Paul, in these verses, completes the picture he began in the first 10 verses of this chapter by tying together the picture of God’s redemption and reconciliation of all people.
It is important to bear in mind that he is addressing Gentiles here, those who were not included in God’s covenants in the past. They were excluded from relationship with God and to a great extent even from social relationships with the people of God. In fact, the people of God, the Jews, looked down upon the Gentiles, calling them dogs and treating them as second-class people. The Jews bore a sign of their covenant relationship with God that the Gentiles did not, a sign that would forever keep them separate; the sign of circumcision that denoted the offspring of Father Abraham. No, a Gentile man couldn’t “fake it.”
Then came Jesus Christ.
Jesus brought the two groups together…
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Author & Editor Cynthia Hilston 