how they were to live, how they were to present themselves as holy and righteous, how they were to be seen as God’s people. And one of these was that they were to be circumcised. And the Gentiles—they were called the uncircumcision. They were unclean, for they had not been given the marks of cleanliness as the Jews did. And therefore, the Gentiles who did none of this were unclean. They were uncircumcised. They did not keep the law of God.
And we see how this plays out. Acts 10: We have an account of a Gentile. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. A Gentile. And yet it says in verse 2, “He was a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.” Well, he was visited by an angel, and he seeks after Peter, and Peter has a vision of these animals coming down. He sees the great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners, and it contained all kinds of animals, and he’s told to rise, kill, and eat. And Peter says, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” You see, the Jews had these laws around what they were supposed to eat, what they were allowed to touch and eat. Peter says, “I won’t do it. These are unclean.” And God says, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” And this happens three times. And he goes and meets with Cornelius, and his eyes are opened to the reality of what the dream’s trying to say. See, the Jews considered the Gentiles unclean, and God is telling Peter, “Do not call unclean what I have declared to be clean.” So when he goes and has a meal with Cornelius, which is something that would be shunned by his people, he’s showing that God is doing something here. He is beginning to show that even the Gentiles can be seen as clean. And yet for the Jews, this is a weird and wild thing for them to think about, because if we are to be clean by the laws that God has given our people, and the Gentiles don’t keep them, well, then how can they be clean is their idea.
And so we’re supposed to remember that at one time, we are Gentiles in the flesh—that outwardly there is this idea that we are unclean, that outwardly we are uncircumcised, as it says. Called the uncircumcision. And circumcision is no small thing. This was one of the sacraments given to God’s people in the old covenant. This was one of the sacraments. And so we are to remember that at one time, we are without the sacraments of God, for we were uncircumcised. And God gave His sacraments to His people as a reminder of His grace to them, but also as a mark to show them as God’s people. Now, we know these days this is not circumcision for us. But at this time, for the Jews, we must be reminded that this is the first century. This is at the time where Christianity has just really been fully exploded through Christ and then his apostles coming out of Judaism. And so the Gentiles are reminded that they are without the sacraments of God. They are without the God-given marks to set them apart as God’s people. God’s marks were not given primarily to the Gentiles. Now, there are laws and things that God instituted even in the old covenant of how this was supposed to play out if Gentiles were brought into the covenant community. You see, if there were males that were not by birth Jews, but they were brought into the covenant community, they were supposed to also be circumcised. They were supposed to be given the mark to be set apart. But for Gentiles such as those living in Ephesus, they did not have this. They were not seen outwardly as God’s people because they were not given the marks that God has given His people.
And if we are not given the sacraments of God, well, then we are without the grace of God too. You see, the sacraments are God’s way, or at least in part it is God giving His people marks of grace. It is God giving His people signs of His care and love and grace toward them. And so without the sacrament, we don’t have that outward sign of God’s grace upon us. No sacrament is almost synonymous with saying no grace, which no grace means that they are separated from God. And so the way that the circumcision, as he says, by what is called the circumcision, by referring to them as the uncircumcision, they are effectively saying, “You do not have God’s sacramental sign upon you. You have not received God’s blessing and favor upon you. You are not God’s people.” And so the Gentiles are supposed to remember that in this manner, they do not appear or they do not show themselves to be God’s people.
But if you’ll notice in verse 11, everything that’s mentioned here is mentioned with a very specific caveat. We see, “Remember that you were Gentiles in the flesh.” We see, “You are called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.” We see that these are mere physical realities that he is referring to, that these are the outward signs, which may have an inward purpose, but these are the mere outward signs that are being talked about. You are Gentiles merely in the flesh. You are uncircumcised, which is made in the flesh by hands. And so as we’ve seen that the Jews took these outward signs and almost lauded it over others, we see that these are merely outward things that the Gentiles were missing out on. And so it would be wrong of us, with the benefit of hindsight and looking back, to say that this was the case that God would not love them or would not show grace toward them, for they had not received the outward blessing. I mean, we see it all throughout the Old Testament, there are examples and encounters with those who are Gentiles, who are blessed by God, welcomed into the covenant community by God, and even mentioned—there are some who are mentioned in the genealogies of Christ. We see that with Ruth, for example. Ruth is not a Jew, and yet she returned with Naomi, married Boaz, and she is mentioned by name in the genealogies of Christ. Therefore, we are reminded, in part, that it is not merely the outward workings of what we do, whether those things are right or wrong, which tie us to God. You see, we can take the sacraments, we can have the Lord’s Supper, we can have baptism, we can benefit from these things. But if these things are merely outward things, then they are of no value to us.
