An Alphabetical Analysis
Volume 5 - Dispensational Truth - Page 244 of 328
INDEX
both there is the feeling of urgency.  The apostle commended Onesiphorus in
his service to himself, and as a proof that Onesiphorus had not been ashamed
of his chain he added:
`But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found
me' (2 Tim. 1:17).
Spoude is translated `business' in Romans 12:11, and there, the words
`not slothful' are added, emphasizing the urgency that resides in the very
word itself, for our English word is of course `busy-ness' and retains the
ideas of urgency, haste and earnest endeavour.  In both 2 Timothy 2:15 and
Ephesians 4:3 we have something that demands of us our full attention and
earnest endeavour, in fact, calls upon us to `make it our business'.  The
next link that binds these two passages together is that which at first
appears to keep them apart.  The one passage says `make it your business to
Divide' while the other says `make it your business to Unite'.  These two
principles, so apparently contrary, are but two sides of one whole, as will
immediately be seen.
Suppose we seek to unite all who hold a common creed, or all who were
born in a certain town, or all who are of a certain stature, would not the
very act of uniting them together, be the obverse of dividing them from those
who held a different creed, or were born elsewhere, or who were taller or
shorter?  It is quite impossible to keep the Unity of the Spirit, of
Ephesians 4 unless we put into practice the dividing of 2 Timothy 2:15.  The
very segregation of Ephesians 4 is an act that supposes that there are other
companies.  If `uniting' is impossible without `dividing' how necessary it
must be that the dividing be `right', and the uniting be of `the Spirit', and
how fitting it appears that both injunctions open with the same words `make
it your business' or as rendered in the A.V. `study' and `endeavouring'.
The verses under consideration in Ephesians 4 are an integral part of
the epistle and it is most essential that they be kept in their place.  We
have elsewhere shown that there are seven items of doctrine balanced by seven
corresponding items of practice in this epistle, and it would be strange
indeed if the very first item of practice that is enjoined upon members of
this high calling, should, in reality, have nothing particularly to do with
it.  Yet strange as it may appear, this attitude was actually taken by the
editor of a magazine dealing with the Mystery, and it seems incumbent upon
the apostle, if such had been the case, to have prefaced his exhortation by
an explanatory note to the effect that these seven items did not actually
belong to the Mystery at all!  There is not the slightest indication of such
a note in the passage, and we believe most readers will realize that when the
prisoner of the Lord exhorts his readers to walk worthy of the calling
wherewith they have been called, he will not, without warning, revert back to
1 Corinthians 12.
The testimony of the Lord's prisoner in Ephesians 3 is most certainly
related to the dispensation of the Mystery.  The corresponding testimony of
the same prisoner in Ephesians 4 is as surely related to that selfsame
revelation, and the first step in the walk that is worthy of this high
calling is the endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace.  The `peace' that binds this unity together is found in Ephesians
2:14.  The `One Spirit' is found in Ephesians 2:18.  The `One Body', the `One
God and Father' likewise are found in Ephesians 2:16 -18.