Commentary - Ephesians 5:1-2

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but dense passage, Paul provides the central ethical imperative that flows from all the glorious theology he has laid out in the first four chapters. Having established our new identity in Christ, seated with Him in the heavenly places, he now tells us how that identity is to be lived out on the ground. The logic is simple and profound: because you are children of God, you are to act like it. The command is to imitate God, and the pattern for this imitation is the self-giving love of Christ. This is not a call to a vague, sentimental affection, but to a robust, sacrificial love that defines the very character of our God. This love is not just an action, but an entire way of life, a "walk," that culminates in a life that is a pleasing sacrifice to God, a fragrant aroma.

Paul is connecting doctrine to duty, belief to behavior. The indicative of who we are in Christ ("beloved children") fuels the imperative of what we are to do ("be imitators of God...and walk in love"). The entire Christian life is summed up in this movement from receiving love to giving it away, patterned after the ultimate expression of love in the cross. This passage serves as the foundational principle for all the specific ethical instructions that follow in the rest of the chapter, concerning speech, sexual purity, and relationships. Everything is to be measured against the standard of Christ's fragrant, sacrificial love.

Outline

Context In Ephesians

This passage is a crucial hinge point in Ephesians. The "therefore" in verse 1 connects what follows with everything that has come before, particularly the exhortations at the end of chapter 4. Paul has just urged the Ephesians to put off the old self and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24). He told them to put away falsehood, anger, stealing, and corrupting talk, and instead to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, "as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:32). Ephesians 5:1-2 is the pinnacle and summary of that thought. The ultimate way to live out this new identity, to be kind and forgiving, is to imitate God Himself.

This command then becomes the heading for all the practical instructions that follow. The contrast between light and darkness, wisdom and folly, and the specific instructions for husbands, wives, children, and parents all flow from this central command to walk in a manner that imitates God's love as revealed in Christ. It is the theological sun around which all the ethical planets of the last half of Ephesians revolve.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

Ephesians 5:1

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,

Paul begins with a logical connector, "Therefore." This word anchors the command that follows in the rich soil of the preceding chapter, especially the final verse where we are told to forgive one another as God in Christ forgave us. Because God has acted in this gracious way toward us, our lives are to be a responsive reflection of His character. The command is not to "be God," which was the original temptation in the Garden, but to be "imitators of God." We are creatures, and our holiness consists in reflecting the character of our Creator. We are mirrors, and the only question is whether we will be clean mirrors that reflect Him well or smudged mirrors that distort His image.

The basis for this imitation is our relationship to Him. We are to do this "as beloved children." Children naturally imitate their parents. They pick up mannerisms, phrases, and attitudes. It's how they learn to navigate the world. Paul is saying that this natural tendency is to be our spiritual reality. Because we have been adopted into God's family through the work of Christ, because we are truly and deeply loved by the Father, our natural, loving response should be to want to be like Him. This is not the imitation of a slave trying to appease a master through fearful mimicry. This is the imitation of a son who adores his father and wants to grow up to be just like him. Our identity as "beloved children" is the engine that drives our imitation of our Father.

Ephesians 5:2

and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Paul then specifies how we are to imitate God. The primary characteristic we are to imitate is His love. "Walk in love." The Christian life is not a series of disconnected actions, but a "walk," a consistent, ongoing way of life. The path we are to walk on is love. This is the atmosphere we are to breathe, the very ground under our feet. This isn't a sentimental, flimsy kind of love. Paul immediately defines it with a steel spine: "just as Christ also loved us."

How did Christ love us? He "gave Himself up for us." The model for our love is the cross. It is a self-sacrificial, substitutionary love. It is a love that gives, not a love that seeks to get. It is a love that costs something. Our walk of love is to be patterned after Christ's walk to Golgotha. This means our love will involve laying down our preferences, our rights, our ambitions, and our very selves for the good of others. This is the central shape of Christian ethics.

Paul then describes the effect of Christ's sacrifice. It was "an offering and a sacrifice to God." Christ's death was not a tragic accident; it was a priestly offering. He was both the priest and the sacrifice. And the result of this offering was that it was "a fragrant aroma" to God. This language is drawn straight from the Old Testament sacrificial system (e.g., Genesis 8:21, Leviticus 1:9). A sacrifice that was properly offered according to God's command was a sweet smell to Him, signifying His pleasure and acceptance. Christ's ultimate sacrifice was the fulfillment of all those shadowy offerings, and it was infinitely pleasing to the Father. When we walk in self-giving love, patterning our lives after Christ's sacrifice, our lives also become a fragrant aroma to God. Our acts of love, small and large, ascend to God as a pleasing offering, not because they earn our salvation, but because they are the fruit of the Spirit working in us, making us more like the Son He loves.

Application

The application here is as straightforward as it is profound. Look at your life. Does it look like God's? Since God's central characteristic displayed in the gospel is self-giving love, the question becomes: does your life look like love? This is the litmus test for Christian maturity.

We are not left to guess what this love looks like. It looks like Jesus. It looks like giving yourself up for others. In a marriage, it means a husband loving his wife as Christ loved the church. In friendships, it means bearing one another's burdens. In the church, it means forgiving as we have been forgiven. In our speech, it means building others up rather than tearing them down. In all of life, it means our actions are not oriented around our own comfort and advancement, but around the glory of God and the good of our neighbor.

This is an impossibly high standard, which is precisely the point. We cannot do this in our own strength. We must continually remember our identity as "beloved children." It is God's love for us that empowers us to love others. We are filled up with His love in order to pour it out. When we fail, we run back to the cross, where Christ gave Himself up for us, and we are reminded that our acceptance is not based on the perfection of our imitation, but on the perfection of His sacrifice. That sacrifice cleanses us and frees us to get up and try again, to take another step on the path of love, all to the glory of God.