4:1 I therefore, {1} the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the {a} vocation wherewith ye are called,
(1) Another part of the epistle, containing precepts of the Christian life, the sum of which is this, that every man behave himself as it is fitting for so excellent a grace of God.
(a) By this is meant the general calling of the faithful, which is this, to be holy as our God is holy.
4:1 The Unity of the Church
SUMMARY OF EPHESIANS 4:
The Exhortation to Unity. The Seven Bonds of Unity. The Various Gifts Given to the Church. The Offices for Its Edification. The Church Compacted in Christ. The Gentiles Called from Their Former Lives. A New and Holy Life Commanded.
I, therefore. Practical duties are now urged which grow out of their glorious privileges in Christ.
The prisoner of the Lord. See PNT Eph 3:1. Compare Phm 1:9. He was a prisoner because he was a servant of the Lord.
Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. They had been called to a glorious calling, as he had shown in chapter 3. The Christian has been called to the highest calling with which man has ever been honored.
4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord - Imprisoned for his sake and for your sakes; for the sake of the gospel which he had preached amongst them. This was therefore a powerful motive to them to comfort him under it by their obedience.
4:1-6 Nothing is pressed more earnestly in the Scriptures, than to walk as becomes those called to Christ's kingdom and glory. By lowliness, understand humility, which is opposed to pride. By meekness, that excellent disposition of soul, which makes men unwilling to provoke, and not easily to be provoked or offended. We find much in ourselves for which we can hardly forgive ourselves; therefore we must not be surprised if we find in others that which we think it hard to forgive. There is one Christ in whom all believers hope, and one heaven they are all hoping for; therefore they should be of one heart. They had all one faith, as to its object, Author, nature, and power. They all believed the same as to the great truths of religion; they had all been admitted into the church by one baptism, with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as the sign of regeneration. In all believers God the Father dwells, as in his holy temple, by his Spirit and special grace.
