Bite 64: Walking in a Manner Worthy in Ephesians 4:1-16

Where to Start?

No, seriously, I’m wrestling with where to begin. My first thought was to start with the OT quotation because it is the appeal Paul makes for the measure of gifts of Christ (Ephesians 4:7). Thinking along the lines of starting in the middle of Paul’s thinking (Ephesians 4:8-10), understanding the details, then moving outward toward the more general. If I could understand the detail, I would better understand the whole.

But then, following Paul’s reasoning and his progression, he himself did not start with the details. Maybe the better path is to go from the call and that in light of that call, actions should happen (Ephesians 4:1-3).

So, you came along for the mental discussion in my head about how to proceed. We will begin with the call and what Paul means when he urges a worthy-walk. Actually, we’ve already discussed the call haven’t we? Hm. I just looked; I don’t think we have. (Did you know that you can SEARCH my articles? My dear son Kyle set it up for us. I’m not savvy enough to even think of such a thing. He’s quite clever, isn’t he?) Okay, maybe we should also be investigating what this noun call is briefly before we move to the verbs.

Hey! I hope you’re feeling more comfortable moving around the text and seeing where study might begin and to where it might flow. Always asking questions, analyzing what Paul was trying to say, following progressions. The Bible is both a “mystical” sort of text because the Holy Spirit inspired it, but it is also an ancient text like other ancient texts because it was written by men. Both holy, other, alive, as well as approachable, decipherable, comprehendible. We have tools. Let’s get them out and start learning!

Our Passage

Always and forever keep the Word in front of us, right?

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, 
urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling 
to which you have been called, 
2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, 
bearing with one another in love, 
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 
4 There is one body and one Spirit—
just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 
7But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 
8 Therefore it says, 
                      “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, 
                       and he gave gifts to men.” 
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean 
but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 
10 He who descended is the one who also ascended 
far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, 
the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, 
for building up the body of Christ, 
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith 
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 
14 so that we may no longer be children, 
tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, 
by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, 
we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 
16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together 
by every joint with which it is equipped, 
when each part is working properly, 
makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.1

A Brief Chat About Walking and Calling

In a general sense, I don’t think it is a bias of thinking for me to assume that most people understand the basic concepts of a “walk” and a mode of life and a “call” as a purpose in life. Maybe these words would be considered Dead Metaphors. Regardless, let’s glance at them quickly.

Walk

Paul has previously used the word walk in this letter. Twice in Ephesians so far, actually, Ephesians 2:2 and Ephesians 2:10. From the times that we’ve seen the word already, I think we have a pretty good grasp on the idea of the word, but let’s verify by looking at a Greek dictionary for just a second.

Call

The places Paul uses this word in Ephesians are here in this passage. Which is useful in our effort towards defining, but we want to be certain of our understanding, so let’s reach out to some other instances when Paul uses this word in his letters.

I’ll grab just a couple of examples here from my Logos Bible word study.

See how those seem to talk about goals and purposes? Let’s again verify with a Greek dictionary.

Possible Parallelism?

Now that we’ve clarified what a walk and a call are, we are going to move on to the phrases that contain love and unity. There are several other phrases here that we could dig into, but as we’ve discussed before, we are not studying exhaustively here together. There will always be rocks that we don’t turn over on our trail of study. That doesn’t mean we didn’t hike the trail, it just means we didn’t turn every rock over.

Any of the Hebrew biblical authors would be accustomed to speaking and/or writing using this form of parallelism because they were Hebrew. It’s a Hebrew thing. This is part of that concept we talked about at the beginning of our time together today. The Bible was written by men who had norms of language that they used and that if we learn the rules of how they wrote, we can have more access to what they meant.

Now, I’m not completely sure that is what Paul is doing here with these two phrases, but as long as I have my eyes open to the possibility, it might make my effort to interpret a little easier.

Phrase #1

Looking at the first phrase, “bearing with one another in love,” making sure I know the parts of the phrase seems like it would help to understand the whole of the phrase. Noticing the translators put a cross reference next to the word bearing, I went to Colossians 3:13 to see what I could see.

...bearing with one another and, 
if one has a complaint against another, 
forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, 
so you also must forgive.7

By way of context, I find it interesting that in at this point in Colossians, Paul is using words that we see in Ephesians: humility, patience, and even kindness which would be like the word gentleness. And these are words, concepts, that Paul is asking his Colossian audience to “put on” just as he will be asking our audience in the next passage to put things on. Knowing what comes before and after our passage helps us to identify similar contexts in related letters.

In Colossians 3:13, again it looks like a possible parallelism. Even if they aren’t synonymous, they are certainly related by virtue of being next to each other while being connected by the conjunction and. Bearing with one another is at the least related to forgiving complaints we have against others just as Christ has forgiven us. Can you see how recognizing relationships between phrases can help us interpret?

