That at that time ye were without Christ
Or separate from him: they were chosen in him and were preserved
in him, and were redeemed by him before; but they were without
any knowledge of him, faith in him, love to him, communion with
him, or subjection to him, his Gospel, government, laws, and
ordinances; and particularly they were without any promises of
him, or prophecies concerning him, which were peculiar to the
Jews; hence the Messiah is called (larvyd axyvm) , "the Christ of Israel" F23, and
who as he was promised, so he was sent only to the lost sheep of
the house, of Israel: hence it follows,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel;
both from their civil and church state; the Gentiles might not
dwell among them, nor have any dealings with them in things
civil, unless they conformed to certain laws; nor might the Jews
go into any, nor eat or converse with any, that were
uncircumcised; so great an alienation and distance were there
between these two people; and much less might they eat the
passover and join with them in religious worship; the word for
"commonwealth" here used, Harpocratian says F24, is
commonly used by Greek writers for a "democracy" though the
original constitution of the Israelites was properly a
"theocracy":
strangers to the covenants of promise;
to the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham; and to the
covenant at Mount Sinai, made with Israel; and to the
dispensation of the covenant of grace to that people, sometimes
called the first covenant and the old covenant, and which
peculiarly belonged to them, ( Romans 9:4 ) one copy
reads, "strangers to the promises of the covenant"; which is
natural enough; the Vulgate Latin version joins the word
"promise" to the next clause, and reads,
having no hope of the promise
of the promised Messiah: "having no hope"; of the Messiah and
salvation by him, of the resurrection of the dead, of a future
state, and of eternal life; none that is sure and steadfast, that
is purifying, and makes not ashamed; or which is a good hope
through grace, is the gift of God, the fruit of his love, and the
effect of his power; and this is to be in a miserable condition:
Philo, the Jew F25, observes, that
``the Chaldeans call a man Enos, as if he only was truly a man that expects good things, and supports himself with good hopes; and adds, hence it is manifest that one without hope is not reckoned a man, but a beast in an human form; since he is destitute of hope, which is the property of the human soul;''and without God in the world;
``he that dwells without the land (of Israel) is like one (hwla wl Nyav) , "who has no God":''