Ephesians by Theodore H. Epp

Author:Theodore H. Epp
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Bible
ISBN: 9780847413102
Publisher: Back to the Bible Broadcast
Published: 1977-01-15T06:00:00+00:00

The Believer and the World

Unit 9

Ephesians 5:1-14

Ephesians 4 is directed mostly to the believer in his relationships with God and with fellow believers. Ephesians 5 tells what kind of relationship the believer should have to the world. This chapter continues to paint a portrait of what the believer’s walk should be like.

Follow God

Verse 1 says, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” The word “therefore” connects this verse with the last verse of the preceding chapter: “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (4:32). In the light of this, believers are to be “followers of God, as dear children” (5:1). Here the word “followers” means “imitators.”

Unbelievers cannot follow Christ as an example because they do not know Him as Saviour. Only His life within an individual enables that person to live a life pleasing to God. Notice that even here the statement is qualified: “as dear children.” Paul was telling believers, not unbelievers, to be imitators of God.

Walk in Love

Paul also said, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (5:2). Here again, Christ is our example in the matter of love. God is the standard as to how His children should love.

Does the standard of God’s love seem too high to attain? Not if we remember what Ephesians 1—3 tells us we have in Christ. Have you prayed for the eyes of your understanding to be enlightened, as Paul did in his prayer? (see 1:18). Have you prayed that these truths might become a reality in your life, as Paul did? (see 3:19).

God's Love

Having trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour, we have been born of the Holy Spirit and have become members of God’s family. We have become partakers in, or sharers of, the divine nature (II Pet. 1:4), and the essence of the divine nature is love. It is the kind of love that loves even when there is no response. It always seeks the highest good of the other person. Since God’s love is now in our hearts (Rom. 5:5), we are able to attain God’s standard of love by letting Christ live His life in us as He desires. The expression of this love in us is one of the strongest proofs that we really are the children of God (see I John 4:7-16).

From incidents in Christ’s earthly life we see that His love was the kind that caused Him to give Himself to others. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas and a garrison of soldiers came after Him, He willingly let Himself be taken captive (see John 18:2-14). On the cross, He had words of concern for His mother—that she be taken care of by John; for one of the thieves being crucified with Him—that he would be in Paradise with the Lord; and for the executioners—that they might be forgiven. Even His death revealed His love for others, for “Christ died for us” (Rom.

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