Paul writes:

“I now appeal to you – I, the bound one in the Lord – to walk worthy of the calling to which you were called.”
Eph 4:1

“Walking worthy” is the apostle’s concern here for the readers of the letter. This “walking” is daily conduct, everyday life. He mentions the point of reference for it right away: one should walk worthy of one’s calling. Paul puts it like this: “to walk worthy of the calling to which you were called.” So this walk is something like the expression of that calling. It still does not explain what “worthy” means, but it at least gives a context for it.

The first three chapters of Ephesians deal with doctrine. The last three chapters, at whose beginning we stand here, speak of the conduct of life that is based on that doctrine. These first verses of the fourth chapter are something like an introduction to the second part of the letter. With them Paul sets the tone and clarifies what he now intends.

Paul had already spoken of the calling earlier.

“So that you may know what the expectation of His calling is.”
Eph 1:18

A few verses further on in the fourth chapter he mentions it again:

“Just as you were also called to one expectation of your calling.”
Eph 4:4

These are no coincidences. In this way the apostle describes a theme that runs through his entire letter. It is certainly not the only aspect that is repeated, but the repetition is meant to draw attention. The first quotation comes from the first chapter, from a prayer for the believers that Paul wrote down. They were to know and recognise something; he prays for this. He explains it. It concerns an expectation, and indeed “one” expectation, which applies equally to believers from the Jews and from the non-Jews. There are no more distinctions. This has already been discussed at length in this series on Ephesians.

This one calling is so special that it is now a matter of outlining its effect on everyday life. This does not mean our everyday life so much as, primarily, the everyday life of the original recipients. They still knew the distinctions that Paul abolished here for the first time. These changes have long been familiar to us. In that time, however, the changes were stunningly new. Where today we might say with a shrug: “We have known that for a long time”, one could not claim that back then.

What is “worthy” concerns values. They can only be recognised as interpretation. In other words: the self-evidence of values holds only within a particular culture. When they are the values of our family, society or faith community, we perhaps hardly think about them. We can often bridge even differences between these with ease if there is enough overlap. But if one stands outside these groups, the self-evidence is not a given. One probably knows other values.

What is “worthy”, then, requires a framework. Values gain meaning within that framework. For Paul, this seems to be the framework of the first three chapters. He builds on that here. It is the calling to which he refers, and which he explained earlier.

The word is used more frequently. We read it, for example, here:

“I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is also a servant of the called-out community in Cenchreae, that you receive her in the Lord, worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever matter she should have need of you.”
Rom 16:1-2

“Only walk as citizens, worthy of the Gospel of the Christ.”
Phil 1:27

“To walk worthy of the Lord and to please Him in every way – as those who bear fruit in every good work.”
Col 1:10

“We … testified how you might walk worthy of God.”
2 Thess 2:12

John also uses the term:

“You will do excellently to send them on their way, as is worthy of God.”
3 John 1:6

The term “worthy” is linked here with God, the Lord and the Gospel. It concerns an attitude of faith that is characterised by further concepts such as helpfulness. If something is to be worthy of the Lord or of God, the attitude of faith reflects this notion. Example: whoever has experienced grace, for instance, therefore speaks of grace and shows grace. We read that in the same chapter:

“Show grace to one another, as God also shows grace to you in Christ!”
Eph 4:32

The term “worthy” is also used in connection with “honour”. Western societies are less shaped by “honour” than many an Eastern culture. The Bible, however, originates from an Eastern culture, and we should pay attention to how the words are used. Elsewhere, Paul mentions, for example:

“The elders who have led excellently are to be considered worthy of double honour.”
1 Tim 5:17

Similarly, one could hear the word “honour” quietly in the background when Paul writes:

“That our God may deem you worthy of the calling.”
2 Thess 1:11

“Worthy” is the self-evidence of an attitude in a community that regards honourable conduct as “worthy”. Of course, one can grasp this as a concern of Paul, who stands within a particular culture. Besides, we can ask whether those concerns could also be ours. That would then be the adaptation to today’s time. If we want to get to the bottom of such things, the further course of these chapters is about many individual aspects.