Close intimacy or familiarity; intimate fellowship or intercourse with

Intimate knowledge gained by long study or acquaintance; a practical

knowledge of things.

Behaviour or manner of life, conduct, deportment, habits.

And last of all familiar or intimate talk.

When therefore the apostle speaks about our 'conversation' he refers to

Walk not to Talk, and even the world has proverbs that say:

'Words to the heat of deeds, too cold breath gives' (Shakespeare).

'Your actions make such a noise, I cannot hear what you say'.

'Actions speak louder than words'.

The word 'conversation' occurs twice in the Old Testament where it translates

the Hebrew word derek 'a way'.  'Upright conversation' (Psa. 37:14); 'Him

that ordereth his conversation aright' (Psa. 50:23).  Psalm 37 contains the

word derek five times, and in four places the Authorized Version translates

it by the word 'way':

'Commit thy way unto the Lord'.

'Who prospereth in his way'.

'The upright of way (margin)'.

'He delighteth in his way'.

'And keep his way' (Psa. 37:5,7,14,23,34).

In Psalm 50:23 the margin reads 'Disposeth his way'.  Conversation therefore

in the Old Testament does not refer to Talk but to Walk.  The occurrences of

the word 'conversation' in the New Testament are confined to

the epistles and translate the Greek words anastrophe, anastrepho and tropos,

meaning primarily something that 'turns', then behaves.  In addition, the

Middle or Passive of anastrepho is also rendered abide, be used, behave

thyself, live and pass (the time), and tropos is elsewhere translated manner,

means, way.  In Galatians, Paul refers to the days preceding his conversion,

'Ye have heard of my conversation (anastrophe) in time past in the

Jews' religion' (1:13),

and immediately goes on to speak of 'deeds' rather than 'words'; persecuting

and wasting the church of God and of profiting in the Jews' religion above

many of his equals, and being exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his

fathers (Gal. 1:13,14).  In the epistle to the Ephesians Paul reminded them

that they too 'in times past', that they together with all men had had their

conversation in the lusts of the flesh, a passage which echoes the line in

the preceding verse which uses the word 'walk' instead of 'conversation', and

linking together the past of both Jews and Gentiles so far as their walk or

conversation is concerned.