Imitators of God
“Imitators of God”
EPHESIANS 5:1
PAUL, YOU’LL REMEMBER, BEGAN CHAPTER 4 OF EPHESIANS BY SAYING…
NAS Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
“IN CHAPTER 4 OF HIS LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS, PAUL pointed to the unity and diversity of Christ’s body, consisting of both saved Jews and Gentiles. That unity was an essential aspect of their calling in Christ, a calling in which they were to walk in a worthy manner. In other words, the Ephesians believers were citizens of God’s new community who had put off their old lives and had put on new lives in Christ. As believers, they were to live this new life. This new man was, as Paul said in v. 24, ‘one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.’ Thus they were to wear or demonstrate this lifestyle each day. Unity needed to join hands with purity. What exactly foes this new life look like? What are its characteristics, its actions, its attitudes? Paul answers this question in chapters 4-6. The biblical principles the apostle expressed in chapters 1-3 needed to be lived out in the practical instructions reported in chapters 4-6. Doctrine needed to unite with duty. In chapters 4-6, Paul tells his readers what walking worthy looks like.” – Garner/TAR
BEFORE WE READ FROM GOD’S WORD, I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT scholars are in disagreement as to where this passage begins and where it ends. Some include vv. 1-2 as part of chapter 4. I have a sermon on my computer from years ago that I also titled “Walk in Love” where I did just that: preached only on vv. 1-2. Some scholars begin the passage with v.1 and end it with v. 6. Others extend the passage through v. 8. And still others believe the passage should be understood to end at v. 7. Homer Kent, for example, writes, “Inasmuch as the word ‘therefore’ introduces the various admonitions in the following verses (4:1, 17, 25; 5:15), it appears that these should not be attached to the discussion of forgiving in the foregoing paragraph, but regarded as an additional exhortation.” After much study and thought, reluctantly disagreeing with several scholars I highly admire, I agree with this last opinion. Therefore, our study for this week from the great book of Ephesians will be vv. 1-7 of chapter 5…
NAS Ephesians 5:1-7 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 3 But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;
“IN MANY WAYS INTEGRITY IS THE SUBJECT OF THE WHOLE PASSAGE. The purpose of the gospel, it may be said, is to establish integrity in our being.” – Snodgrass
“INTEGRITY” MEANS TO BE IN POSSESSIONS OF FIRM PRINCIPLES; it is the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principle or professional standards. Integrity is honesty, truthfulness, completeness (in the sense of being undivided) honor, reliability, and uprightness.
I FOUND THIS CONVICTING LINE ON INTEGRITY; convicting to yours truly: “Pastors (and seminary professors) should lead the way in integrity of word by speaking the truth in a balanced way that does justice to all the truth of God’s Word, and not just the pieces they want to communicate.” –Snodgrass/TAR
“VERSE 1 IS THE ONLY PLACE IN THE N.T. WHERE WE ARE TOLD TO BE IMATATORS of God.” – Kent…
NAS Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
THIS IS THE VERSE IS BETWEEN 4:32 AND 5:2. That is more than an obvious statement. Ephesians 5:1 is found in the close context of the 4:32 and 5:1. Verse 32 of chapter 4 reads…
NAS Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
NOTE THE THREE KEY WORDS: kindness, tender–heartedness, and forgiveness. And in v. 2 of chapter 5 we are given a fourth key word…
NAS Ephesians 5:2 and walk in love,
THEREFORE, WE COULD CONFIDENTLY SAY THAT IMITATING GOD has a lot to do with being kind, tender-hearted, forgiving, and loving. We can’t create like God, certainly. Nor can we do miracles like God. But because we were created originally in His image, we have the human capacity to be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving, and loving.
WE DO WELL TO SERIOUSLY AND CONTINUOUSLY CONSIDER THIS. Don’t you agree?
THE GREEK WORD FOR “IMITATOR,” μιμητής (mi-may-tace) is the word from which we get our English word “mimic.” To mimic someone in the positive sense – not to mock someone – is to adopt that person’s voice, gestures, and/or appearance in a deliberate way. In our lives as believers we are to adopt the characteristics of God – especially the characteristic or attribute of love.
“THE WHOLE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS THE REPRODUCTION OF GODLINESS as seen in the person of Christ. God’s very purpose in salvation is to redeem men from sin and to conform them ‘to the image of His Son.’” – MacArthur…
NAS Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
THE ONLY WAY WE CAN EVER TRULY BECOME IMITATORS OF GOD IS to be submissive to the Holy Spirit and allow God to produce Christlike characteristics in our lives. Being imitators of God is not done in our own strength.
“EACH CHRISTIAN SHOULD BE AN IMITATOR OF GOD BECAUSE he or she is God’s child. As a child imitates his or her parents, so ought a believer to imitate God.” – Hoehner
THE PRESENT TENSE STATIVE VERB “BE” IN GREEK (γίνομαι [ginn-a-my]) stresses becoming. Please note that it is in the imperatival mood, i.e., it is a command.
PAUL IS SAYING, WITH ALL OF CHAPTER 4 AS CONTEXT, “THEREFORE, BECOME IMITATORS of God.”
