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.