Article September 1, 1934 Issue

Bible Notes

"The prisoner of the Lord" (Eph. 4:1)—The Greek preposition "en," rendered "of," has the primary meaning of "in," though it is used in a wide variety of senses. Goodspeed and Weymouth prefer to translate, "the prisoner for the Lord's sake;" while Moffatt has "the Lord's prisoner." It is generally agreed by commentators that the epistle to the Ephesians was written during Paul's first captivity at Rome (cf. Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, p. 148); thus the reference to himself as a "prisoner" is very natural, whether it be taken literally or metaphorically.

"Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Eph. 4:1)—The verb here rendered literally "walk" is constantly used in the New Testament in the metaphorical sense of "to live; to regulate one's life; to conduct oneself" (Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 504). Consequently, Goodspeed has: "Live lives worthy of the summons you have received;" Weymouth (Fifth Edition): "Live and act as becomes those who have received the call that you have received;" and Moffatt: "Live a life worthy of your calling."

"With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering" (Eph. 4:2)—The term "tapeinophrosuné," translated "lowliness," has also the sense of "humility, modesty" (Thayer: op. cit., p. 614); while "praotes" (meekness) means rather "gentleness, mildness" (ibid., p. 536). Weymouth translates: "With all lowliness of mind and unselfishness and with patience;" Good-speed: "With perfect humility and gentleness, with patience;" while Moffatt has it: "With perfect modesty and gentleness, showing forbearance to one another patiently."

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