If we compare the NET and note the translator note next to the phrase bearing with, they help us understand the concept better by giving us a couple of other phrases. “Putting up with” and “forbearing.” Let’s make a little list about what we’ve learned.

• Forgiving another
• Putting up with
• Forbearing

In Ephesians 4:2, Paul wants this bearing to be done in love. What could Paul mean by that?

Love Kind of as a Side Note

At this point, please bear with me. I am about to say something that is contrary to many teachers' teachings. 

As a point of hermeneutics, there are no hard and fast rules about the different Greek words for love. For example, there is not one word that is for general love and another for sexual love. The word here in Ephesians 4:2 is ἀγάπη (agapē) which we've all heard often cited as selfless, sacrificial love. The “highest form”. But we don't get to define words as we like. We need to understand the words as the original audience would've understood it and as the author intended it to be heard.

If we look in the Septuagint, which we've established in previous visits was the pew Bible of Paul's immediate audience, and turn to usages of the word ἀγάπη agapē in Song of Solomon just by way of example, we are going to see a different love than your average "highest form" sort of love. Oh no. The meaning of love in those verses (SoS 2:5, SoS 3:5, SoS 5:8, SoS 7:6, just to list a few) is passionate, erotic, even craving. All the love of a couple in love. The good and right love of a married couple. 

I'm not saying that erotic, hungry love is what Paul is meaning in our passage, but the word he uses has capacity to be an extreme form of love. Passionate, fierce, devoted. 

My body literally cringes whenever I hear a teacher teaching that there are cut-and-dried definitions for the different Greek words for love and I wanted to take a moment and say "no! there aren't!" Not always. People often say things like, "In English you love cheeseburgers and love your spouse and so English is inferior and dumb. But in the superior Greek there are precise words that actually differentiate..."  but there aren’t. No matter how many times the misinformation is repeated, it doesn't change reality. End side note. And mini rant.

Phrase #2

And, speaking of mini rants, on to being eager to maintain the unity. We will break it down into a couple sections in order to try to keep thoughts straight.

Eager to Maintain

Since the ESV provides us with no cross references, I went right to Mounce get a broader idea of eager. He informs his reader that for Ephesians 4:3, Paul’s meaning is that he wants his audience to “endeavor earnestly, (to) strive.” ⁸That makes sense. After missing on that Dead Metaphor call, I wanted to make sure I’m reading right.

In my continuing effort to understand Paul’s meaning, I also glanced at the NET to see how they translated from Greek to English. Here is what I found:

...making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.[/efn_note]Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Eph 4:3). Biblical Studies Press.[/efn_note]

So ESV says eager to maintain and NET says making every effort to keep. Those, in conjunction with our definition from Mounce, demonstrate Paul’s intention to convey that his audience should be intensely effort-ing for this objective of unity in the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Unity

The only place in the NT that this word is used is here in our passage. Which, as you know, does not lend well to letting scripture define scripture. I’m betting we already know the definition of the word, but for my own self, I want to verify. Like I said before, it’s a bit of a button-word for me. So let’s ask Dr. Mounce.

 ἑνότης henotēs 2× oneness, unity, Eph. 4:3, 13*⁹

Good. Oneness. Got it. Moving on.

What Does “Of the Spirit” Mean?

In order to understand what is of the Spirit, I used this phrase in a search and began looking for how Paul in particular, and the rest of the NT writers in general, explain what is of the Spirit.

At this point, I don’t know what is in this verse list to help us, but those are a few questions that roll around in my head as I try to sift through the data, looking for clues.

Example in Romans

The first verse that catches my eye is Romans 8:5. See how it says, “things of the Spirit”? Does this verse tell us what things are of the Spirit? Let’s go look.

I’m reading Romans 8. As you read it (there is a hover-over-it, link-y thing there: Kyle did that for me, too!), can you see there seems to be a war? At the minimum, a disagreement between man’s flesh and God’s Spirit.

I jotted some observations about the contrast Paul presents on a sticky. Contrasting occurred on the sticky, but we will focus on what we see about the Spirit; the flesh isn’t the point other than a tool of juxtaposition.

Words I see associated with of the Spirit are life, free, peace. I also noticed that within the contrast here in Romans 8 is the demonstration of activity once again of the trinity. We cannot separate one Person of the Godhead and only analyze him because he is not 3 individuals. He is one and three. At the same time. <head explosion>

These words seem all cozy and warm with possible rainbows and butterflies. What else do we see in the verse list from Logos?

Example in Ephesians

Oh, looky there, something in Ephesians. Maybe we should have started there. Well, we’re here now. Ephesians 6:17 has an example of this phrase.

