Eph. 2:11

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)

Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision." Paul is writing to two groups, essentially, to the Gentiles and to the Jews. He begins by addressing the Gentiles who are there in Ephesus, who put their faith in Jesus Christ. Paul asks them to stop and think for a moment about where they came from.

To begin with, the Jews remind the Gentiles of who they are by pointing to their own uniqueness, The Gentiles were born outside of the Covenant God made with Abraham, the sign of which had become circumcision.

(That done in the body by the hands of men) Paul had a caution of holy scorn here as he notes that circumcision, per se, is superficial, a cut on the body inflicted by the hand of another body. I suppose Paul thought that the Jews had made far too much out of the importance of the mark of circumcision.

It was not Paul’s intent to denigrate the high place of God’s Covenant with Abraham and his descendants. But, with his new understanding of the grace of God that now extended out to include both Jews and Gentiles, he warns the Jewish believers to think humbly of themselves and not carry on their shoulders the chip of their own special God-given status among all mankind.

And he reminds the Gentiles that they should pause and remember who they were before they knew Jesus Christ.