God’s Vocabulary has Meaning!!!
Ephesians 4:1-6
The Prisoner of the Lord gives us a vocabulary lesson in attitudes and behavior appropriate for the Dwelling Place of God through the Spirit. He isn’t just talking how to behave “when you go to church", He is talking about how the church itself is to behave!
Vs 1 Paul was a prisoner in bonds/chains in the Lord. He was bound to the will and purpose of the Lord Jesus. He knows a thing or two about right behavior in the Presence of the Most High!!! He isn’t just suggesting something here, he is exhorting (to call to one’s side, to call near), putting his “bound in chains” arms around us and telling us how it is to be.
We are to “Walk Worthy”: This isn’t a going about piling up good works so that somehow God will pat us on the back and give us a “good job, I’m proud of you, you are now worthy of my love”. NO, NO, this is (#516) to walk (lit. to walk all around) in an appropriate manner that reflects Gospel behavior, exhibits God’s Character and Thoughts. This is to reflect that behavior of our new Family Name and Life.
We are to walk worthy “Of The Calling” (vocation KJV) with which you are Called.
#2821 calling, vocation: “Always in the NT of that ‘calling’, the origins, nature, and destiny of
which is heavenly. The idea of invitation is implied.” (NSEDBW & all following) To walk all around appropriately!
#2564 ye are called: “to call, to summon, particularly of the Divine call to partake of the blessing of
redemption, also to call by a name, to name–suggesting either vocation or destination.”
Important verses about our “Calling”:
Rom. 11:29 “the gifts and calling of God re without repentance.” Our God doesn’t go back on His promises/covenant.
I Cor. 1:26-29 “You see your calling–not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, noble are called, God has chosen the foolish things....that no flesh should glory in His Presence.” This passage is a good preface for Eph. 4:2. Our claim to “His Calling” is deeply tarnished at best, and suspect at worst, if flesh, “me glory”, obsession marks our attitudes and behavior, especially in the assembling of the “living rocks/stones”.
Eph. 1:18 “The eyes of our understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His Calling.” Remember, the word meaning always culminates in our Destiny. Any “gospel” that majors on here and now well being and blessings comes short of the Eternal Glory of our God and our Inheritance in Christ Jesus. All that we encounter on earth only serves Eternity!
Phil. 3:14 “I press toward the goal of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Remember, I Cor. 15:19 says, “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Our calling is much higher than this lowly earth.
II Thess. 1:11 “ We pray always.....that our God would count you worthy of this calling.” Here is that word “worthy” again.
Vs.2 Here is walking worthy looks like! We bear a name (#2564), we are called by His Name, and therefore, we should look like His “namesake”. And Who is His Namesake? God manifested in the flesh. II Cor. 10:1a “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.....” Matt. 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.” This “worthy calling/walk” looks like Jesus!
“With all:
lowliness: #5012 humiliation of mind, i.e. modesty-humility. “This virtue, a fruit of the gospel (and therefore of the Holy Spirit) exists when a person understands himself worthless (in comparison to the Holy One). It involves evaluating ourselves as a small because we are so. The humble person is not stressing his sinfulness, but his creatureliness, of absolute dependence, of possessing nothing and receiving all things from God.” This is the mind of Christ as Paul explains in Phil. 2:5–11. Our Christ Jesus, Equal in Essence with the Father, in His Role of the Declaration of the Love, Will, and Purpose of the Father, Humbled Himself into our humanity, became totally dependent upon His Father, just as we must be. He came not to do His own will and works, but only those of His Father.
meekness: #4236/4235 “Mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness. Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resting. The meek wholly rely on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice.” Witness Jesus (and Paul, Stephen, etc.) in His arrest, trial and death.
longsufering: #3115 Longsuffering means to suffer long! “One who possesses longsuffering has the power to avenge but refrains from doing so.” i.e. Doesn’t have a “short fuse” which grows out of the soil of self righteousness.