...and take the helmet of salvation, 
and the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God...10

When Paul discusses the armor of God in Ephesians 6, we remember that the Spirit is described as having a sword. A weapon. And it is the Word of God. Not as cozy and warm of an image. Which makes sense, because God is not a exclusively a God of love. He is at the same time and in perfection a God of justice. Those who are upright in heart carry a sword in order to execute justice.

Now our list has a variety of things of the Spirit.

Spirit

• Is life, Rom 8:2, Rom 8:6
• Sets free, Rom 8:2
• Provides peace, Rom 8:6
• Has a sword, Eph 6:17

Example in Galatians

Just one more passage: the description of the fruit of the Spirit.

Side Note

Moment of nerd-ness coming out. 
By the way, it's one fruit. Singular. In case you've never noticed that. There are not multiple fruits; one fruit, multi-faceted. The word "things" at the end is supplied by the translators to clarify. It's not in the Greek. I don't pretend to understand it all yet, but we should recognize that Paul describes this as one fruit. And it's of the Spirit. Not of me. Spirit produces it, not me. This is not a checklist for me to accomplish. There is plenty for me to work on, I think I'll let the Spirit do his job while I do mine. End side note.

Back to Galatians

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 
patience, kindness, goodness, 
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; 
against such things there is no law.11

Interesting to note that immediately following this description of the fruit is again a mention of the flesh. In case you’re wondering, the flesh is described as dead again, if the audience is in Jesus. Hm. Reading to the end of the chapter, we can see some other characteristics of being in the Spirit. This is pertinent to our effort to understand Paul what means when he talks about of the Spirit.

If we live by the Spirit, 
let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 
Let us not become conceited, 
provoking one another, 
envying one another.12

I’ve made a sticky, listing these. I’ll show you what I have done.

Reflection

As I was moving from cross reference to cross reference, I noticed similarities between the passages. In Ephesians 4, Galatians 5, and Colossians 3, Paul uses the same sorts of words as he speaks of how to treat members of the body of Christ. His context is “one another.”

This also goes back to my question about whether or not the bearing with and eager to maintain phrases are examples of parallelism. Possibly. Because Paul has a mission to get these ideas that are in these letters conveyed to his audience.

There are many opportunities in the next few passages to dig deep into some of these concepts and exact words. Sometimes we can focus on individual words with such intensity that we completely miss the point the author was trying to make.

Here in our passage, Paul’s point is about a worthy-walk, yes. But over all of that, in this particular passage I think Paul is going to focus on why. The concept of the unity of the Spirit is expounded upon with all the one‘s that are up and coming. And from that, there are gifts that are given because of the need of this unity in the faith (Ephesians 4:13). That word unity corresponds to all the one’s and the gifts are to promote that unity.

Wrap Up

Our Bible Study Bite for today is related to that.

I don’t know for sure, but I think the focus of unity is what is coming. As students of the Word, we need to not bring our preconceived ideas of what the text says (we leave our backpacks at the door), but we also need to try to keep our eyes open to what is coming. What is Paul’s point? If we lack direction and decide we will look at what interests us rather than look at what interested Paul, we risk missing his meaning.

His meaning is what God intended to tell us and therefore it is our objective, right?

Backing up away from all the details of individual words is important. Sometimes we can think we are better students if we zero in on these definitions of words. After all, it’s often said, Paul used certain words for reason, didn’t he?

Are the Words the Point or is the Point the Point?

Maybe. Or maybe he was a normal guy just like you and me, writing letters to people he loved. When you sit down to write a letter to people, do you sit down with a dictionary and labor over each individual word? Or do you focus on the overall meaning of the segment of your text?

When I’m writing to you, I will look up a word now and then to make sure I’m using a word correctly, but not all the words. Which is a little like the mini rant I had about the Greek words for love. Paul didn’t sit with his thesaurus, laboring over which love-word fit in each place. We have a tendency to elevate words to higher prominence than the point the author was making.

All of the words Paul used in those passages we talked about a few seconds ago in Ephesians 4, Galatians 5, and Colossians 3, are intended to explain the same message: treat other members of the body like this. There will be overlap, there will be nuance, of course. But the main point isn’t the words as much as the point is the point.

I’m sure this Bite will get repeated as we move further into Paul’s exhortation passages in Ephesians. I need to remember this just as much as any other student. Forest for the trees, man, I miss it so often. Working on it.

Thanks for studying with me today. If you find our time useful, would you consider sharing this with someone else who is eager to be a student of the Word?

1. Ephesians 4:1–16 (ESV)
2. Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 1242). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
3. Philippians 3:14 (ESV)
4. 2 Timothy 1:9 (ESV)
5. Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 1191). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
6. Sproul, R.C. (2009). Knowing Scripture (p. 96). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
7. Colossians 3:13 (ESV)
8. Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 1274). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
9. Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 1144). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
10. Ephesians 6:17 (ESV)
11. Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)
12. Galatians 5:25-26 (ESV)