November 26, 2017

Walk Worthy

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called…”  Eph. 4:1

Walking as we should is the focus of the remaining three chapters in the Book of Ephesians.  We have learned to sit first and receive all that the Lord has for us.  Next we learn to walk.  We can surmise this as having a heavenly rest in our position in Christ, and an earthly walk in our practical experiences.  For the remainder of this epistle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, we will find the word “walk” used eight times.  It is used to indicate how a believer conducts oneself.  As Christ deposits His character within us, we are called to “walk worthy of this calling.”  In this chapter we will examine the requirements of such a walk.

Chapter four begins with Paul’s exhortation to walk worthy of the calling.  He then immediately follows that exhortation with instructions in verses 2 and 3:

• Walk with lowliness and gentleness;
• Longsuffering;
• Bearing with one another in love; and,
• Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

• We begin by examining these terms and what they mean for our conduct.  Lowliness is in Greek a “humble mind,” and implies humility. 
• Gentleness means meekness, and is best defined as power under control.
• Longsuffering means patience and forbearance.
• Bearing is enduring, defined as holding up in the action of love.
• Endeavoring is the same word in Greek, which means eager and diligent; in the context of verse 3, it is read as one’s diligence and desire to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit in peace.

Paul then employs the word “one” a total of seven times in the next three verses.  Let’s take a look at what he is referencing:

• One body
• One Spirit
• One hope
• One Lord
• One faith
• One baptism
• One God and Father of all.

Believers are called to endeavor to keep unity because we operate from the foundational premise of: one.  We are all called to be as one: one body, known as the church, with Christ Jesus as the head.  Millions of Christians around the world are called to oneness.