What Does Ephesians 2:11 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The divide is voiced through labels and attached to a mark made by human hands, exposing how the boundary is named.
THE MEANING
You can be named through an outward bodily mark and the words others attach to it. The verse holds a former label in view while making the boundary visible: both groups are called by names tied to flesh marked by human hands.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A visible bodily mark tells the whole story of who you are; the verse shows that the distinction is also a name people give.
THE ROOT
χειροποιήτου
cheiropoiētou
GROWS FROM
ποιέω
poieō
make, do
The compound χειροποίητος (cheiropoiētos, “made by hands”) names circumcision as a human-made mark. The same ποιέω (poieō, “make, do”) word family gives the next verse’s ποίημα (poiēma, “workmanship”), placing the hand-made boundary beside what you are as God’s making.
ALSO GROWS
poiēma: workmanship; something made
ποίημα
Ephesians 2:10 uses this word for what you are, connecting the hand-made mark here with a different kind of making.
poiētēs: maker; doer
ποιητής
This related form names the one who makes or does, keeping the verse’s focus on who produces the mark.
λεγόμενοι
legomenoi
GROWS FROM
λέγω
legō
say, speak, call
The same verb appears for both groups: one is called Uncircumcision and the other Circumcision. The repeated word makes the division audible as a spoken naming system tied to the flesh.
ALSO GROWS
logos: word; message
λόγος
This related word keeps the verse’s repeated naming within the realm of words spoken about people.
dialogos: conversation; exchange of words
διάλογος
This related form carries the same word-family into speech exchanged between people.
THE PATTERN
Scripture distinguishes a humanly marked body from the inward work God performs.
And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:THE THREAD
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.χειροποίητος (cheiropoiētos, “made by hands”) shares its ποιέω (poieō, “make, do”) word family with ποίημα (poiēma, “workmanship”) in the preceding verse. The paired wording places a human-made mark on the flesh beside you as God’s workmanship.
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