Read Ephesians 5 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Greek Testament does not contain paragraph markers.
The Chiastic structure:
Since the beginning of the book, Paul has been Repeating an admonition to not walk, and an exhortation to walk.
We are to not walk …
… in trespasses and sins; (Eph 2:1-2)
… as Gentiles; (Eph 4:17)
But we are to walk …
… in good works; (Eph 2:10)
… worthy of our calling; (Eph 4:1)
… in love; (Eph 5:2)
… as children of light; (Eph 5:8)
… carefully (Eph 5:15).
To walk is in Greek, Strong’s G4043, περιπατέω peripatéō, “to tread all around.” Tracing this word back through the Septuagint to the Hebrew yields Strong’s H1980, הלך halak, “to walk.” The ancient pictographs are hey + lamed + kaph.
hey ה = man with raised arms (look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath)
lamed ל = shepherd’s staff (teach, yoke, to, bind)
kaph כ, ך = open palm (bend, open, allow, tame)
The lamed + kaph pair often pictures the staff (lamed) in the palm (kaph), as a nomad would grasp when he went anywhere, thus “to walk.”
Our English word “walk” ultimately comes from this Hebrew pair: see the l – k, the lamed + kaph? Hebrew is the mother tongue, from which all the languages were divided at Babel.
Thus the Hebrew Root Word parable: The revealed (hey) path is the one to walk (lamed + kaph), that way which God reveals to mankind.
This Hebrew root illuminates Paul’s call to “walk” in God’s way, so that we habitually do in our speech and conduct as a way of life: good works, honor, love, light, and careful attention; and we habitually do not, in our speech and conduct as a way of life: trespasses, sins, and that which resembles what the world (e.g., Gentiles) approves.
Leave a Reply