THIS STRONGLY SUGGESTS THAT our imitation of Christ is an ongoing process. It is not a onetime event. It does not happen immediately when we become Christians; we must work at it by putting forth a conscious effort. Every day we should be striving to become more like God…
NAS Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be (become – TAR) imitators of God, as beloved children;
LIKE SO MANY OF THE GODLY CHARACTERISTICS WE ARE COMMANDED TO instill in our lives – characteristics such as faith, and love, and forgiveness, and joy – godliness is both a mindset and a response.
THE PROCESS OF IMITATION OF GOD IS BOTH an attitude and an action, both a decision and a discipline.
AS MENTIONED, ULTIMATELY, OF COURSE, IMITATION OF GOD IS manifested in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, commitment and action are required on our parts – God would not command us if He did not expect a response on our parts – but it is only when we submit to the power of the Holy Spirit within us, and allow Him to produce in us the Fruit of the Spirit do we really realize godliness.
“AS BELOVED CHILDREN” GIVES US THE MANNER in which we become imitators of God… This clause tells us how to go about imitating God. – (from Hoehner)
THE GREEK WORD FOR “BELOVED” IS ἀγαπητός (a-ga-pay-tos). It’s a beautiful sounding word, don’t you think? It comes from the Greek word that most of you have heard before: ἀγαπάω (a-ga-pa-o) and the more familiar noun form ἀγάπη (a-ga-pay). ἀγαπητός (a-ga-pay-tos), the Greek word for “beloved,” means 1. pert. to one who is in a very special relationship with another, only, only beloved; 2. pert. to one who is dearly loved, dear, beloved, prized, valued; indicating a close relationship, esp. that betw. parent and child [BDAG].
A PERFECT ILLUSTRATION IS GENESIS 22:2 OF THE O.T., where God tells Abraham (more correctly according to the Hebrew, Ahvrahahm) to sacrifice his son…
NAS Genesis 22:2 And He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
JESUS IS GOD’S “BELOVED” SON…
NAS Matthew 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
THE WORD IS FOUND 61 TIMES IN THE N.T., 27 TIMES FROM PAUL’S LETTERS…
NAS Colossians 1:13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
NOW WITH ALL THIS IN MIND, HERE IS WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK THAT I previously didn’t know about ἀγαπητός (a-ga-pay-tos): “In classical Greek, with reference to children, the word ἀγαπητός (a-ga-pay-tos) meant ‘beloved’ or ‘contented,’ but particularly of an only child, one to whom the parents had devoted all their love (Homer Odyssey 2.365; Iliad 6.401). In other words, because the child had received so much love, the child had the security of being loved and thus was contented.” – Hoehner
ISN’T THAT BEAUTIFUL? This is the idea behind the term. This is how God thinks of us! We are His beloved children. He loves you as if you were His only child! That should not only make us feel incomparably content, secure in that knowledge, but it should compel us to live accordingly. It should compel us to “Walk Worthy.” “Compel” means to force. This knowledge of God’s special love for us should, I believe, force us to imitate Him.
THIS IS THE VERY MESSAGE OF EPHESIANS: Recognizing what God has done for us in Christ, and how we are loved of God because of Christ, should, I maintain the study of the passage teaches, drive us to live according to this great love.
BECAUSE GOD IS LOVING, AND BECAUSE WE ARE HIS BELOVED CHILDREN, we should mimic our heavenly Father. A good earthly father will cause his children to imitate him; how much more should our perfect heavenly Father compel us to imitate Him?
ONE MORE THING ABOUT THIS FINAL CLAUSE IN V. 1, having to do with the word “children.” I know this may be too technical for some, but the Greek word here, τέκνον (tek-non), is one that “connotes a closer relationship to the parent than the more widely used term (381 times to 99) υἱός (hwee-os).
PUT ALL THIS INFORMATION TOGETHER AND YOU CANNOT HELP BUT SEE v.1 of chapter 5 as yet another powerful passage from the great book of Ephesians…
AND I MUST MENTION THIS IMPORTANT FACT BEFORE I CLOSE: to effectively be imitators of God we must first know something about God… To accurately know something of what God is like we have to study His Word. God reveals who He and what He is like in His Word…
NAS Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be (become – TAR) imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
“BE IMITATORS OF GOD… AND WALK IN LOVE.” Love is the key to mimicking God. Next week, Lord willing, we will study together v. 2 of chapter 5: “Walk in Love.”
“THE TASK OF CHRISTIANITY IS NOT PRIMARILY TO GET US READY FOR HEAVEN – that is the easy part. God in Christ did that for us by dying on the Cross and giving us Christ’s righteousness. We achieve salvation by God’s gift of grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. The tough part is not heaven but earth. The major task of the Christian faith is to equip us for life here on this planet. So the theme of the Scriptures, we could rightly say, is how we are to handle life right now, with all its stress and pressure, temptation and allure, heartache and suffering, confusion and fear.” – Steadman/TAR
“WE ARE TO BE GODLIKE PEOPLE IN AN UNGODLY WORLD. ‘Imitators of God”’ That is what we are to be – or become: ‘Imitators of God.’” – Steadman
WE POSSESS THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT TO ENABLE US TO DO THIS. So, what’s stopping us?…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
