Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 4:1

"I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called," — Ephesians 4:1 (ASV)

Does the retrospective “then” connect only with 3:20–21 or with what precedes those verses? It is most probable that Paul has in mind certain references in chs. 1–3 to spiritual privileges and the Christian’s calling (3:6, 12, 14–19; cf. 1:18; 4:4). It is “as a prisoner for the Lord” (cf. 3:1; 6:20) that Paul makes his appeal. The verb “urge” (GK 4151) here means “to exhort.” He urges the Ephesians to lead the sort of life that matches their Christian vocation. “Worthy” (GK 547; lit., “bringing up the other beam of the scales”) suggests that there must be a balance between one’s profession and one’s practice. So Paul provides a criterion by which possible courses of action can be weighed. Christians will always seek to do what is most in keeping with their “calling.” By definition this is a calling they have received, not one they have acquired by self-effort. Those who share such a divine call constitute the church (ekklesia; GK 1711), the “called-out company” of those who are in Christ.