Section 242
84Gk. ἀπηλλοτϱɩωμένοɩ, “alienated” (perfect participle passive); but to translate it so might suggest (wrongly) that they had once been members of the πολɩτεία τοῦ ’Iσϱαήλ but had subsequently been separated from it.
85Gk. τѽν δɩαθηϰѽν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, where the genitive τῆς ἐπαγγελίας is epexegetic of δɩαθηϰѽν, having similar force to that which it has in Eph. 1:13 (τῷ πνεύματɩ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας).
86Gk. ἄθεοɩ ἐν τῷ ϰóσμῳ. This is the only NT occurrence of ἄθεος (found in literature from Aeschylus onward). The word came to be used by pagans of Christians and by Christians of pagans (Mart. Pol. 3:2; 9:2, where αἶϱε τοὺς ἀθεέυς, “Away with the atheists!” is repeated in both senses).
87In earlier OT times other Semitic groups and the Egyptians practiced circumcision, while the Philistines notoriously did not and were therefore known distinctively as “the uncircumcised” (e.g., 1 Sam. 31:4; 2 Sam. 1:20).
88For ἀϰϱοβυστία (“uncircumcision”) and πεϱɩτομή (“circumcision”) used as collective nouns cf. Rom. 3:30; Gal. 2:7.
89Cf. Apion, according to Josephus, Apion 2.137 (τὴν τѽν αɩδοἰων ϰλευάζεɩ πεϱɩτομήν);Horace, Sat. 1.9.70 (hodie tricesima sabbata; vin tu / curtis Iudaeis oppedere?); Juvenal, Sat. 14.99 (mox et praeputia ponunt).