1Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 2through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; 4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die. 8But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
11Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 12Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned. 13For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
15But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16The gift is not as through one who sinned; for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift followed many trespasses to justification. 17For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
18So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. 19For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. 20The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly, 21that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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 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.