Ephesians Study
Chapter 5
Ephesians 5:1-2 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Ephesians 5:1-2 Amplified Bible (AMP)
1 Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; 2 and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.
Paul wants us to be children that imitate the Father. He calls it walking continually in love. This is agape type of love…sacrificial. A lot of people talk about love and mean living and behaving out of sentiment instead of obedience. Feelings rather than obedience and faith drive their behavior. It is a false god.
John 14:21 says: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by the Father, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.” He will SHOW Himself to us…that is the promise.
Be imitators of God. We are to become a sweet fragrance. Again, this is about God’s sacrificial love. I am glad that Paul starts his Ephesian 5 comments with these two verses. If we are immersed in this counsel and light, the instructional truths that follow are more clearly seen in contrast to Light and dark, Love and selfishness.
Verse 8 For once you were darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [live as those who are native-born to the Light] 9 (for the fruit [the effect, the result] of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
I like to think that “native-born to the Light” refers to how we were created. We were created to live and be and exist in Light…”I am the Light.” The whole truth of light and darkness is about being in that relationship with the Light to be the light of the whole world. It is about who we are. What we do will be effected by this truth. Otherwise, the doing can become a bit of a burden and check list.
Verse 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light [of God’s precepts], for [a]it is light that makes everything visible.
14 For this reason He says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine [as dawn] upon you and give you light.”
Recently, while thinking on these things, I read John 9:5: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” How is Christ still in the world? Verse 8 tells us that we are Light in the Lord. John 8:12: Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
At creation, God speaks and there is light. God spoke over the darkness again when He spoke to Mary and told her about Emanuel, God with us. His life and His teachings vibrate with the Light that pierces the darkness…all that is against the light, truth, and way. We are called to this higher energy/frequency so that in living in this Light we will discern between Light and dark, correct and incorrect, function and dysfunction. From this place, there will not be heard from our lips, “I don’t see what is wrong with…” Verses 3 through 5, calls this darkness idolatry.
