The new man is a new creation.

The temple -- `fitly framed

The body -- `fitly joined together'

together' (2:19-22).

(4:7 -16).

Its present manifestation.

What a wonderful thought this is.  Let us just think of the figure of a

pair of balances.  On the one scale all the blessings, the riches, the

glories of our calling as revealed in the first three chapters of Ephesians,

on the other scale the walk that should balance these blessings, these

riches, these glories, the walk that should bring the beam of the balance to

the horizontal, the walk that is `worthy of the calling'.  There is a sense

of comparison in the word.  In Romans 8:18 the apostle says that:

`the sufferings of the present time are unworthy of comparison (ouk

axia) with the glory about to be revealed in us' (Author's

The first occurrence of the word axios in the LXX

is suggestive of the idea of something `equivalent'.  Abraham, when

negotiating the purchase of the cave of Machpelah said:

`for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me' (Gen. 23:9).

The Hebrew is given in the margin `full money', the Greek version being

arguriou tou axiou.  This was weighed in the balances to the last shekel of

the 400 as we see in verse 16.  This same sense is felt in Job 11:6:

`God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth'.

Here again the LXX uses axios.  The idea of comparison is seen in

Proverbs 3:15, `not to be compared unto her'.  Such is the word that the

apostle uses at the opening of his exhortation, `walk worthy'.  Walk so that

there may be an evident comparison between doctrine and practice.

The word axios is an adverb, and standing alone would be translated

`worthily', but the word does not stand alone in any of its occurrences in

the New Testament; it is always followed by such an expression as `of the

Lord', `of the calling', `of the gospel'.  `Worthy of the Lord' must be taken

as an adverbial phrase.  `As becometh saints' (Rom. 16:2) is literally

`worthy of saints'.  `After a godly sort' (3 John 6) is literally `worthy of

God'.  The word axios comes three times in the Prison Epistles and in each

case it is associated either with the calling, the gospel, or the Lord.  We

are not allowed to think merely of the walk, not merely of walking worthily,

not simply to be studying our walk as such, but ever to think of the walk as

it is related to something higher and nobler than ourselves.

In Ephesians 4:1 we have `walk worthy of the calling'

In Philippians 1:27 we have `manner of life worthy as it becometh the

In Colossians 1:10 we have `walk worthy of the Lord'.