With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Paul as the Lord's prisoner pleads for a life matching the calling, lived out in complete humility and gentleness, with patience and loving tolerance that guards the unity of the Spirit in peace. These are inward qualities learned from Jesus that join finite people to God, adorn the soul above outward finery, and reshape manners, habits, spirit and labor. The forbearing love comes from Christ, not from human impulse, and it bears much without seeking revenge by word or act, putting self aside to treat others with kindness, courtesy and brotherly honor. God has joined people of different minds, abilities and temperaments so that no one bears the burden alone, but each supplies what another lacks and all blend and work in concert as one body under one Leader. Such harmony among varied dispositions is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners, manifesting in daily life the power of the truth and the character of Christ.
Calling and Context
The verse is a beseeching to walk worthy of the calling, and walking worthy means living with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That worthy walk is the path to unity, marked by humility and gentleness and patience and lovingly bearing with one another, manifesting in life the power of the truth by exemplifying Christ's character and the blessings of His salvation. It belongs with one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. With that oneness goes grace given to each according to the gift of Christ for perfecting the saints and edifying the body until all come to unity of the faith and full maturity in Christ. Every institution of the work must bring this word into practical life by putting away selfish striving for place and power and working together in unity.
The instruction was spoken by the Spirit through Paul as the prisoner of the Lord beseeching believers to this humble, gentle, patient, lovingly forbearing life. It was given not for the church in Paul's day alone but designed by God for believers now, pressing each to examine what he is doing to preserve unity in the bonds of peace. As members of one body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, divisions dishonor Christ's religion before the world and give occasion to enemies of truth, so the instruction is positive and decided and must be read, studied, received and fully practiced with no half-way work. Walking humbly in this way is walking yoked with Christ as co-laborers with Him, and God's blessing attends that humble walk to accomplish a work as enduring as eternity.
The verse is one of the warnings revealing the peculiar privileges and dangers of the Ephesian church. Believing and practicing the truth of the gospel is required, with readiness to sacrifice everything for the Master, not living to self, and cooperating with Christ and following His example as one created anew in Him. The reason is that every power of being and every moment of time is bought with the precious blood of God's only begotten Son, so man is not his own proprietor. The verse belongs to the description of the Lord's manner of working and to instruction for managing His work as a whole. That manner of working shows the need for a variety of gifts, with every gift acknowledged as essential to success, and with different gifts and lines of service combined in harmony rather than separated.
The chapter is solemn instruction that means much and must be read most solemnly and impressed upon minds. It confronts hard-spiritedness that comes from being strangers to the working of the Holy Spirit. It calls for a great reformation in words and works and spiritual understanding, in which believers catch the inspiration of angels in the heavenly courts and daily breathe the atmosphere of heaven. The call to lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering and forbearing one another in love, belongs to keeping the armor on in constant battle for life against Satan and his host, with no release and no moment to lay it aside. Safety is in circumspect words and acts, with sobriety rather than levity, and in being instant in prayer and on watch every moment, especially in temptation when self rises in self-gratulation and pride and when combativeness, resistance, evil surmisings, uncharitable thoughts, and censure are aroused.
The instruction of Ephesians 4 and 5 with the armor of Ephesians 6:10-18 is to be heeded so that not a pin or pillar is moved from the building of the work of the last sixty years and every effort of Satan to tear up the foundation of faith in the third angel's message is withstood. It is a warning for every soul in the last days calling for faith shown in works, gathering every distinct ray of light while moral darkness grows, bearing aloft the third angel's message, setting the churches in order and closing the door of unbelief, because seducing power is increasing and those who do not make straight paths for their feet will cause the weak to be turned out of the way. Even the most splendid temple amounts to nothing if hearts are not right, so the greatest anxiety must be over spiritual condition. True worship requires reverence in entering and leaving the house of God where He meets with His people in the presence of angels, teaching children reverence and directing their thoughts heavenward, because believers themselves are the temple of the living God.
Meaning of the Virtues
Lowliness and meekness are inward qualities of great worth, learned from Jesus in His school by keeping the eye fixed on Him as the model rather than on mere outward, superficial attainments. They adorn the soul, connect finite people with God, and are valued by God above costly outward finery and dress, so that those who put on Christ and walk in them are counted as truly well adorned and beautified with salvation. This inward adornment must shape words and conduct, producing constant improvement and inward transformation of manners, habits, spirit, and labor, and it fits believers for the society of heavenly angels. Unkind, irritating speech is inconsistent with the Christian life and shows need of conversion, while meekness and lowliness with patience and loving forbearance help preserve spiritual unity and peace, requiring avoidance of evil speaking and of claiming the right to judge one another.
Forbearing love refuses self-exaltation, high self-esteem, and striving for greatness and highest honors, which bring discord and dissension. It requires not making self the center and not setting individual opinions as infallible, but respecting the opinions of others, counseling together, and being tractable, teachable, kind, courteous, and tenderly caretaking, with brotherly affection preferring one another in honor. Where this is practiced the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is kept, and the peace of Christ abides and rules in hearts. Longsuffering bears something, yea many things, without seeking to be avenged by word or act. The love that so forbears comes from Christ, not from human impulses, and it supports harmony so believers do not hinder one another's work.
