What Does Ephesians 4:1 Mean in the King James?
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The appeal and the calling share one Greek word family, and the walk is measured by weight: the call is already sounding into the life that answers it.
THE MEANING
The appeal meets you now: your calling has weight, and that weight takes shape in the way you walk through your life. The line holds the speaker’s confinement and your calling together without letting confinement erase the calling’s measure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that calling is only a private title with no shape in daily conduct dissolves here: the verse binds calling to the way a life walks.
THE ROOT
παρακαλῶ
parakalō
GROWS FROM
καλέω (kaleō), the καλ-/κλη- call-family
to call, summon
“beseech / vocation / called” in this verse is parakalō. The appeal (παρακαλῶ, parakalō, “I urge; make an appeal”), the calling (κλῆσις, klēsis, “calling”), and “you were called” (ἐκλήθητε, eklēthēte, “you were called”) share the καλέω (kaleō, “call; summon”) word-family. The verse’s appeal itself rings with the call it asks your walk to answer.
ALSO GROWS
parakaleō: urge; make an appeal
παρακαλέω
The verse opens with this word: its appeal comes from the same call-family as the calling named later.
klēsis: calling; invitation
κλῆσις
This is the vocation in the verse, tying the life being lived to a received call.
klētos: called; invited
κλητός
This related word shows the same family describing someone as called.
ἀξίως
axiōs
GROWS FROM
ἄξιος (axios), stem ἀξι- (axi-)
having weight; worth; fitting
“worthy” in this verse is axiōs. The word carries an image of proportion: the walk answers to the weight of the calling. Worthiness here names correspondence between the life and its call.
ALSO GROWS
axios: worthy; of corresponding weight
ἄξιος
This is the adjective behind the verse’s “worthy,” giving the appeal an image of measured fit.
axioō: deem worthy; consider fit
ἀξιόω
This related verb shows the same word-family evaluating what is fitting.
axia: worth; value
ἀξία
This noun carries the family’s sense of weight or value, illuminating what the walk is measured against.
περιπατῆσαι
peripatēsai
GROWS FROM
πατέω (pateō), “tread; walk,” in περιπατέω (peripateō)
to tread, walk; to go about on foot
The image stays in motion: a way of life is pictured as footfalls along a path. The calling takes visible form in the direction and manner of the walk.
ALSO GROWS
peripateō: walk; conduct oneself
περιπατέω
This is the verb in the verse, carrying bodily movement into the sense of a lived way of life.
pateō: tread; walk
πατέω
The underlying verb keeps the image grounded in steps and movement.
katapateō: tread down; trample
καταπατέω
This related compound makes the shared tread-root vivid: the same movement can describe how feet meet a path or press something down.
THE PATTERN
A calling becomes visible through the way a life walks, with conduct answering to what has called it.
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?THE THREAD
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;Colossians repeats the same Greek pair found here: peripateō (walk; conduct oneself) and axios (worthy; of corresponding weight). Ephesians links the walk to the calling; Colossians shows that corresponding walk becoming visible in fruitfulness and knowledge of God.
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