Ephesians 5:1

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.”

All of the instructions that went before and after this verse have to be understood in the context that we are beloved children of God. The commandments are not given dispassionately or in a vacuum. The reason is that Paul wants us to be imitators of God.

to imitate God is to imitate him in a particular, narrow range. We cannot imitate His power or strength, His unlimited knowledge and wisdom, nor in His transcendence over creation. We are not to receive worship or prayer. We are not to pretend to be God.

to understand what it means to be imitators of God, we need to go back to the creation story. In Genesis 1:26 God says, “ Let us make men in our image, in our likeness.”

God’s initial plan was that people were to carry his likeness in their being. Our way of life was, in every way, meant to reflect the glory, the personality, and the character of God.

of course, sin marred that somewhat. We no longer bear that image in a pure form. The likeness has become tarnished and corrupted.

in Christ, we are new creations. The old sinful nature has been put to death, and in its place the new nature, the image of Christ, has been raised to life in us.

when Paul says we are to imitate God, he is really saying that we need to make a conscious decision to let the Holy Spirit, the God in us, rise to the fore, and direct the way we live.

we imitate God, then, in areas of morality, integrity, and in relationships.

in the area of morality, the demand that we be holy as God himself is holy, overcomes our tendencies to greed, lust, and selfishness.

in the area of integrity, the law of God as summarised in the Ten Commandments, is activated in us by the Holy Spirit. We no longer need an external law to regulate our behaviour as we have the law- giver in our hearts regulating our desires.

in the area of relationships, the love of God constrains us. Where we were once dominated by sin to such an extent that selfishness, self protectiveness, and arrogance undermined all relationships, we are now filled with the love of Christ. In Christ we have learnt to give and not just take, to serve rather than to be served .

We imitate God because his image and his spirit are now in us. In discovering that God is our Father, we have become beloved children.

God loves us with a perfect love called agape love. This is love that is poured out solely for the sake of the beloved. There is no self interest in agape. Agape love does not depend on a response from its object, as it is given regardless.

God is love, and in love He is perfect. God’s love is eternal and unchanging because God is eternal and unchanging.

when we say that we are beloved children, this status is not something we earned or deserved. God loves us because He is good, not because we are worthy of being loved. We cannot earn God’s love .

we are children who are beloved, but we do not know how to return love. It is only as we experience what it means to be loved that we can become capable of loving God and loving other people.

in ancient cultures attitudes to children varied. Often there was a belief that they were not independent people or individuals in the way that we in the West would understand. The child was an empty vessel into which the parents poured their own skills, knowledge, and wisdom so that the child would become like the father .

it was expected that the son would grow up in the family business and would one day become so like the father that he would be worthy of running the business as the father had done before him. The son became like a reproduction of the father, so to speak.

the duty of the child, then, was to imitate the father. They were to learn the values of the father, about the skills of the father, and above all they were to honour the father and mother who gave them life.

as children of God who know that we are loved by God, we can therefore be imitators of God. We received the love of God. We hear about God’s character and incorporate that into our lives. We seek fellowship with the Father in order to be more like Him.

in doing these things, we show the world what God is like. We exalt His name in the world so that others will see Him, love Him, and become His beloved children also.

key points in this verse:

• we are to imitate God by carrying His likeness in our lives

• we are to let the Holy Spirit direct our lives

• We imitate God in areas of morality, integrity, and relationships

• God loves us with perfect agape love

• as his children, we are to grow up to show His character