Forbearing one another in love means putting away all selfishness and working together in love and unity in response to the infinite love of Jesus in dying. It means loving as Christ loved, with the same bearing the Lord shows toward the ungrateful, the forgetful of mercies, and the unbelieving, instead of being relentless, pitiless, unmerciful, hurting and wounding brethren while excusing waywardness in oneself. It requires a complete change to cultivate love and delight in helping one another, to be kind, forbearing, and patient with one another's errors, to keep sharp criticisms to oneself, and to hope all things and believe all things of brethren. Practicing lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance requires humbling self before God in contrition of soul and repenting of a discourteous, uncourteous spirit. It requires cultivating esteem and confidence in brethren instead of making a great matter of things unworthy of notice, so workers can walk together in agreement yoked with Christ and cooperating with Him.
Walking humbly with God as yoked co-laborers with Christ brings God's blessing to accomplish a work as enduring as eternity. This different standard of Christianity is seen when men and women realize their own weakness and their entire dependence upon God. It reflects God who is love and whose holy law is an expression of His love. It means practicing truth in words, in spirit, and in action, serving the Lord in lowliness of mind with a humble, contrite spirit. It forbids choosing one's own society and separating from brethren who will not put away their ideas and plans, and requires linking up with them in cheerfulness, love, and contentment, making room for them to connect and supply deficiencies.
Unity in the Church
Humility, meekness, patience, and loving forbearance keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and this positive and decided instruction gives abundance of light and grace and must be read, studied, received, and put into full practice with no halfway work in establishing unity among professing Christians. Walking worthy of the calling means living in this way as new men and women in Christ Jesus who have put on the new man, which is peace, grace, and righteousness. It means being guarded against giving expression to evil thoughts, suspicion, and distrust, speaking no evil and sowing no evil seed, going alone to pray instead, and yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit and to holy angels so that only commendation, love, and kindly, uplifting, encouraging words are expressed under holiness and charity. This is the battle against the satanic, evil will striving for mastery, and it is the counsel every church needs, for these qualities support unity among people whose characters and gifts differ, with God working through that diversity for the perfection of the church, and they support unity by rejecting evil in self and treating others rightly so that a converted, Christlike life can draw people to Christ.
God has associated together men of different minds, experience, abilities, dispositions, and temperaments so that no one bears the burden of the work alone in unsanctified independence, but they counsel with and assist one another so the deficiency of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. Mutual contact in kindness, forbearance, and love polishes, refines, and elevates the mind, and because believers are dependent upon one another they must hold back free-flowing bitter words that bruise the soul of others and the speaker's own soul more, put away evil surmisings, and cultivate forbearance, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and love, bound together by human brotherhood. The grace of Christ enables setting self aside rather than insisting the work follow one's own ideas, which means dying to self and living to Christ and uniting human weakness to His strength after the example of Christ who descended from heaven from the throne of God clothing His divinity with humanity to show what human beings may become. So the strong unchristlike traits of character are softened, subdued, and purified that believers may unite with one another in lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and love that they may be one with Christ in God, recognizing they differ from others of varied minds and temperaments no more than others differ from them.
No one can be a good soldier of the cross who works independently of fellow workers and regards his own judgment as best, but sincere devoted workers in a large field must act in concert under one supreme Leader, blending together with one supplying what the other lacks. Obeying this brings help because the Lord knows what is best, so that the people of God work as a perfect whole and the Lord works with them, which requires working together rather than treating any one person as the whole, with order and united action in the church. These same qualities guard unity by requiring that workers not treat their own judgment as the only one God guides, but respect that God works through others and leave them free to serve according to His direction.
Active, determined people must take forbearance and love with perfect unity to themselves and labor zealously and perseveringly, with hearts softened and subdued by the grace of Christ and spirits humble and full of human kindness, instead of gathering up the strongest reproofs and driving them upon others like a whip. They must put away faultfinding, criticism, envy, jealousy, suspicion, and evil speaking, and treat fellow believers with genuine love. Kept in this way, forbearance keeps them from creating prejudice and from causing dissension and weakening the churches, and such unity allows the Spirit to work and makes God's love visible to the world.
As members of one body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, with one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, believers manifest in daily life the power of truth by meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love. Divisions in the church dishonor the religion of Christ before the world and give occasion to the enemies of truth to justify their course, and the instruction was designed by God for believers now, pressing each to examine what he is doing to preserve unity in the bonds of peace. God's plain plan so revealed keeps unity in His church so its members reveal a healthy religious experience, keeping believers united in obedience to the commandments of God and in the faith of the Scriptures, bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God. Such unity practices the golden rule of doing to others as they would have others do to them, labors together with God, partakes of the divine nature having escaped corruption through lust, and by courtesy, unwavering fidelity, justice, and mercy magnifies God's perfect law and demonstrates that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, bearing a living testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son and valuing heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience. Life loyal to God's law includes humility, gentleness, patience, and lovingly bearing with one another, in accord with the call to truthful, peaceful conduct toward neighbors and obedience that brings blessing, shown in love as Christ loved and in mutual help as members of one family in Christ whose lives testify to the gospel before the world.
The fruit of maintaining unity is lowliness, meekness, patience, and loving forbearance shown in words and actions as proof that Christ's grace is present in the heart. A worthy Christian calling lived out through these qualities toward fellow workers enables unselfish service, mutual help, and Christian fellowship as believers work together for the honor of God and the good of others, supporting the unity of the church and its members' shared life in the Spirit and putting practical Christianity into action. This love comes from Christ, not from human impulses, and these qualities support harmony in the church and keep believers from hindering one another's work. Every institution established in the interests of the work must take heed to what is written and bring this word into practical life, putting away selfish striving for place and power and working together in unity.