bearing with: #460 Literally, “to hold oneself up, to bear up under”. Matt. 17:17 Our Lord’s perfect example, “How long shall I bear with you”. Could mean “to put up with except for the qualifier:
in love: #23 agape–affection or benevolence, a love-feast. This is God’s Love toward us that is now to be worked out of our “insides” toward one another. “This is not love drawn out by any excellency in its objects (Rom. 5:8 “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”) It is an exercise of the Divine Will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the Nature of God Himself.” This is the foundational fruit of the Holy Spirit. (Gal 5:22, Rom 5:5) John spends his whole first epistle pressing upon us that without this evidence, we are not Christ’s! This is what Paul is praying for in Eph. 3:14-17! Not that we would do a better job of “putting up with one antother, but that we would manifest a growing comprehension of this love of God with and toward “all the saints”. (Vs 18
Vs 3 This “walking worthy”, this reflection of our family name, is the only way the “holy temple in the Lord” is going to be “fit together”. We are to make this our “endeavor”–#4704 “signifies to hasten to do a thing, to exert oneself, endeavor, give diligence. While this unity is the work of the Spirit, it requires a people aware of it’s necessity and devoted to it’s accomplishment.
bond of peace “4886 “a joint tie, ligament, uniting principle, that which binds together.” It is the result of learning Christ! Remember Matt 17:17.
Vs 4-6 Verses 1-3 are the only way all the saints, of every nation, can become our God’s Perfect Number–ONE. We are so used to a severed church, quite frankly, severed from it’s head, that manifest in a dismembered body! The (professed) body of Christ has been mutilated! (NKJV Phil.3:2)
Our Savior came to take us to the Father, “the One God and Father of us all, Who is above all, through all, and in you all.” This is our Great High Priest’s prayer in John 17. We must, each and every one of us, “humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord (bow down before His Face), and He shall lift us up. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The rest of Ephesians will be futile if we don’t endeavor to walk worthy of our calling!
Ephesians 4:1-6
The Prisoner of the Lord gives us a vocabulary lesson in attitudes and behavior appropriate for the Dwelling Place of God through the Spirit. He isn’t just talking how to behave “when you go to church", He is talking about how the church itself is to behave!
Vs 1 Paul was a prisoner in bonds/chains in the Lord. He was bound to the will and purpose of the Lord Jesus. He knows a thing or two about right behavior in the Presence of the Most High!!! He isn’t just suggesting something here, he is exhorting (to call to one’s side, to call near), putting his “bound in chains” arms around us and telling us how it is to be.
We are to “Walk Worthy”: This isn’t a going about piling up good works so that somehow God will pat us on the back and give us a “good job, I’m proud of you, you are now worthy of my love”. NO, NO, this is (#516) to walk (lit. to walk all around) in an appropriate manner that reflects Gospel behavior, exhibits God’s Character and Thoughts. This is to reflect that behavior of our new Family Name and Life.
We are to walk worthy “Of The Calling” (vocation KJV) with which you are Called.
#2821 calling, vocation: “Always in the NT of that ‘calling’, the origins, nature, and destiny of
which is heavenly. The idea of invitation is implied.” (NSEDBW & all following) To walk all around appropriately!
#2564 ye are called: “to call, to summon, particularly of the Divine call to partake of the blessing of
redemption, also to call by a name, to name–suggesting either vocation or destination.”
Important verses about our “Calling”:
Rom. 11:29 “the gifts and calling of God re without repentance.” Our God doesn’t go back on His promises/covenant.
I Cor. 1:26-29 “You see your calling–not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, noble are called, God has chosen the foolish things....that no flesh should glory in His Presence.” This passage is a good preface for Eph. 4:2. Our claim to “His Calling” is deeply tarnished at best, and suspect at worst, if flesh, “me glory”, obsession marks our attitudes and behavior, especially in the assembling of the “living rocks/stones”.
