I N D E X
and in the world (2:11,12), and to see to it that our walk shall not be in
accord with either of these.
Let us once again be permitted to bring before the mind's eye, the
balances, as we repeat the exhortaion `Walk worthy' (see page 4).
The Walk and the calling
(Eph. 4:1)
It will be noticed that, when referring to himself as the `prisoner' in
3:1, the apostle calls himself `The prisoner of Christ Jesus' (R.V.), but that
in chapter 4 he styles himself `the prisoner of the Lord'.  These titles are not
used at random.  `Christ Jesus' speaks of the ascended and risen Saviour in Whom
we find our acceptance, our ground of blessing, our hope of glory.  `Lord'
speaks of our relationship with Him in the practical sphere:
`Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.  If I then,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's
feet ... the servant is not greater than his Lord' (John 13:13-16).
In the Authorized Version of this epistle the title `Lord', standing
alone, occurs sixteen times.  Of this number only one occurrence is found in the
three doctrinal chapters (2:21, `An holy temple in the Lord').  The remaining
fifteen occurrences are all found in the three practical chapters:
The prisoner in the Lord, beseeches the saints to walk worthy (4:1).
The unity of the Spirit gathers around the one Lord as its centre (4:5).
Paul testifies in the Lord that the saints should not henceforth
walk as the Gentiles (4:17).
As light in the Lord, the believer should walk as a child of light (5:8).
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord (5:10),
and so through the whole series.
`In Christ' expresses our doctrinal position, our standing.
`In the Lord' indicates our practical relationship, our state.
I may address a fellow believer as a dear brother `in Christ' far more
freely than I can call him a brother `in the Lord'.  This distinction must be
remembered when applying the teaching of 1 Corinthians 7:39:
`She is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only In The Lord.
This limitation means much more than that marriage should not be
contemplated as between a saved and an unsaved person.  Many an unhappy and
profitless marriage has been contracted by two children of God.  The trouble has
arisen from the fact that though they have been one `in Christ', they have not
been one `in the Lord'.  They did not seek the same thing; they did not believe
or practise the same thing.  Their callings may have differed, and division and
bitterness have often been the result.  The apostle was a prisoner not only of
Christ Jesus, but of the Lord.  As such he could exhort those who recognized the
same Lord to walk worthy of their calling, and later, exhort them to consider
his own walk as a pattern.
The theme of chapter 4 may be discovered by noticing the way in which he
returns to his subject.  First he speaks of the walk positively, as worthy of
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