Christlike Witness to World
Walking worthy means showing in daily life the power of truth through meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love, and so exemplifying the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation. Humility, gentleness, patience, and lovingly bearing with one another mark a life worthy of God's calling and preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As members of one body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, believers of varied dispositions are to live in harmony and union. Such harmony is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners, and it requires characters molded in harmony with His character and wills surrendered to His will.
Living worthily means rejecting evil in oneself and treating others with lowliness, meekness, patience, and loving forbearance. God's plain plan for keeping unity keeps believers united in obedience to the commandments of God and in the faith of the Scriptures, bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God. That unity practices the golden rule of doing to others as they would have others do to them, labors together with God, partakes of the divine nature having escaped worldly corruption through lust, and by courtesy, unwavering fidelity, justice, and mercy magnifies God's perfect law as converting the soul. It is shown in love for one another as Christ loved, and in mutual help as members of one family in Christ, so that lives together testify to the gospel before the world. A converted, Christlike life can thus draw people to Christ, bearing a living testimony that the Father loves believers even as He loves His Son, valuing God's great gift and using heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience.
God's servants reveal Him to the world through a humble, careful way of life marked by love, forbearance, long-suffering, and gentleness. This requires examining self and humbling the heart before God, purifying the heart by obedience to the truth, keeping the way of the Lord, and reforming harsh treatment of brethren so that converting power is manifest and an unconverted spirit is replaced. The same qualities were at work when Whitefield and the Wesleys, despite doctrinal differences that threatened to divide them, learned meekness and were reconciled through mutual forbearance and charity. Their shared work and prayer to bring people to Christ strengthened their friendship.
Daily Life Applications
The calling of fellow workers and ministers high and low is high and holy, and to walk worthy of it is to walk with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Those traits are the essential characteristics of all called to minister to the spiritual necessities of people, the way to faithfully represent Christ in ministry as evangelists wherever people can be reached, rather than measuring work by how much is done on the right hand and on the left. Whatever natural temperament they have must be subdued so every feature of faith is presented in the spirit and grace Christ gives, and every branch of the work carried on as Christ carried on His ministry, with those who know most and teach most walking most circumspectly in these things.
Ministers must soften the spirit and lay aside a stiff, unfeeling, authoritative manner of carrying the work, acting toward brethren in letter and conversation as becomes a Christian. Forbearing one another in love means sacrificing personal feelings and ideas, being willing and anxious to talk matters over to come to a better understanding, proceeding with calm consideration and wise treatment, and making every effort to harmonize and preserve union among leading workers rather than preferring disunion and holding off to repulse. No hasty decisions are to be made that might later be regretted and place the work in a hard situation endangering it.
Gospel dignity is not maintaining ministerial position but laying it aside to wait on oneself where possible, to encourage industry by example, and to engage in useful physical labor for health when not pressed by other duties, following the divine Master. The meekness, love, longsuffering and forbearance of the verse, together with sobriety, pity and courtesy, must mark character after the Lord's example. Position does not make a worker superior or give right to rule others arbitrarily, but should lead to seeking God in prayer and offering counsel with humility, and when someone is troubled to join him in prayer and make oneself one with him.
The gospel is to be carried to all nations and peoples in meekness and lowliness of spirit, with patience and loving forbearance toward one another, and ministers must examine their own hearts to stand in this spirit rather than in persecution. This same meekness and lowliness is to govern God's people in their work when facing opposition over Sunday labor. Where truth as it is in Jesus breaks down national prejudices and jealousies, hearts blend as one, and those imitating Christ as the one model are in perfect harmony, loving as brethren, esteeming others better than themselves, kind and courteous, meek and lowly, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit, of the same mind and judgment and speaking the same things. As workers unite in saving souls in sympathy with Christ's work of love and mercy, jealousy, fault-finding, envy and strife cease and small differences lose importance.
Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary work must wear Christ's yoke by walking in humility of mind before God and using varied gifts to bless humanity, so God can use them as His helping hand. They are to be united in one body under Christ with every part controlled and guided by the wisdom God gives, acting in harmony without friction, giving room to fellow laborers, drawing in even cords, and standing together under Christ as Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race and restore God's moral image in humanity for God's glory. This forbids jealousy over Paul or Apollos or Cephas, measuring brethren by personal ideas, quarreling, following human devising, or fastening the soul to a human leader.
Walking with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, requires workers to be filled with a noble spirit of helpfulness and willingness to use the Lord's money where it is needed most. There is to be no questioning of emergency help sent to another field, no drawing of territorial lines in Christ's work, and no refusing to give because means are wanted at home, but trust that help given will be returned when their own school and sanitarium work needs it. Dependence on Christ, separation from everything hindering present truth, and the mind of Christ remove selfish territorialism and bring success and unity.
Those seeking to advance God's work and save perishing souls must walk worthy of the calling by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and must not be enemies in sheep's clothing harboring jealousy or evil surmising, working to destroy confidence in fellow workers while magnifying self. Each must seek the Lord, persevere with his own soul to save, and make thorough work for eternity, and living this way creates an atmosphere that brings the angels who keep and guard the soul. In business connection with God's work and in handling sacred things this walk means guarding against irreverence, never using God's word deceitfully to carry a point, preserving honor, integrity and truth at any cost to self, and bringing every thought, word and action under Christ's will. Levity is to be put away where the solemn work and word of God are under consideration, remembering Jesus is in the midst presiding to impart wisdom, grace and righteousness, so that an elevating, controlling influence pervades with wisdom from above and charity that seeks not her own, and with self hid in Jesus judgment is dispassionate and righteous rather than one-sided and warped.
