Ephesians 5:2

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.
Ephesians 5:2

In the previous verse, Paul has exhorted the church to be imitators of God. He gives the metaphor of being beloved children as opposed to disobedient children. Now as we enter verse 2, he begins to describe HOW to imitate God. We begin:

And walk in love. To walk is to be active. It involves the body as a whole, from head to toe, walking brings about a changing environment. When contrasted to standing, it is far more challenging, for to walk requires balance far more than to stand. Where are we to walk? In love. We aren’t called to stand but to walk. Metaphysically we understand love to be a journey. It’s not a destination where we stop, but rather something that ought to accompany us in every part of our life, be it the mountains or valleys, the highs and lows, we are still called to love in all places and times.

Now the word used for love here is ‘agape’, often called ‘God’s love’. The actual meaning of the word however is ‘affection’ with an emphasis on much. That is, much affection, the kind of affection that brings sacrifice. It’s by no means defined as the ‘ultimate’ love, though ultimate love is that – the reason we can say such is because Paul proceeds to give an example of walking in love – as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us.

I believe it’s possible that one can walk in agape love in a manner that doesn’t hit the standard Christ set. In fact, we can give agape love to the entirely wrong thing, for in 1 John 2:15, If any man love (agapao, the verb form of agape which is the noun) the world, the love of the Father is not in him. As such, Paul gives us the example, the standard for which we are to aim. As we walk in love we are walking towards a standard that Christ set for us: to love as He loved, to give as He gave. Perhaps that is why Paul used the term ‘walk’ to convey the idea of a journey of learning to love like Christ.

In this verse, Paul also tells us that Christ’s giving of himself was an offering and a sacrifice with a sweet-smelling savor. This gives us an insight into the literal fulfillment of the Law that Christ did. He was the offering and sacrifice. This offering and sacrifice was made to God.

In imitating Christ, we will find ourselves loving our fellow man. That love ought to drive us to become living sacrifices, to continue the spreading the word of restoration and redemption that Christ accomplished. The burden of every Christian ought to be a ministry of reconciliation (2Co 5:18)

While not immediately apparent, in this verse we see both the first and second commandment: the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. How does one love God? One does the will of God, the commandments if you please (John 14:22). What are the commandments of God? The majority of them are to do with loving your neighbor. Notice Jesus Christ on Earth going about His Father’s business was quite literally, the business of saving people. Do you want to love God? You will have to love your neighbor.

Also implicit in this text is something else: when the Bible speaks of loving your neighbor as yourself, how do you measure that? The example Paul gives is to love as Christ loved YOU. In other words, the man Jesus Christ loved His neighbor as Himself. What was the standard He set there? If He as a man loved YOU to that degree, it sets the standard for how much you should love yourself and by proxy, how much you should love your neighbor.

In this verse is the highest calling of the Christian encapsulated. The end goal for a Christian in this present world ought to be: to have such a degree of love and purity that they are able and willing to become a sacrifice in order to save others, just as Christ did. It’s a tall order. It’s a high bar to reach, and perhaps, you’ll never quite get all the way there, but the struggle will be worth it all, for in doing so, you will find yourself beloved.

Notes:
When compared with verse 1, it is apparent that Paul considered God and Christ to be the same divine person, for when he tells us to ‘imitate’ God, he then gives us the example of Christ. This only makes sense logically if God is in Christ (2Co 5:19), that is, Christ is God in the flesh, thus, when we imitate Christ, we are in effect imitating the invisible, Almighty Father of eternity.