Ephesians 4:1-3

^4:1Therefore I encourage you, I, the prisoner in (the) Lord, to walk worthily of the calling of-which you were called, ^.2with all humbleness-of-mind and meekness, with patience, holding-yourselves-up-with one-another in love¹, ^.3being earnestly-diligent to keep the oneness of the spirit in the bonding-together of the peace –

Paul continues teaching the people being holy and believing in Christ Jesus. He writes: Following-on logically from what is already written (in this letter)…

·         I encourage you (exhort you, call you beside me as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms in order to help them to do what is right)

o   emphatically I,

o   the prisoner in the Lord (the bound-person within the sphere of action of the Master, who is Christ Jesus; refer to Ephesians 3:1),

…to walk (the verb “walk” literally means: to move the feet around, go on foot; and figuratively it means: to walk around during the everyday living life, to behave or conduct yourselves)…

·         worthily (in a manner that is of equal-value, of like-worth, as being correctly weighed on a scales and thus deserving)

o   of the calling of-which you were called (the invitation that you were invited with, it was issued to you to/for salvation in Christ, and you accepted it when you believed what God says regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you received the gift of holy spirit; refer to Ephesians 1:13, 2:18 and 22),

·         with all humbleness-of-mind (in company and association with all/every humility, lowliness of your mind's thoughts, in the position of having humble thinking with respect to what God says and the things of God)

·         and meekness (tender receptiveness or receptivity towards God and the things of God),

·         with patience (in company and association with long-suffering, long-forbearance towards or with others, long-temperedness),

·         holding yourselves in an upright-position with one-another (putting up with and enduring, sustaining yourselves with each other)

o   in love¹ (the word "love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love – within the sphere of action of Godly-love, which all holy-people received from God via the Christ when we received the gift of holy spirit; refer to Ephesians 1:4 and 3:17),

·         being earnestly-diligent (having speedy application or performance, assiduity, endeavoring with earnestness)

o   to keep (keep an eye on, have in safekeeping, and therefore not neglecting or violating but able to watch-over, take-care-of, maintain, and be observant of)

o   the oneness of the spirit (the unity of the holy spirit-life within all holy-people; refer to Ephesians 1:13, 2:18 and 22)

§  in the bonding-together (within the sphere of action of that-which binds together with a band or fetter as making prisoner, that-which causes things to be bound in conjunction with one-another as making a bundle, the binding-togetherness)

§  which is consisting of the peace (the tranquil harmony that you and I and all holy-people have, the tranquility, peaceful wholeness, the quality and state of all holy-people being without any strife or disagreement with God in the spirit category).

“The peace” is not referring to some signed document between two governments agreeing not to attack each other, nor is it two religious groups making a pact to join together to accomplish some so-called “good deed”!

Christ Jesus is “the peace” – he is binding us together with one-another, with himself, and with God our Father, as detailed in Ephesians 2:14-18.

[Reference: Acts 20:19; I Corinthians 6:17, 12:13; Ephesians 1:18, 2:14-18, 3:1; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 3:12-15; I Thessalonians 2:12.]http://www.createspace.com/3352372