To become new men and women in Christ and put on the new man of peace, grace and righteousness is to be guarded against giving expression to evil thoughts, suspicion and distrust, speaking no evil and dropping no evil seed in words, going alone to pray instead, and yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit and holy angels so only commendation, love, and kindly, uplifting, encouraging words are expressed under holiness and charity. This is the battle against the satanic, evil will striving for mastery, and the counsel every church needs to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Forbearance toward one another is to be shown in speech and action, for abiding in Christ brings a different spirit to the workplace, while censoriousness and unfaithfulness spoil reputation. Harsh, bitter, unkind irritating words bruise the soul of others and the speaker's own soul more, show need of conversion, and are inconsistent with Christian life, so free-flowing bitterness and evil surmisings must be put away, meekness as inward adornment shaping words and conduct, with believers bound by human brotherhood in forbearance, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and love.
Humility, meekness, patience and loving forbearance keep the church in order and prevent the weak from being led astray. Brotherly love through mutual forbearance, respect and tenderness toward one another, especially toward those who have served faithfully, prevents bitterness and strife and their harm to the church's work. Working together means overlooking minor differences, yielding personal opinions and ways on unimportant matters, and cooperating kindly and wholeheartedly, while still speaking plainly and firmly when needed with Christian courtesy making even firm words and actions gentle and Christlike, so unselfish cooperation builds up others' work. Suspicion of motives and selfish attachment to personal opinions chill influence, repel people, and hinder doing good.
Believers are to relate with humility, gentleness, patience and loving forbearance in mutual respect and tender consideration, which rules out any person claiming ability or right to control others in the church's institutions. They are to live and work with one another and bear with one another as Christ has borne with them, rather than lording over fellow believers or rejecting them without sufficient cause, supporting the unity and mutual help God is forming among His people. Christ's example calls to humility of mind that seeks out and restores those needing help, putting away self-exaltation through grace cultivated beneath the cross.
Sanitarium workers show daily conversion by a spirit that knows how to bear and forbear, with patience and restraint toward one another rather than following personal feelings or taking sides when difficulties arise. Helpers connected with the sick must have Christ's grace upon them to represent Christ in patience, bearing even with the unreasonably exacting and fretful without becoming disturbed and without retaliating by word or gesture, seeking to make correct impressions that recommend the religion professed and honor the truth believed. Care of the sick is a missionary field of the highest order and a training school in self-control for the naturally impatient, where by improvement the most valuable power of self-control may be obtained, and those not patient, tenderhearted, pitiful and forbearing, showing no improvement and learning none of the lessons they should learn, are unfit and should be dismissed and replaced.
Love between husband and wife calls for mutual patience and forbearance, with continued kindness and attention, encouragement through life's struggles, and seeking each other's happiness, so marriage becomes not the end of love but its beginning anew, the warmth of true friendship and love joining hearts giving a foretaste of heaven's joys. Husband and wife must put up with one another in love and be kind even when novelty passes and dislike of ways and manners grows, though both knew at the vow before God that neither was perfect, which gives no excuse for breaking the vow. Mind and heart must be trained not to let distrust and hatred enter, and when the will aids forbearance and duty is done conscientiously in the fear of God, love that seemed dead revives and grows until it shuts out bitterness and disappointment and saves the happiness of both, a faithfulness urgent because judgment is near. Husband and wife are to help one another and speak and act with kindness, respect and consideration, the husband not ruling dictatorially, for a haughty, combative spirit does not advance truth.
Applied to Brother and Sister Sharp, bearing with one another in love means treating each other with forbearance, cheerfulness and courtesy as followers of Christ. Parents must exemplify the love and beneficence of the heavenly Father in character and home, keeping the home full of sunshine and home love alive in children's hearts as worth far more than lands or money, causing them to look back on childhood home as peace and happiness next to heaven. Because family members do not all have the same stamp of character there will be frequent occasion for patience and forbearance, and through love and self-discipline all may be bound in closest union, with children taught to bear with one another and preserve confidence and respect, and parents treating them kindly and affectionately without foolish indulgence. Meekness with gentleness imparted by the Holy Spirit must shape home life and be evident in words and actions.
Walking humbly forbids choosing one's own society and separating from brethren who will not put away ideas and plans to accept one's own, and requires linking up in cheerfulness, love and contentment, making room for them to connect and supply deficiencies, for the Lord loves those serving in lowliness with humble, contrite spirit and practicing truth in words, spirit and action. Humbling before God in contrition, repenting of discourtesy, cultivating esteem and confidence in brethren instead of making a great matter of things unworthy of notice, lets workers walk together in agreement and carry on ministry yoked with Christ and cooperating with Him, preparing for cleansing of the soul temple and receiving God's mercy, love, kindness and self-revelation. God's children must take hold of His work in meekness and lowliness yet earnest determination to bless others, each having a part in the Redeemer's work, proving love by earnest self-sacrificing efforts, letting no opportunity pass, educating themselves to work, and placing blessing truths before others including by circulating Christ's Object Lessons.
Lowliness of mind in living with one another makes believers a blessing to one another while waiting for Christ's coming. A worthy calling lived through lowliness, meekness, patience and loving forbearance enables unselfish service, mutual help and fellowship for God's honor and others' good. Lowliness and meekness help workers live in confidence and love, cooperate as one, and avoid envy, strife and suspicion.