And so what does it look like to remember as 21st-century Gentiles? What does it look like to remember? Because I would hazard a guess that for the majority of you, you are not being called the uncircumcision by the circumcision. I imagine for the majority of you, you are not being referred to or shunned for being a Gentile. Now, if you are, I’m sorry, but I just imagine that that’s likely not the case for the large majority of us. So perhaps we don’t have to remember that as they did. But what is Paul getting them to remember? He’s getting them to remember what they were before what they are. He’s writing to a church, he’s writing to believers, and he’s instructing them to remember what they were. We saw that in chapter 2:1, as he looked at this focus: you were dead. You must know what you were, so that you can more fully comprehend what you are. And so now in a covenantal sense, he’s reminding them, “Remember that at one time, you Gentiles.” He’s reminding them, “You were separated from the covenant of God.” And so we are to remember that this is the case for us. That our hope, as we’ll get to, in Christ, is that He welcomes us into His covenant. And so we are to remember that in our sin, we separate ourselves from God, and then in Christ, He brings us back. But we’ll focus on what we were—that we have separated ourselves from God by living sinful lives. We have separated ourselves from God by rejecting Him in favor of all manners of wickedness. And yes, we can say even of those who are raised in covenantal communities, that yes, there is the wonderful blessing that you receive, and we are covenantal in that we receive the sign of baptism, and we give it to our children. We say, “Our children belong in the community of God. They belong to Christ.” And we hope as they grow, that they realize that for themselves. But this is not an opportunity to lord it over anyone else. You see, you are not better for being raised in the church. Yes, you may be better off, but you yourselves are not better. As with anybody in this world, apart from one, that is Christ, just as anybody, we all are in sin. And we’ll look further at that later, but what that really means is we all are in sin, and separated from God by this sin, and require ourselves to humble ourselves before him that we may be united to him. And so we must remember ourselves how we alienated ourselves from him.
Acknowledgement
And so let’s look at verse 12, and we are to remember, and there are some things as well that we are going to not just remember, but we are going to acknowledge. So now we’re looking at this: they are to remember, and they’re to continue remembering, and there are some things that they must acknowledge to be true.
In verse 12: “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
So the first thing we are to remember and acknowledge is that we were without Christ, that we were separated from Christ. So looking back upon the time before you came to know Christ, you must think: what was life like? How was life different? When you were living purely for self, how was life different? Well, I’m sure you probably took great pleasure in much of the world. I’m sure there were many things that you found of great value that you now look back upon and say, “Those things are worthless.” Many sins that you look back upon and think, “Oh, how could I even do that?” It’s not merely that you are now righteous by your own doing. The issue that came in the past is that you were without Christ. And this is the serious thing that is a reality that we must acknowledge of either our past or our present. Yes, we can acknowledge it as our past and still find great joy, but if this is something you must acknowledge for the present, then this is a serious thing. That if you were at that time separated from Christ, well, as we’re gonna see in verse 13, Christ is our only hope. And so to be separated from Christ is to be separated from any sense of hope. It is to be separated from any sense of righteousness. It is to be separated from any sense of covenantal blessing given to God’s people. You see, all the blessings, as we saw in chapter one, all the spiritual blessings, they come in Christ. So all covenantal blessings come through Christ. Even the blessings that come to our children, they come through Christ. There is no covenantal blessing that is separate from Christ. And so the Gentiles in the church are called to remember this. And I’m suggesting that not only do we remember this, but we must acknowledge that this is true. We either are in Christ, united to him, or we are separated from him. There is no half in, half out. There is no, “I’ll have my Christ here and I’ll have my world here.” We were fully separated from Christ at one point, and now we must be fully united to him or not united to him at all.
And so what else do we see in verse 12? We see that we were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise. As I said earlier, the majority of the book of the Bible, at least in size, is given to the people of Israel, to the commonwealth of Israel. Covenantal promises that are spoken about—well, they’re given to the people of Israel. When God promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 that he will after him create a people in his lineage, well, that we know is the people of Israel. When God, to the Israelites wandering in the desert, gives them the law and the promises of his faithfulness to them and says to them, “I am the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,” and gives them the law and instructs them in how to live, well, that’s the nation of Israel. When God promises to David that he will send a descendant upon his throne who will reign forever—well, what is David’s throne the throne of? He is the king of Israel. When God promises to comfort his people as they’re going to exile, and promises to bring them back to the land that he had promised them, who is he promising that to? He is promising that to the nation of Israel. And so the people who receive those promises, the people who receive those blessings, they are the Israelites. They are the Jews. And so the Gentiles, these Gentiles that he’s writing to in Ephesus, well, they’re alienated from their commonwealth, and they are strangers to the covenants of promise.