Eph. 1:18 “The eyes of our understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His Calling.” Remember, the word meaning always culminates in our Destiny. Any “gospel” that majors on here and now well being and blessings comes short of the Eternal Glory of our God and our Inheritance in Christ Jesus. All that we encounter on earth only serves Eternity!
Phil. 3:14 “I press toward the goal of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Remember, I Cor. 15:19 says, “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Our calling is much higher than this lowly earth.
II Thess. 1:11 “ We pray always.....that our God would count you worthy of this calling.” Here is that word “worthy” again.
Vs.2 Here is walking worthy looks like! We bear a name (#2564), we are called by His Name, and therefore, we should look like His “namesake”. And Who is His Namesake? God manifested in the flesh. II Cor. 10:1a “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.....” Matt. 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.” This “worthy calling/walk” looks like Jesus!
“With all:
lowliness: #5012 humiliation of mind, i.e. modesty-humility. “This virtue, a fruit of the gospel (and therefore of the Holy Spirit) exists when a person understands himself worthless (in comparison to the Holy One). It involves evaluating ourselves as a small because we are so. The humble person is not stressing his sinfulness, but his creatureliness, of absolute dependence, of possessing nothing and receiving all things from God.” This is the mind of Christ as Paul explains in Phil. 2:5–11. Our Christ Jesus, Equal in Essence with the Father, in His Role of the Declaration of the Love, Will, and Purpose of the Father, Humbled Himself into our humanity, became totally dependent upon His Father, just as we must be. He came not to do His own will and works, but only those of His Father.
meekness: #4236/4235 “Mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness. Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resting. The meek wholly rely on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice.” Witness Jesus (and Paul, Stephen, etc.) in His arrest, trial and death.
longsufering: #3115 Longsuffering means to suffer long! “One who possesses longsuffering has the power to avenge but refrains from doing so.” i.e. Doesn’t have a “short fuse” which grows out of the soil of self righteousness.
bearing with: #460 Literally, “to hold oneself up, to bear up under”. Matt. 17:17 Our Lord’s perfect example, “How long shall I bear with you”. Could mean “to put up with except for the qualifier:
in love: #23 agape–affection or benevolence, a love-feast. This is God’s Love toward us that is now to be worked out of our “insides” toward one another. “This is not love drawn out by any excellency in its objects (Rom. 5:8 “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”) It is an exercise of the Divine Will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the Nature of God Himself.” This is the foundational fruit of the Holy Spirit. (Gal 5:22, Rom 5:5) John spends his whole first epistle pressing upon us that without this evidence, we are not Christ’s! This is what Paul is praying for in Eph. 3:14-17! Not that we would do a better job of “putting up with one antother, but that we would manifest a growing comprehension of this love of God with and toward “all the saints”. (Vs 18
Vs 3 This “walking worthy”, this reflection of our family name, is the only way the “holy temple in the Lord” is going to be “fit together”. We are to make this our “endeavor”–#4704 “signifies to hasten to do a thing, to exert oneself, endeavor, give diligence. While this unity is the work of the Spirit, it requires a people aware of it’s necessity and devoted to it’s accomplishment.
bond of peace “4886 “a joint tie, ligament, uniting principle, that which binds together.” It is the result of learning Christ! Remember Matt 17:17.
Vs 4-6 Verses 1-3 are the only way all the saints, of every nation, can become our God’s Perfect Number–ONE. We are so used to a severed church, quite frankly, severed from it’s head, that manifest in a dismembered body! The (professed) body of Christ has been mutilated! (NKJV Phil.3:2)
Our Savior came to take us to the Father, “the One God and Father of us all, Who is above all, through all, and in you all.” This is our Great High Priest’s prayer in John 17. We must, each and every one of us, “humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord (bow down before His Face), and He shall lift us up. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The rest of Ephesians will be futile if we don’t endeavor to walk worthy of our calling!