Paul as the Lord's prisoner pleads for a life matching the calling, lived out in complete humility and gentleness, with patience and loving tolerance that guards the unity of the Spirit in peace. These are inward qualities learned from Jesus that join finite people to God, adorn the soul above outward finery, and reshape manners, habits, spirit and labor. The forbearing love comes from Christ, not from human impulse, and it bears much without seeking revenge by word or act, putting self aside to treat others with kindness, courtesy and brotherly honor. God has joined people of different minds, abilities and temperaments so that no one bears the burden alone, but each supplies what another lacks and all blend and work in concert as one body under one Leader. Such harmony among varied dispositions is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners, manifesting in daily life the power of the truth and the character of Christ.
Calling and Context
The verse is a beseeching to walk worthy of the calling, and walking worthy means living with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That worthy walk is the path to unity, marked by humility and gentleness and patience and lovingly bearing with one another, manifesting in life the power of the truth by exemplifying Christ's character and the blessings of His salvation. It belongs with one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. With that oneness goes grace given to each according to the gift of Christ for perfecting the saints and edifying the body until all come to unity of the faith and full maturity in Christ. Every institution of the work must bring this word into practical life by putting away selfish striving for place and power and working together in unity.
The instruction was spoken by the Spirit through Paul as the prisoner of the Lord beseeching believers to this humble, gentle, patient, lovingly forbearing life. It was given not for the church in Paul's day alone but designed by God for believers now, pressing each to examine what he is doing to preserve unity in the bonds of peace. As members of one body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, divisions dishonor Christ's religion before the world and give occasion to enemies of truth, so the instruction is positive and decided and must be read, studied, received and fully practiced with no half-way work. Walking humbly in this way is walking yoked with Christ as co-laborers with Him, and God's blessing attends that humble walk to accomplish a work as enduring as eternity.
The verse is one of the warnings revealing the peculiar privileges and dangers of the Ephesian church. Believing and practicing the truth of the gospel is required, with readiness to sacrifice everything for the Master, not living to self, and cooperating with Christ and following His example as one created anew in Him. The reason is that every power of being and every moment of time is bought with the precious blood of God's only begotten Son, so man is not his own proprietor. The verse belongs to the description of the Lord's manner of working and to instruction for managing His work as a whole. That manner of working shows the need for a variety of gifts, with every gift acknowledged as essential to success, and with different gifts and lines of service combined in harmony rather than separated.
The chapter is solemn instruction that means much and must be read most solemnly and impressed upon minds. It confronts hard-spiritedness that comes from being strangers to the working of the Holy Spirit. It calls for a great reformation in words and works and spiritual understanding, in which believers catch the inspiration of angels in the heavenly courts and daily breathe the atmosphere of heaven. The call to lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering and forbearing one another in love, belongs to keeping the armor on in constant battle for life against Satan and his host, with no release and no moment to lay it aside. Safety is in circumspect words and acts, with sobriety rather than levity, and in being instant in prayer and on watch every moment, especially in temptation when self rises in self-gratulation and pride and when combativeness, resistance, evil surmisings, uncharitable thoughts, and censure are aroused.
The instruction of Ephesians 4 and 5 with the armor of Ephesians 6:10-18 is to be heeded so that not a pin or pillar is moved from the building of the work of the last sixty years and every effort of Satan to tear up the foundation of faith in the third angel's message is withstood. It is a warning for every soul in the last days calling for faith shown in works, gathering every distinct ray of light while moral darkness grows, bearing aloft the third angel's message, setting the churches in order and closing the door of unbelief, because seducing power is increasing and those who do not make straight paths for their feet will cause the weak to be turned out of the way. Even the most splendid temple amounts to nothing if hearts are not right, so the greatest anxiety must be over spiritual condition. True worship requires reverence in entering and leaving the house of God where He meets with His people in the presence of angels, teaching children reverence and directing their thoughts heavenward, because believers themselves are the temple of the living God.
Meaning of the Virtues
Lowliness and meekness are inward qualities of great worth, learned from Jesus in His school by keeping the eye fixed on Him as the model rather than on mere outward, superficial attainments. They adorn the soul, connect finite people with God, and are valued by God above costly outward finery and dress, so that those who put on Christ and walk in them are counted as truly well adorned and beautified with salvation. This inward adornment must shape words and conduct, producing constant improvement and inward transformation of manners, habits, spirit, and labor, and it fits believers for the society of heavenly angels. Unkind, irritating speech is inconsistent with the Christian life and shows need of conversion, while meekness and lowliness with patience and loving forbearance help preserve spiritual unity and peace, requiring avoidance of evil speaking and of claiming the right to judge one another.
Forbearing love refuses self-exaltation, high self-esteem, and striving for greatness and highest honors, which bring discord and dissension. It requires not making self the center and not setting individual opinions as infallible, but respecting the opinions of others, counseling together, and being tractable, teachable, kind, courteous, and tenderly caretaking, with brotherly affection preferring one another in honor. Where this is practiced the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is kept, and the peace of Christ abides and rules in hearts. Longsuffering bears something, yea many things, without seeking to be avenged by word or act. The love that so forbears comes from Christ, not from human impulses, and it supports harmony so believers do not hinder one another's work.
