Dear Amy,

How important is it to read a verse in context?

Paul writes this to the Ephesians.

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

― Ephesians 4:1

I also want to live such a life! What exactly should I do then? Er … live honourably, behave well, be kind to strangers, help old ladies across the street? Is this what Paul means? Notice how we bring so much of our own context to understanding a verse. The only way to know is to read the verse in its context. So what is the context here?

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

― Ephesians 4:1-3

This is the immediate context. The wider context is the whole letter. Paul was writing this letter from Rome, where he was confined “for the Lord” (Acts 28). Notice what he went through in serving the one he loved, and how much humility he demonstrated, giving up his very freedom for the sake of the ones for whom he was sent.

Reading on, we can understand what his urging means, what is this worthy life to be lived. It is a life of humility, a life to be lived in community with others. None of these attributes can be outworked on our own: humility, gentleness, bearing with one another in love, keeping unity. And note that Paul was able to write with such credibility (“then”) because of the testimony of his own life, his own humility.

The word worthy here means appropriate. So they, and we, are urged to live a life appropriate to the calling we have received. What is this calling, this invitation? And why is a life of humility the appropriate response?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith⸺and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God⸺not by works, so that no-one can boast.

― Ephesians 2:8-9

Each of us has been rescued by grace alone, with no merit on our part. The rescue was undeserved and there is no room for boasting.

(Later in the chapter, Paul goes on to other aspects of living a worthy life. Humility by itself is not enough, of course. But that is a subject for another day.)

Live a life worthy of the calling you have received, Amy, now you know where that begins! 🙏