Some years ago, my dear friend Joe Jordan (now in Heaven) encouraged me to write a commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. Planning to entitle it, “The Church, His Body, the Fullness of Him,” my writing was laid aside for a time because of other responsibilities. Recently, I was privileged to be in a gathering where Apostle Joanne Bush taught a powerful message from Ephesians chapter 4, prompting me to again revisit this amazing portion of Scripture that I have taught from many times over the years.
Ephesians and Colossians are often referred to as Paul’s “prison epistles,” as he was kept in “house arrest” in Rome during the time these missives were penned. In his epistles to believers in various places, Paul emphasizes both “positional” Truth and “practical” application. He wants those in the several assemblies to which he writes to know who God has made them to be “in Christ,” as well as how to actually live out those accomplished spiritual realities in their everyday lives. This is especially evident in Ephesians, where Paul takes what we know as the first three chapters to emphasize our “position” in Christ and the last three instructing as to how to live out our new life “in Him.” In short, Paul is saying in essence, “God has already made you ‘saints’ in Christ. Now learn how to live like who God has made you to be!”
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called… (Ephesians 4:1 KJV)
Paul’s use of “therefore” connects what he is about to say with what he has previously said in the first three “chapters” (we know that Ephesians was not originally divided into “chapters” and “verses”). Because of all that God has already accomplished on our behalf through Jesus’s death and resurrection, Paul is now ready to instruct in the practical outworking of those positional Truths.
Paul refers to himself as [ὁ δέσμιος ἐν κυρίῳ] “the prisoner in (the) Lord.” Notice he does not here refer to himself as the “prisoner of Rome,” although there was most likely a Roman soldier assigned to guard him standing nearby. And by referring to himself as he does, he is not only pointing to the fact that he is being held captive because of his stand of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but that he is, in actuality, “the prisoner in the Lord.” Because Paul recognizes that he is a man “in Christ,” he has been “bought with a price” (I Corinthians 6:20) and is no longer his own. The Blood of Jesus has redeemed him, and he is now fully and irreversibly consecrated to the Kingdom Purpose of God. As a “prisoner,” he no longer charts his own course, but is committed to following the commands of His Heavenly Master. Because of this thankful obligation for all Jesus has done for him, Paul cannot but write to the Ephesian believers as he does, informing, instructing, and commanding the assembly that God used him to establish.
In the Greek text, the word [Παρακαλῶ] actually appears first in verse 1, emphasizing the urgency with which Paul writes. Modern Greeks use the word as we do the word “please.” In Paul’s thought here though, there seems to be a greater weight to his use of the word. It is as if he is saying, “Please, please, please pay attention to what I am about to say to you.” Those of you who have raised children well know that their requests to you took on greater and greater urgency as they intoned, “PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE.” This determined “beseeching” is what Paul has in mind. He considers the instruction he will give in the remainder of the Epistle to be of the utmost importance.
Paul urgently beseeches the Ephesian saints that they “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (KJV). Both the word translated “vocation” [κλήσεως] and “called” [ἐκλήθητε] are forms of the same root and have to do with one’s “calling.” In our modern parlance, one’s “vocation” or “calling” has to do with the occupation by which one earns a living. But that is not what Paul is referring to here, although he does give instruction elsewhere as to how to be a Godly “employer” and a Godly “employee.” J. B. Phillips translates as “high calling.” Kenneth Wuest offers “divine summons.” Paul wants these believers to know that they, individually as well as corporately, have been issued a “divine summons” (a “high calling”) from the Throne of Grace. God has a Kingdom purpose for them (and for you). God’s Kingdom purpose for us as individuals as well as His Kingdom purpose for us corporately must be lived out in the right way, and in accordance with the ultimate price Jesus paid to redeem us and provide this “summons” and “high calling” to us. We have not only been “summoned” to “Salvation” (as important as that is), but also to “Sonship” and “Service.” If a human judge were to issue you a “summons” to appear at a certain place at a certain time, it would behoove you to respond in obedience. There could be consequences for refusing to answer that “summons.” How much more should we respond in faithful obedience to the “summons” issued from the Judge of the Universe?
The word translated “worthy” [ἀξίως] is an adverb which should be understood as “worthily” or “in a worthy manner.” There was nothing that we could ever do to “earn” our “salvation,” or any other blessing or provision from the Lord. Everything in the Kingdom is “by Grace through Faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Precious Blood of Jesus has cleansed us, imparting God’s own Righteousness to us (II Corinthians 5:21), and making us “worthy” to stand boldly in His Holy Presence. In view of what God has already done for us “in Christ,” Paul instructs that now we are to answer God’s “summons” and respond obediently in a manner worthy of the “summons” we have received.
“Lowliness” [ταπεινοφροσύνης – “humility] and “meekness” [πρᾳότητος – Trench offers “It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing”] primarily refer to our attitude and mindset toward ourselves. “Patience” [μακροθυμίας] has to do primarily with our attitude and mindset toward others. If we are going to become in practice all God has “summoned” us to become, and do all that He has called us to do, our attitude must be right toward ourselves and toward others.
“Endeavoring to keep” [σπουδάζοντες τηρεῖν] are both present tense verbs in Greek, indicating continuous action. The CBL commentator writes, “Unity does not just happen. Because this is a present tense idea, we must constantly work at it.” We might also understand the word translated “endeavoring” as “being diligent.” Notice that Paul does not say, “Endeavoring to obtain” unity, but rather, “Being diligent to KEEP” unity. This idea is expressed also by Jude, the half-brother of Jesus according to the flesh, who exhorted believers to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3b).
Finally, it is necessary for me to point out that many of us have prayed for “unity,” preached “unity,” “prophesied” unity, and “declared” the imperative of unity (and I will examine the Biblical concept of “unity” in a future article. It is not what some have thought that it was). Yet, Paul here gives us the “formula” as it were for diligently maintaining “unity” within the local and regional assembly of saints. Here it is in a nutshell:
- Be and Do what God has called YOU to be and do (whether individually or corporately).
- Do it with a right attitude and a right heart, rightly esteeming yourself and others (without jealousy, competition, or “one-upmanship”).
- Thus, the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” will be maintained.
Be Blessed!