Forbearing one another in love means putting away all selfishness and working together in love and unity in response to the infinite love of Jesus in dying. It means loving as Christ loved, with the same bearing the Lord shows toward the ungrateful, the forgetful of mercies, and the unbelieving, instead of being relentless, pitiless, unmerciful, hurting and wounding brethren while excusing waywardness in oneself. It requires a complete change to cultivate love and delight in helping one another, to be kind, forbearing, and patient with one another's errors, to keep sharp criticisms to oneself, and to hope all things and believe all things of brethren. Practicing lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance requires humbling self before God in contrition of soul and repenting of a discourteous, uncourteous spirit. It requires cultivating esteem and confidence in brethren instead of making a great matter of things unworthy of notice, so workers can walk together in agreement yoked with Christ and cooperating with Him.
Walking humbly with God as yoked co-laborers with Christ brings God's blessing to accomplish a work as enduring as eternity. This different standard of Christianity is seen when men and women realize their own weakness and their entire dependence upon God. It reflects God who is love and whose holy law is an expression of His love. It means practicing truth in words, in spirit, and in action, serving the Lord in lowliness of mind with a humble, contrite spirit. It forbids choosing one's own society and separating from brethren who will not put away their ideas and plans, and requires linking up with them in cheerfulness, love, and contentment, making room for them to connect and supply deficiencies.
Unity in the Church
Humility, meekness, patience, and loving forbearance keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and this positive and decided instruction gives abundance of light and grace and must be read, studied, received, and put into full practice with no halfway work in establishing unity among professing Christians. Walking worthy of the calling means living in this way as new men and women in Christ Jesus who have put on the new man, which is peace, grace, and righteousness. It means being guarded against giving expression to evil thoughts, suspicion, and distrust, speaking no evil and sowing no evil seed, going alone to pray instead, and yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit and to holy angels so that only commendation, love, and kindly, uplifting, encouraging words are expressed under holiness and charity. This is the battle against the satanic, evil will striving for mastery, and it is the counsel every church needs, for these qualities support unity among people whose characters and gifts differ, with God working through that diversity for the perfection of the church, and they support unity by rejecting evil in self and treating others rightly so that a converted, Christlike life can draw people to Christ.
God has associated together men of different minds, experience, abilities, dispositions, and temperaments so that no one bears the burden of the work alone in unsanctified independence, but they counsel with and assist one another so the deficiency of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. Mutual contact in kindness, forbearance, and love polishes, refines, and elevates the mind, and because believers are dependent upon one another they must hold back free-flowing bitter words that bruise the soul of others and the speaker's own soul more, put away evil surmisings, and cultivate forbearance, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and love, bound together by human brotherhood. The grace of Christ enables setting self aside rather than insisting the work follow one's own ideas, which means dying to self and living to Christ and uniting human weakness to His strength after the example of Christ who descended from heaven from the throne of God clothing His divinity with humanity to show what human beings may become. So the strong unchristlike traits of character are softened, subdued, and purified that believers may unite with one another in lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and love that they may be one with Christ in God, recognizing they differ from others of varied minds and temperaments no more than others differ from them.
No one can be a good soldier of the cross who works independently of fellow workers and regards his own judgment as best, but sincere devoted workers in a large field must act in concert under one supreme Leader, blending together with one supplying what the other lacks. Obeying this brings help because the Lord knows what is best, so that the people of God work as a perfect whole and the Lord works with them, which requires working together rather than treating any one person as the whole, with order and united action in the church. These same qualities guard unity by requiring that workers not treat their own judgment as the only one God guides, but respect that God works through others and leave them free to serve according to His direction.
Active, determined people must take forbearance and love with perfect unity to themselves and labor zealously and perseveringly, with hearts softened and subdued by the grace of Christ and spirits humble and full of human kindness, instead of gathering up the strongest reproofs and driving them upon others like a whip. They must put away faultfinding, criticism, envy, jealousy, suspicion, and evil speaking, and treat fellow believers with genuine love. Kept in this way, forbearance keeps them from creating prejudice and from causing dissension and weakening the churches, and such unity allows the Spirit to work and makes God's love visible to the world.
As members of one body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, with one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, believers manifest in daily life the power of truth by meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love. Divisions in the church dishonor the religion of Christ before the world and give occasion to the enemies of truth to justify their course, and the instruction was designed by God for believers now, pressing each to examine what he is doing to preserve unity in the bonds of peace. God's plain plan so revealed keeps unity in His church so its members reveal a healthy religious experience, keeping believers united in obedience to the commandments of God and in the faith of the Scriptures, bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God. Such unity practices the golden rule of doing to others as they would have others do to them, labors together with God, partakes of the divine nature having escaped corruption through lust, and by courtesy, unwavering fidelity, justice, and mercy magnifies God's perfect law and demonstrates that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, bearing a living testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son and valuing heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience. Life loyal to God's law includes humility, gentleness, patience, and lovingly bearing with one another, in accord with the call to truthful, peaceful conduct toward neighbors and obedience that brings blessing, shown in love as Christ loved and in mutual help as members of one family in Christ whose lives testify to the gospel before the world.
The fruit of maintaining unity is lowliness, meekness, patience, and loving forbearance shown in words and actions as proof that Christ's grace is present in the heart. A worthy Christian calling lived out through these qualities toward fellow workers enables unselfish service, mutual help, and Christian fellowship as believers work together for the honor of God and the good of others, supporting the unity of the church and its members' shared life in the Spirit and putting practical Christianity into action. This love comes from Christ, not from human impulses, and these qualities support harmony in the church and keep believers from hindering one another's work. Every institution established in the interests of the work must take heed to what is written and bring this word into practical life, putting away selfish striving for place and power and working together in unity.
