The Book of Ephesians
Chapter 5:1-5
Verses 1-2
“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” In the previous verses in Ephesians 4, we saw the effect of reversionism in the life of believers. Now we have the challenge to be imitators of Christ. This challenge is addressed to the royal family of God as children of God. The question is how do we become imitators of God? The next phrase gives us the answer. We imitate God by following the pattern that Christ set for us. We walk in love just like Christ walked in love (for Him it meant to the point of going to the Cross and paying for our sins). Walking in love means a believer has developed their spiritual life to a place where they understand impersonal (unconditional) love and are able to apply it consistently.
The deity of God cannot be imitated. It is blasphemous and unthinkable that a human being with a sin nature could even approximate imitating God’s deity. So, when we are commanded to imitate God, we are not commanded to imitate His deity. Therefore, “imitators of God” refers to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is true deity, but He is also true humanity in One Person, forever. Therefore, it is the humanity of Christ that we are commanded to imitate. As true humanity, Christ was sinless and impeccable, and we cannot imitate this because we possess a sin nature and we commit sin. Therefore, the imitation of Jesus Christ must be limited to His humanity, and it must be limited to something we can do, not something we cannot do.
The humanity of Christ was constantly filled with the Holy Spirit and sustained by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When a believer is filled with the Spirit, he becomes an imitator of Jesus Christ. The principle of imitating Christ is related to the command, “Be filled with the Spirit” or “Walk in the Spirit.” Also, Jesus Christ studied, believed, learned and applied the Word of God throughout His life according to Luke 2:40,52. Therefore, in imitating Jesus Christ, you are commanded to advance toward spiritual maturity.
As beloved children means God found a way to love us without compromising His character, and this is called propitiation. Propitiation the doctrine that says that God the Father was completely satisfied with the salvation work of Christ on the Cross. Beloved was originally a title for the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of the Father’s love according to Ephesians 1:6; II Peter 1:17. But because of our union with Jesus Christ at salvation, it becomes a title for every member of the Royal Family of God in the Church Age. Children is the Greek word “teknon,” which was used for children under the authority of parents. Children means a family relationship with God as royal family. (II Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 6:9; II Peter 3:1,8,14,17; I John 3:1,2; 4:1,7,11)
Walk in love refers to the spiritual life of a believer. The Greek word for walk is “peripateo,” which means means to walk, to walk around or a person’s lifestyle. It is used for the function of the Protocol Plan of God in the Church Age in passages such as Romans 6:4; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:2. Walking in love is to walk as Christ walked with unconditional love for everyone, which we call impersonal love. It is the virtue that you have developed through the study of God’s Word that allows you to have a relaxed mental attitude toward others and treat them with kindness, compassion, patience and forgiveness. In other words, impersonal love is how we treat others. Therefore, impersonal love must be based on the virtue of the subject, the one doing the loving (“the treating”). Impersonal love is a function of the Royal Ambassadorship of the believer. It is our love for God that motivates us to exhibit impersonal love toward all. Impersonal love operates from the integrity (spiritual strength of character) that you have developed from learning and applying accurate Bible doctrine.
God loves every believer with a maximum amount of love. However, believer cannot fully love God in return until we get to know Him. Believers get to know God from the consistent intake and absorption of accurate Bible doctrine. Not all believers love God to the same degree. The capacity to increase your love for God is based upon the amount of Bible doctrine in your soul. (1 John 4:12). God expresses His personal love to all members of the family of God in one of two ways: 1) through greater blessings to the advancing believer and 2) through divine discipline. (Hebrews12)
As Royal Ambassadors, we represent God before the world. Therefore, as royalty, we are to conduct our lives accordingly. This calls for high standards of excellence in every area of our life. It calls for honor in our dealings with fellow-believers and with unbelievers alike. With Jesus Christ as our example, we are to exhibit the same kind of love that He exhibited. This kind of love can be accomplished only by a believer with Bible doctrine in the soul, who is being controlled by the Holy Spirit.
