Ephesians 4.2a-The Believer Lives Their Life in Manner Worthy of Their Calling with Humility and Gentleness
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday October 26, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:2a-The Believer Lives Their Life in a Manner Worthy of Their Calling with Humility and Gentleness
Lesson # 196
Ephesians 4:1 Therefore, I myself, the prisoner because of the Lord’s will, exhort and encourage each and every one of you as a corporate unit to live your lives in a manner worthy of your effectual calling with which each and every one of you as a corporate unit have been effectually called 2 with the fullest expression of that which characterizes humility resulting in that which characterizes gentleness. Specifically, by each and every one of you as a corporate unit continuing to make it your habit of tolerating one another with that which characterizes patience by means of the practice of divine love. (Lecturer’s translation)
Now, in the first exhortation that appears in Ephesians 4:1-3, we have the noun tapeinophrosunē (ταπεινοφροσύνη), which pertains to the disposition of valuing or assessing oneself appropriately.
In context, this assessment is made by the Christian of themselves in light of their salvation, which is based upon the merits of Jesus Christ and the merits of His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father and emphatically not based upon their own merits.
It pertains to the believer viewing themselves from God’s perspective meaning they are sinners saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
It expresses itself in obedience to the Father’s will, which manifests itself in loving and serving others.
It expresses itself in putting others ahead of yourself.
This word pertains to subordinating one’s self-interest to the best interests of others.
It is expressed by the believer who regards their fellow believer more highly than themselves and subordinates their interests to the best interests of their fellow believer (Philippians 2:3-4).
The anarthrous construction of this noun tapeinophrosunē (ταπεινοφροσύνη) emphasizes the qualitative nature of humility or in other words, that which characterizes humility.
On the other hand, it is also definite in that it emphasizes that living one’s life in a manner worthy of the effectual calling with which the believer has been effectually called by God the Father at their justification is characterized by humility.
In Ephesians 4:2, Paul lists humility as first because his emphasis is on unity because the opposite of humility, namely pride and arrogance promotes disunity.
The conjunction kai (καί) not only connects the concepts of humility and gentleness but also marks gentleness as one of “the resultant” characteristic expressions of humility.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that humility is the attitude of the believer which along with the practice of divine love enable them to exhibit gentleness when interacting with their fellow believer.
The believer can never manifest gentleness when interacting with their fellow believer if they do not possess a humble mental attitude.
They can never manifest the godly virtue of gentleness if they fail to see that they are no better than their fellow believer.
This virtue will never be exhibited by the believer if they fail to view themselves as declared justified by the Father based upon the merits of the merits of the person of Jesus Christ and the merits of His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father and emphatically not based upon their own merits.
They can never manifest the godly virtue of gentleness if they don’t put their fellow believer ahead of themselves and subordinate their own self-interest to the best interests of their fellow believer.
They will never manifest gentleness if they do not regard their fellow believer more highly than themselves.
The noun prautēs (πραΰτης) pertains to acting in a manner that is gentle, mild and even-tempered.
It pertains to gentleness of attitude and behavior, in contrast with harshness in one’s dealings with others.
Therefore, in Ephesians 4:2, this word signifies the recipients of this epistle acting in a gentle manner when interacting with each other.
The anarthrous construction of the noun prautēs (πραΰτης) is qualitative in that it emphasizes the qualitative nature of gentleness or in other words, that which characterizes gentleness.
On the other hand, it is also definite in that it emphasizes that living one’s life in a manner worthy of the effectual calling with which the believer has been effectually called by God the Father at their justification is characterized by gentleness.
Both the nouns tapeinophrosunē (ταπεινοφροσύνη), “humility” and prautēs (πραΰτης), “gentleness” are both modified by the genitive feminine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), which functions as a marker of the highest degree.
Therefore, this adjective means “all” but in the sense of “the fullest” expression of humility resulting in “the fullest” expression of that which characterizes gentleness.
This word speaks of the “fullest” expression of humility resulting in the “fullest” expression of that which characterizes gentleness in the sense of the believer possessing and exhibiting all the distinguishing characteristics of humility and gentleness to the fullest extent.
The practice of exercising humility and gentleness are produced in the life of the believer through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Specifically, they are all reproduced in the believer by the Holy Spirit when they exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another, which enables the Holy Spirit to manifest in the life of the believer humility and gentleness when interacting with their fellow believer.
The adjective pas (πᾶς) appears in the first attributive position (adjective-noun), which means that it is ascribing greater emphasis to that which characterizes humility as well as one of its resultant expressions, namely, that which characterizes gentleness.
These nouns tapeinophrosunē (ταπεινοφροσύνη), “humility,” prautēs (πραΰτης), “gentleness” are the object of the preposition meta (μετά), which functions as a marker of manner.
Therefore, this indicates that this preposition is marking the fullest expression of that which characterizes humility resulting in that which characterizes gentleness as “the manner in which” the recipients of this epistle were to live their lives in a manner worth of their effectual calling with which they were effectually called by God the Father at the moment of their justification.
Therefore, I interpret the prepositional phrase meta pasēs tapeinophrosynēs kai prautētos (μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πραΰτητος) as modifying the infinitival clause: en kyriō axiōs peripatēsai tēs klēseōs hēs eklēthēte (ἐν κυρίῳ ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit to live your lives in a manner worthy of your effectual calling with which each and every one of you as a corporate unit have been effectually called” (Author’s translation), which appears in Ephesians 4:1.
In our study of Ephesians 4:1, we noted that the verb parakaleō (παρακαλέω) contains the ideas of Paul both encouraging and exhorting the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia living their lives in a manner worth of their effectual call with which they have been called by God the Father.
We also noted that the verb peripateō (περιπατέω) means “to live, to conduct one’s life” and is used in a figurative sense with reference to the lifestyle of the recipients of this epistle.
In this verse, the referent of the accusative second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) is the recipients of this letter and it functions as the accusative direct object of this verb peripateō (περιπατέω).
We also noted that the peripateō (περιπατέω) functions as a complementary infinitive, which means that it is completing the thought of the verb parakaleō (παρακαλέω).
Along with the accusative second personal plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), these two verbs form a complete verbal idea.
Therefore, here in Ephesians 4:2, the prepositional phrase meta pasēs tapeinophrosynēs kai prautētos (μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πραΰτητος) presents the manner in which the recipients of this epistle were to live their lives in a manner worthy of their effectual calling with which they have been called by God the Father at the moment of justification.