Christlike Witness to World
Walking worthy means showing in daily life the power of truth through meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love, and so exemplifying the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation. Humility, gentleness, patience, and lovingly bearing with one another mark a life worthy of God's calling and preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As members of one body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope, believers of varied dispositions are to live in harmony and union. Such harmony is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners, and it requires characters molded in harmony with His character and wills surrendered to His will.
Living worthily means rejecting evil in oneself and treating others with lowliness, meekness, patience, and loving forbearance. God's plain plan for keeping unity keeps believers united in obedience to the commandments of God and in the faith of the Scriptures, bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God. That unity practices the golden rule of doing to others as they would have others do to them, labors together with God, partakes of the divine nature having escaped worldly corruption through lust, and by courtesy, unwavering fidelity, justice, and mercy magnifies God's perfect law as converting the soul. It is shown in love for one another as Christ loved, and in mutual help as members of one family in Christ, so that lives together testify to the gospel before the world. A converted, Christlike life can thus draw people to Christ, bearing a living testimony that the Father loves believers even as He loves His Son, valuing God's great gift and using heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience.
God's servants reveal Him to the world through a humble, careful way of life marked by love, forbearance, long-suffering, and gentleness. This requires examining self and humbling the heart before God, purifying the heart by obedience to the truth, keeping the way of the Lord, and reforming harsh treatment of brethren so that converting power is manifest and an unconverted spirit is replaced. The same qualities were at work when Whitefield and the Wesleys, despite doctrinal differences that threatened to divide them, learned meekness and were reconciled through mutual forbearance and charity. Their shared work and prayer to bring people to Christ strengthened their friendship.
Daily Life Applications
The calling of fellow workers and ministers high and low is high and holy, and to walk worthy of it is to walk with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Those traits are the essential characteristics of all called to minister to the spiritual necessities of people, the way to faithfully represent Christ in ministry as evangelists wherever people can be reached, rather than measuring work by how much is done on the right hand and on the left. Whatever natural temperament they have must be subdued so every feature of faith is presented in the spirit and grace Christ gives, and every branch of the work carried on as Christ carried on His ministry, with those who know most and teach most walking most circumspectly in these things.
Ministers must soften the spirit and lay aside a stiff, unfeeling, authoritative manner of carrying the work, acting toward brethren in letter and conversation as becomes a Christian. Forbearing one another in love means sacrificing personal feelings and ideas, being willing and anxious to talk matters over to come to a better understanding, proceeding with calm consideration and wise treatment, and making every effort to harmonize and preserve union among leading workers rather than preferring disunion and holding off to repulse. No hasty decisions are to be made that might later be regretted and place the work in a hard situation endangering it.
Gospel dignity is not maintaining ministerial position but laying it aside to wait on oneself where possible, to encourage industry by example, and to engage in useful physical labor for health when not pressed by other duties, following the divine Master. The meekness, love, longsuffering and forbearance of the verse, together with sobriety, pity and courtesy, must mark character after the Lord's example. Position does not make a worker superior or give right to rule others arbitrarily, but should lead to seeking God in prayer and offering counsel with humility, and when someone is troubled to join him in prayer and make oneself one with him.
The gospel is to be carried to all nations and peoples in meekness and lowliness of spirit, with patience and loving forbearance toward one another, and ministers must examine their own hearts to stand in this spirit rather than in persecution. This same meekness and lowliness is to govern God's people in their work when facing opposition over Sunday labor. Where truth as it is in Jesus breaks down national prejudices and jealousies, hearts blend as one, and those imitating Christ as the one model are in perfect harmony, loving as brethren, esteeming others better than themselves, kind and courteous, meek and lowly, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit, of the same mind and judgment and speaking the same things. As workers unite in saving souls in sympathy with Christ's work of love and mercy, jealousy, fault-finding, envy and strife cease and small differences lose importance.
Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary work must wear Christ's yoke by walking in humility of mind before God and using varied gifts to bless humanity, so God can use them as His helping hand. They are to be united in one body under Christ with every part controlled and guided by the wisdom God gives, acting in harmony without friction, giving room to fellow laborers, drawing in even cords, and standing together under Christ as Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race and restore God's moral image in humanity for God's glory. This forbids jealousy over Paul or Apollos or Cephas, measuring brethren by personal ideas, quarreling, following human devising, or fastening the soul to a human leader.
Walking with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, requires workers to be filled with a noble spirit of helpfulness and willingness to use the Lord's money where it is needed most. There is to be no questioning of emergency help sent to another field, no drawing of territorial lines in Christ's work, and no refusing to give because means are wanted at home, but trust that help given will be returned when their own school and sanitarium work needs it. Dependence on Christ, separation from everything hindering present truth, and the mind of Christ remove selfish territorialism and bring success and unity.
Those seeking to advance God's work and save perishing souls must walk worthy of the calling by keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and must not be enemies in sheep's clothing harboring jealousy or evil surmising, working to destroy confidence in fellow workers while magnifying self. Each must seek the Lord, persevere with his own soul to save, and make thorough work for eternity, and living this way creates an atmosphere that brings the angels who keep and guard the soul. In business connection with God's work and in handling sacred things this walk means guarding against irreverence, never using God's word deceitfully to carry a point, preserving honor, integrity and truth at any cost to self, and bringing every thought, word and action under Christ's will. Levity is to be put away where the solemn work and word of God are under consideration, remembering Jesus is in the midst presiding to impart wisdom, grace and righteousness, so that an elevating, controlling influence pervades with wisdom from above and charity that seeks not her own, and with self hid in Jesus judgment is dispassionate and righteous rather than one-sided and warped.
