4:1–6:20 Review · Re-creating the Human Family: What God Is Doing: The “imperative” second half of the letter is structured around five occurrences of some form of the phrase “therefore walk” (4:1, 17; 5:1–2, 7–8, 15). Each of the five presupposes the “indicative” first half of the letter (“therefore”) and specifies walking in a particular way. All five may relate individually to chapters 1–3, or perhaps the first is unpacked by the following four.

4:1–16Re-creating the Human Family: What God Is Doing On the solid ground of God’s completed work in Christ, Paul urges readers to live a life of unity, worthy of their calling (4:1). As a prisoner himself, he knows what he is asking his readers to risk. The worthy life manifests (1) humility, proper self-estimate—both positive and negative; (…