Ephesians 4:1-3

Ephesians 4:1-3

Therefore, I – a prisoner in the Lord – exhort you all to walk around in a manner worthy of the calling which you all were being called with every humble attitude and perfect control of oneself, with patience, while bearing with one another in love, while working with intense effort to retain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Here we get a great description of how Christians should live.  First we get two really neat Greek words.  The first is “humble attitude.” (ταπεινοφροσύνη) My sources indicate that this is a word that Christians coined and therefore was not in use before Jesus’ apostles took the scene.  You see, up until Christ the word “humble” was an insult.  People spoke of humbleness in the same context that they spoke of people who cowered, had ill-repute, or who were ignoble.  After all, the belief was that if you were in the right, you should stand up strong!  Christians knew that Jesus died humbly for them and called us to be humble in Him.  Thus, they coined this word to indicate a new kind of humbleness.  This is a humbleness that comes from knowing oneself to be a sinner.  It is also a humbleness that comes from willingly setting aside one’s life in order to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:19-20) and live the life He has called you to live.  That is what Paul means when he tells us to live with a humble attitude.

Do you live in this kind of humbleness?  Is your humbleness about asserting God’s greatness by setting yourself aside or is it really about proclaiming your own weaknesses?  Why is this an important distinction to make?

Second Thought:

The second cool word that we have is “perfect control of oneself.” (πραΰτης) If you can read Greek letters, you see an immediate connection between this word and praus (πραΰς).  Praus means being submitted to a higher control.  Prautes literally means living in a manner poised for being praus.  It is having such control over oneself that you are always ready to obey the greater will of God.  It is a word that assumes submission to a higher authority because it comes from the root word praus.  As we saw in the first thought, Paul tells us that we should first be humble and then follows it up here by telling us to be in such control of our lives that we are ready to submit and follow the leading of Christ.  This is not an easy calling.  But it is a noble calling and one that is worthy of pursuing with all our heart.

Are you in perfect control of yourself?  What does that mean to you?  How can being in perfect control actually help you be useful to God?

Third Thought:

We then get two more descriptions of the Christian ideal.  Notice we have several expressions of patience.  We are to be patient in general, and I have to believe that what Paul is doing here is reminding us to not get out ahead of God.  Then Paul tells us to be patient with one another – to bear with one another.  We are to accept that none of us are perfect and we are to be willing to accept mistakes while helping one another through them.  Finally, we are told to work with intense effort.  Being Christian is no easy task.  It takes effort.  In fact, it takes intense effort.  I am willing to bet that it took intense effort for Jesus to pass through Gethsemane and die upon the cross.  If we are to follow the example of Jesus, then we will need intense effort as well.

Are you particularly patient?  After reading this, should you be?  Do you work hard?  After reading this, how do you feel about your level of effort with respect to the Kingdom of God?

NOTE: before moving on from this passage, notice that Paul again identifies himself with being a prisoner.  See Ephesians 3:1 for more information, or click HERE to read the blog post for more information on this concept.  The important question to ask is: how does thinking of oneself as a prisoner fit with a humble attitude, being in perfect control of oneself, being patient, and working with intense effort?

Passage for Tomorrow: Ephesians 4:4-6