To become new men and women in Christ and put on the new man of peace, grace and righteousness is to be guarded against giving expression to evil thoughts, suspicion and distrust, speaking no evil and dropping no evil seed in words, going alone to pray instead, and yielding reason and conscience to the Holy Spirit and holy angels so only commendation, love, and kindly, uplifting, encouraging words are expressed under holiness and charity. This is the battle against the satanic, evil will striving for mastery, and the counsel every church needs to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Forbearance toward one another is to be shown in speech and action, for abiding in Christ brings a different spirit to the workplace, while censoriousness and unfaithfulness spoil reputation. Harsh, bitter, unkind irritating words bruise the soul of others and the speaker's own soul more, show need of conversion, and are inconsistent with Christian life, so free-flowing bitterness and evil surmisings must be put away, meekness as inward adornment shaping words and conduct, with believers bound by human brotherhood in forbearance, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and love.
Humility, meekness, patience and loving forbearance keep the church in order and prevent the weak from being led astray. Brotherly love through mutual forbearance, respect and tenderness toward one another, especially toward those who have served faithfully, prevents bitterness and strife and their harm to the church's work. Working together means overlooking minor differences, yielding personal opinions and ways on unimportant matters, and cooperating kindly and wholeheartedly, while still speaking plainly and firmly when needed with Christian courtesy making even firm words and actions gentle and Christlike, so unselfish cooperation builds up others' work. Suspicion of motives and selfish attachment to personal opinions chill influence, repel people, and hinder doing good.
Believers are to relate with humility, gentleness, patience and loving forbearance in mutual respect and tender consideration, which rules out any person claiming ability or right to control others in the church's institutions. They are to live and work with one another and bear with one another as Christ has borne with them, rather than lording over fellow believers or rejecting them without sufficient cause, supporting the unity and mutual help God is forming among His people. Christ's example calls to humility of mind that seeks out and restores those needing help, putting away self-exaltation through grace cultivated beneath the cross.
Sanitarium workers show daily conversion by a spirit that knows how to bear and forbear, with patience and restraint toward one another rather than following personal feelings or taking sides when difficulties arise. Helpers connected with the sick must have Christ's grace upon them to represent Christ in patience, bearing even with the unreasonably exacting and fretful without becoming disturbed and without retaliating by word or gesture, seeking to make correct impressions that recommend the religion professed and honor the truth believed. Care of the sick is a missionary field of the highest order and a training school in self-control for the naturally impatient, where by improvement the most valuable power of self-control may be obtained, and those not patient, tenderhearted, pitiful and forbearing, showing no improvement and learning none of the lessons they should learn, are unfit and should be dismissed and replaced.
Love between husband and wife calls for mutual patience and forbearance, with continued kindness and attention, encouragement through life's struggles, and seeking each other's happiness, so marriage becomes not the end of love but its beginning anew, the warmth of true friendship and love joining hearts giving a foretaste of heaven's joys. Husband and wife must put up with one another in love and be kind even when novelty passes and dislike of ways and manners grows, though both knew at the vow before God that neither was perfect, which gives no excuse for breaking the vow. Mind and heart must be trained not to let distrust and hatred enter, and when the will aids forbearance and duty is done conscientiously in the fear of God, love that seemed dead revives and grows until it shuts out bitterness and disappointment and saves the happiness of both, a faithfulness urgent because judgment is near. Husband and wife are to help one another and speak and act with kindness, respect and consideration, the husband not ruling dictatorially, for a haughty, combative spirit does not advance truth.
Applied to Brother and Sister Sharp, bearing with one another in love means treating each other with forbearance, cheerfulness and courtesy as followers of Christ. Parents must exemplify the love and beneficence of the heavenly Father in character and home, keeping the home full of sunshine and home love alive in children's hearts as worth far more than lands or money, causing them to look back on childhood home as peace and happiness next to heaven. Because family members do not all have the same stamp of character there will be frequent occasion for patience and forbearance, and through love and self-discipline all may be bound in closest union, with children taught to bear with one another and preserve confidence and respect, and parents treating them kindly and affectionately without foolish indulgence. Meekness with gentleness imparted by the Holy Spirit must shape home life and be evident in words and actions.
Walking humbly forbids choosing one's own society and separating from brethren who will not put away ideas and plans to accept one's own, and requires linking up in cheerfulness, love and contentment, making room for them to connect and supply deficiencies, for the Lord loves those serving in lowliness with humble, contrite spirit and practicing truth in words, spirit and action. Humbling before God in contrition, repenting of discourtesy, cultivating esteem and confidence in brethren instead of making a great matter of things unworthy of notice, lets workers walk together in agreement and carry on ministry yoked with Christ and cooperating with Him, preparing for cleansing of the soul temple and receiving God's mercy, love, kindness and self-revelation. God's children must take hold of His work in meekness and lowliness yet earnest determination to bless others, each having a part in the Redeemer's work, proving love by earnest self-sacrificing efforts, letting no opportunity pass, educating themselves to work, and placing blessing truths before others including by circulating Christ's Object Lessons.
Lowliness of mind in living with one another makes believers a blessing to one another while waiting for Christ's coming. A worthy calling lived through lowliness, meekness, patience and loving forbearance enables unselfish service, mutual help and fellowship for God's honor and others' good. Lowliness and meekness help workers live in confidence and love, cooperate as one, and avoid envy, strife and suspicion.