You see, the blessing of being a Jew at this time was that from birth, from the day they are born, they are given insight into God’s covenantal dealings with them. If their parents and community teach them well, as is instructed in Deuteronomy, that they would bind God’s word on their gates, on their hands, that they would teach them to their children—if they are to do that faithfully, then the blessing of being a Jew at this point is that they have the covenants of promise. And so you would be raised to know of Yahweh, the Lord. They would be raised to know how they are to honor him and serve him, and we saw that in our Bible reading earlier. That in Isaiah 56, even when it’s talking about the Gentiles coming in, what does God say? That they would hold fast to his covenant, that they would keep his Sabbath, that they would know how to honor him. But the Jews are given this blessing in that for generation after generation after generation, they are given these promises. They are given these promises firstly to Abraham, and it goes throughout all the way to the time of Jesus. We see they are given these promises. Jesus himself says—who does he come for first? “I have come first for the Jew and then the Gentile.” And so their blessing is that they have all of this, but the problem is that they could not keep it. The problem is that generation after generation, they were unfaithful.
See, at home, we’ve just been finished going through First and Second Kings as a family, and if you’ve ever read pretty much any of the Old Testament narrative books, you’ll know that they can be pretty depressing. That generation after generation, they are given blessing, and what do they do? They misuse it. They turn to idols. They turn from God, but they do have the blessing that they’re given these things. But that came with a curse for them, because to be given the blessing is to be given responsibility, and to shun that responsibility is to have a great curse upon them. And so as Gentiles, initially we didn’t have these. Now, in a similar sense to what we were talking about earlier, we can see the principles at play even in the church. See, in Deuteronomy 6, where they’re instructed to bind these things on their gates, to bind them on their hands, to teach them to their children, well, that principle still remains. Our children, Lord willing, are blessed with the covenants of promise today as they’re more fully understood. But the Jews were given these before the Gentiles, but they did not properly understand them. And that’s how we understand verse 11. The fact that these were outward signs that they looked to, that these were merely outward signs that they looked to is wrong. They did not understand the meaning behind them.
Turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 2. So these people who’ve been given the covenants of promise, who are the circumcision and who refer to the Gentiles as the uncircumcision, they’ve been given the blessings of God. But we see in Romans chapter 2 from verse 25: “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” You see, though they had the blessings of God and the covenants of promise and all of this, they failed to understand that all throughout the Old Testament scripture, what is God trying to really get at them and teach them? That I will be your God. What is he instructing? He gives them a law so that they would follow the law. He teaches them in the ways that they are to live—what do they do? They fail to keep them. They fail to keep them, but they fail to trust God. They fail to only seek after God. And we see a similar thing in Galatians. Galatians 3:7 says, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” And so though these people were given the covenants of promise, they failed to fully grasp them, and yet they are blessed. And so as Gentiles, we are to remember—these Gentiles are to remember—that this was not theirs, that these promises were not primarily theirs.
And then the third thing that they acknowledge and remember in verse 12 is that having no hope and without God in the world. You see, God had especially showed his love to the nation of Israel, to the people. He was patiently enduring with them. And so the Gentiles, who knew not this God, had no hope. And so we must be able to say this today of all people who are without God, that they have no hope. And on the flip side, that means that the only source of hope then is with God. So it goes both ways. If we are without God, there is no hope, and if we are with God, then we have hope. And so there are so many people out there today who are without God in this world, who have no hope. And Lord willing, there are none of you here that say this, but if you are, if you are without God, if you, as he says, separated from Christ, then I must ask you, what is your hope? I mean, sure, might get 80 years maybe, maybe 90, maybe 100 if you’re healthy and do well for yourself, but then what? Then what? And so we must understand and acknowledge that to be separated from Christ, to be without God, to be without the covenantal promises that God gives, is to be utterly hopeless and utterly destitute before Him.
And so as I said earlier, what is Paul trying to get at by really grinding them down, you might say? Is Paul just trying to be a doom and gloom? Is Paul just trying to beat them down? “Hey, I’m a Jew, I have it better than you.” No, that’s not what Paul’s trying to do. Paul is using these words. He is using this, dragging them down, reminding them of what they were, that they would be reminded of two things. Firstly, that it is only Christ who redeems, and secondly, to know how great Christ redeems.
The Hope That We Receive
And so we see this in verse 13 as we think about now the hope that we have. And so verse 13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
And so verse 11 starts, “Therefore remember,” verse 12 starts, “Remember that you were,” verse 13 starts, “But now.” So we see this turn of time and of thinking about it. Remember once, but now. Now we’re getting to the present. Now he is speaking to a church, and so he is speaking to believers. And he says, “But now in Christ Jesus,” and that’s the essential part. It is in Christ Jesus we must remember, we must remember first and foremost that there is no other source of this hope, that there is no other avenue for it either. And so any gospel or any attempt to frame the works of Christ according to Ephesians 2 that says there is a hope outside of Christ’s redeeming work for his people is a false gospel, is a gospel that fails to encapsulate what the scriptures teach us. And this is part of the issue that the Jews ran into. They were so fixated on seeking to keep God’s law in a pharisaical way, as tightly as they could, adding on to it to make themselves outwardly holy, or they just abandoned God and his laws and statutes for false gods in general. But they didn’t fully understand that the law was supposed to teach them. What was it supposed to teach them? It was supposed to teach them their inadequacy. And so it is in Christ Jesus that our hope lies.
