Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  Ephesians 2:11-12

In Ephesians 2, Paul is calling for the Jewish and Gentile believers of his day to be unified. The way he helps make this happen is by encouraging Gentile believers to remember who they were before salvation.  He reminds them that, before Christ, they were nothing remarkable—nothing special.  He reminds them that there was a time when they were outside of God’s kingdom, outside of His covenant, outside of His promises, separated from His people and from His Son—without hope and without God in their lives and world. 

And the reason he tells them this is because he wants them and the Jewish believers of His day to be unified and knows the only way for that to happen is, first for them to be humbled.  Disunity is and has always been one of the most common problems in our churches and the reason why is because pride is the most common problem in our lives.  Because that’s the case, for unity to occur corporately, there must be humility individually.  Where there is a lack of humility, there will always be disunity.