1Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. 2Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
3But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; 4nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.
5Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 7Therefore don’t be partakers with them. 8For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, 10proving what is well pleasing to the Lord. 11Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light. 14Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
15Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore, don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
22Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body. 24But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without defect. 28Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly, 30because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones. 31“For this cause a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh.” 32This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and the assembly. 33Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
The apostle Paul's exhortation to be imitators of God takes on a direct application in the life of the Ephesians. God does not simply give us commands to obey, but asks us to follow His own example, not merely "do what I say" but "do what I do." We will be like God when we love people who are often unloveable. When we do so, we imitate Jesus in His teaching in the Gospels. The author Luke records Jesus' teaching regarding how we should love others, even those who are enemies in Luke 6:32-35. Jesus said, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. . . . But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil (Luke 6:32, 35). We need to understand that loving one's enemies doesn't mean to agree with them, or like their actions, but to love, as an act of will. The evangelist Charles Finney, in the late 19th century provided an understanding of this type of love. He said that loving someone is seeking the other person's highest good, and someone added, rightly, according to the will of God. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He showed love even to His tormentors. Certainly He didn't like their actions, or view them as close associates like his family or disciples, but He wanted good and not evil for them.
Paul, in Romans 5:6-8, sets forth this type of love Christ expressed for the entire world, and not merely His executioners: "For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die. But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
By believers having this type of love that Paul speaks about in Ephesians, we demonstrate to others the relationship that we have with God, and what kind of God we proclaim. The last apostle of Jesus to die was the disciple "whom Jesus loved," the apostle John. He wrote about our need to love like God in these words: "Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us (1 John 4:7-12).
The life of a Christian that is one of love will be reflect the biblical teaching that God is love. Such a life does not only make us like God, but is a "sweet-smelling fragrance" sacrifice to God. A child that loves a loving father is one who wants to be like him.