And what does he say? “But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near.” We were once far off, have been brought near. Now, we live in New Zealand. That’s pretty much almost as far as you can get from the land of Israel. That’s pretty much as far as you can get from where God was working in this area, blessing his people. We’re pretty much as far as you can get. I mean, there’s not many further places, maybe one or two, but you who were far off—these people, they’re not just far off physically by distance, but they’re far off in that all he said before, that they don’t have the covenant of promise. They don’t have the commonwealth of God’s people. They don’t have the signs of God’s people. They were far off both physically, but also they were far off in a spiritual sense. They were completely alienated from all that God’s covenantal promises. Well, now they’ve been brought close in Christ. You who once were far off have been brought near.
And so moving forward now, we’re going to be, over the coming months, looking at this different idea. But one of the great messages of the Epistle to the Ephesians is that God is building a people for himself, and this is a people from all different peoples. That this is a people for himself from all over. That this is not just the Jews, this is not just people from certain areas, but this is a Catholic church, as we might say, a global church. This is a church of people from all over, that we get this picture of in Revelation of people of all tribes and tongues and nations proclaiming the glories of God. Well, that is what Paul is going to be focusing in on over the coming months. That those who were far off, those who were separated from God because they were Gentiles, have now been brought near. And the thing is, this message has been one that is throughout the scriptures. Not properly understood, but throughout the scriptures, yes, the Israelites were supposed to be a set-apart people. But they were supposed to be a set-apart people who would impact, in a positive sense, towards God, the people around them. I mean, what does God say to Abraham when he promises him a great nation? He says, “And in you, all the families of the world will be blessed.” And so there’s this picture that they’re supposed to be a blessing to those around them. They’re supposed to be a light that shines like Jesus talking in the Sermon on the Mount, that you would be a light on a hill, a city on a hill, that surrounding you, people would look and see these people are different. There’s something different about them, and as they look closer, they would say, “Ah, it is because of the God they worship.” And at times this happened. At times this happened throughout their history. But generally speaking, they failed to do this. And in failing to do this, it led to what happened in Jesus’s time, that they had a pharisaical inward focus, that they were not interested in going and being a light to the world. I mean, they were occupied by the Romans at this point, and yet there was no desire to see the truth of the covenants go forth outwardly. And Christ himself has to come, and he shows them that this is the reality of what all was promised before. This is why it says when it says in Romans where it’s talking about the promises through Abraham are to his offspring, to one, that all the families of the world would be blessed through one of his offspring—that is Christ.
And so how did he achieve this? Well, at the end of verse 13, “We have been brought near”—how?—“by the blood of Christ.” And so all of the covenantal promises that are given to us are given in the blood of Christ. This is why he says, “This blood is the blood of the new covenant that I give you.” As he’s giving his disciples the Lord’s Supper, as he’s giving them this, he’s saying, “This bread and this body—what does it represent? It represents my body and blood, which are the body and blood of which this covenant is established, of which this covenant is built.” And so for us, our hope is in the blood of Christ. You see, there was a payment that must be paid, and that was a payment of death for sin. We’ve seen this in the first 10 verses of chapter two, and we saw that we were made alive together with Christ. Well, we’re made alive together because Christ himself had to die. It is by the blood of Christ that people are saved, and this is the blood of Christ that saves Jew, this is the blood of Christ that saves Gentile, this is the blood of Christ that saves all who would believe. And so our hope is centered firmly in, only in that.
And so now we have to think what comes of this. Well, we now have a duty, brothers and sisters. You see, the gospel went toward the Gentiles. That’s why Paul can write to the Ephesians and a church have been established there because the gospel went forth. Well, we live in a country full of spiritual Gentiles. We live in a land full of people who are alienated from the covenantal promises of God. We live in a world where there are millions upon millions of people who are alienated. And so the question will be, well, what are we showing them? If the nation of Israel failed to be a city on a hill shining the light that says, “Here is God, and he is good,” well, what is the church to be? Well, the church is to do that today among the Gentiles. There are people all around us in our lives who are, what does he say, separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. And we confess that Christ Jesus brings people like that close, who were once far off, by his blood. And so the gospel is our hope, and the gospel is our message. The gospel is the world’s hope. It is the hope to Jew and Gentile alike. It is the hope to young and old. It is the hope to all people, and it is the hope in which we stand, and it is a hope that is centered in Christ.
