In Ephesians 2:12, Ephesians 4:18 and Colossians 1:21 what does Paul mean by ἀπαλλοτριόομαι?

Question

Eph 2:12 NLT - In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded (ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι) from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

Eph 2:12 MGNT - ὅτι ἦτε τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ χωρὶς Χριστοῦ ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες καὶ ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ

Eph 4:18 NLT - Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far (ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι) from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.

Eph 4:18 MGNT - ἐσκοτωμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ ὄντες ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς διὰ τὴν πώρωσιν τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν

Col 1:21 NLT - This includes you who were once far away from (ἀπηλλοτριωμένους) God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

Col 1:21 MGNT - καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς

I notice that the same word is used in the LXX for several disparate Hebrew words:

This may be seen as a little circular, but I'm a little put off by the Calvinist caricature (I don't know if Calvin would actually say this) of "total depravity", that children are not innocent but rather "vipers in diapers" and Paul's usage likewise concerns me and I'm hoping that this might less offensive if these various usages cause a less baby-vilifying to come to the fore.

The wicked are estranged (ἀπαλλοτριόω) from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Psalm 58:3

BDAG has this:

ἀπαλλοτριόω fut. ἀπαλλοτριώσω LXX; 1 aor. ἀπηλλοτρίωσα. Pass.: aor. ἀπηλλοτριώθην; pf. ptc. ἀπηλλοτριωμένος LXX (Hippocr., Pla. et al.; ins [e.g. IMagnSip 19, 5f: A.D. 154/55; ISmyrnaMcCabe .0421, 5]; pap, LXX, TestJob; TestBenj 10:10; ApcMos) estrange, alienate τινά τινος (s. ἀλλότριος; SIG 495, 164 [III B.C.]; Sir 11:34; Jos., Ant. 4, 3) γαμετὰς ἀνδρῶν wives from their husbands 1 Cl 6:3. ἡμᾶς τοῦ καλῶς ἔχοντος us from what is right 14:2.—Pass. (Polyb. 1, 79, 6; Ezk 14:5, 7; 3 Macc 1:3; TestBenj 10:10; Herm. Wr. 13, 1 τ. κόσμου) ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θεοῦ estranged from the life of God Eph 4:18. τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραήλ excluded from the corporate life of Israel 2:12. W. ἐχθρός Col 1:21. New Docs 3, 62.—DELG s.v. ἄλλος. M-M. TW.

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 96). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Answer 1

You can not relate the separation ‘described’ through the use of ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι to the Calvinistic understanding of ‘total depravity’. (Do Calvinists use these verses in support?).

The meaning is ‘separated’, or ‘not part of’. Paul is talking to gentiles. In Eph: 2:12 Paul is saying that because they were born ‘outside’ of Israel, they had no access to God, that the only way they could was to become part of Israel, and come under the covenant through circumcision. And in Eph: 4:12 he is saying that unless ‘reborn’, you are separated from God.

Here is the point, you need to take the exact meaning of ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι into interpretation, and that is ‘not part of’, separate, alienated. And not ‘add’ reasoning/meaning.

That is, you are apart, or outside, or separated from God (meaning) .... therefore seeing you are without God, you are evil, “vipers in diapers" (added reasoning).

Babies/everyone are born ‘separated’ from God. NOT babies/everyone are born ‘evil’.