When we are properly functioning under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will adhere to the principles found throughout the Word of God. These principles will enable us to exhibit impersonal love toward others. This means that we will treat everyone with respect, not on the basis of our “pet prejudices” regarding race, social status, ability or what a person can or cannot do for us. We will refrain from gossip, maligning, judging, character assassination, etc. In other words, we will “live and let live.” The principle of treating everyone with respect also means that we will be tolerant, be thoughtful and be kind toward others. We will hold no grudges or resentment against anyone. (I John 4:17-18)
The Word of God teaches us how we are to love. We are to love unconditionally, as God loves. This means that we are to love others regardless of their race, their beliefs, their language, their place of birth, their body type, the color or style of their hair, their clothes, their behavior, etc. We are even to love them despite their sin. We love the “sinner” not the sin. And, of course, our great teacher was the Lord Jesus Christ. We simply need to practice loving in the same manner as He did. (I John 3:16-24; James 2:1-10)
Doctrine has been provided for believers as the means of responding to the love of Christ and fulfilling the principle of I John 4:19, “We love him because he first loved us.” But doctrine must be in the soul of a believer before he can respond and initiate love toward Jesus Christ. We cannot love Christ unless we know Christ. We cannot know Christ apart from Bible doctrine. Therefore, our most important function under the royal priesthood is learning accurate Bible doctrine.
Gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. The ultimate demonstration of God’s love for us is the Cross. The fragrant aroma is the doctrine of propitiation, which means that Christ satisfied the righteousness and justice of God with regard to mankind’s sin. So, the death of Christ on the Cross bearing our sins and taking our place is a fragrant aromato God the Father.
Verses 3-5
“But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be nofilthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
But is used as a strong contrast between the “fragrant aroma” of Jesus Christ and the “unpleasant odor” of the sin nature and the believer’s negative volition. We have a strong contrast between the impeccable life of Christ and the carnal and reversionistic failure of believers.
There are three words that describe this “unpleasant odor.” The first word is immorality, which is the Greek word “porneia” referring to sexual sins. The second word is impurity, which is the Greek word “akatharsia” meaning sensuality or defilement. The third word is greed, which is the Greek word “pleonexia” meaning covetousness or a desire to have more in a bad sense. Basically, these words mean evil impulses leading to evil deeds, or strong lust leading to the attempt to gratify or satisfy the flesh.
As is proper among saints. The Greek word for proper is “prepo,” which means to be fitting, to be suitable, to be compatible with one’s status. There are certain things that are wrong for believers because they are incompatible with their status as Royal Family of God. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. The Greek word for filthiness is “aischotes,” which means obscenity, baseness or that which is contrary to purity. The Greek word forsilly talk is “morologia,” which means foolish, dull, or stupid talk. The Greek word for course jesting is “eutrapelia,” which means tricky, dishonest, or false flattery. All these sins of the tongue are to be avoided by a believer. This also means not being a party to those who constantly engage in this type of talking. You must be the one who determines when it is time to walk away from or to avoid conversations involving this type of talking. The Greek word for proper in this verse is “aneko,” which means befitting or one’s duty. It is the duty of the believer to avoid this type of base talking and attitude and avoid those who are constantly engaged in this kind of talking.
Instead of committing this type of sin, Paul said to give thanks instead. The Greek word for thanks is “eucharistia,” which means to give freely, gratitude or thanksgiving. Therefore, when Paul said to give thanks, it meant to be speaking in a manner consistent with your relationship with Jesus Christ. To speak in the same manner that Christ spoke. Christ was full of grace and truth and that was the source of His spoken words; they were always based on grace and truth (Bible doctrine).
For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Paul summarized his previous teaching of verses 3-4 in verse 5 by listing again those involved in various immoral, impure, and greedy sins. All these categories of sinful activity were being practiced by pagan religions and apparently some of these reversionistic believers were involving themselves in the pagan cults again.
Since we know that a believer cannot lose his eternal inheritance or salvation, what does this verse mean that no immoral, impure, covetous, idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God? The answer is that Paul was referring to believers in reversionism who had lost their earthly inheritance of greater blessings from God due to the fact that they had no longer had a spiritual life.