Summary
Being like JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More is the longing of every sincere Christian whose faith is tightly strung to a guitar of faith as believing, faith as relational, and faith as the image of the divine. Imitating God is indeed a practical exercise, done in fellowship with others.
Analysis
Students of philosophy listened to their teachers, and that listening was to be made possible through living out the lessons taught by one’s philosopher. It is no surprise that the apostleDerived from a Greek word meaning "one who is sent," an apostle is a person who embraces and advocates another person's idea or beliefs. At the beginning of his ministry Jesus called twelve apostles to follow and serve him. Paul became an apostle of Jesus... More PaulThe Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, was the author of several New Testament letters and the founder of many Christian communities. More, who was educated in an environment of various philosophical schools used the language of “imitating God,” in his exhortation and parenesis of the Ephesian church (5:1). Unlike philosophy as a theoretical exercise, faith development is a journey of being and doing; that is to say, one must accept Jesus Christ personally, and lovingly fellowship with other like-minded believers. The best and most excellent godly thing believers can do for others in this global world is to lead others to Christ.
Jesus Christ leads converts such as Paul and all Ephesians from death to life, from darkness to light, from confusion to Christ-like life. This took on love, God’s love without which humanity cannot live. This love of God is also inclusive. Paul’s words of love echo John’s clarion call to love one another. God’s inclusive love is mentioned in John 3:16 and in John’s letters, we also read the following, “Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love, does not know God because God is love,” (1 John 4:7-8). Like John, Paul makes the point that our knowledge of God is expressed through our love for each other. Love, like faith, is an exercise in being and doing. In some sense, love is not an abstract thing, but love is tangible, it is real, and it is commanded by God. Being imitators of God as an inclusive beloved community sends ripples of perfume to the world, just as “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering, and a sacrificeSacrifice is commonly understood as the practice of offering or giving up something as a sign of worship, commitment, or obedience. In the Old Testament grain, wine, or animals are used as sacrifice. In some New Testament writings Jesus' death on the cross as the... More to God” (5:2).
GraceGrace is the unmerited gift of God's love and acceptance. In Martin Luther's favorite expression from the Apostle Paul, we are saved by grace through faith, which means that God showers grace upon us even though we do not deserve it. More, God’s particular, unique way of loving and owning us, is consistent and personal. The human tendency to condemn others may cause fear and threat which in turn invites a legalistic response, but Paul teaches that grace as God’s way of love liberates and transforms human souls. Love lived in grace-filled moments and in faith communities demonstrates God’s incarnational presence in the world. Imitation of God is a lifetime of practicing love and growing in the holiness of the Creator (1 PeterPeter (also known as Cephas, Simon Peter) was the disciple who denied Jesus during his trial but later became a leader in proclaiming Jesus. More 1:15-16). It might be easy to philosophize, rationalize, and intellectualize biblical interpretation. Parishioners and clergy can argue with MosesProphet who led Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land and received the law at Sinai. More and IsaiahIsaiah, son of Amoz, who prophesied in Jerusalem, is included among the prophets of the eighth century BCE (along with Amos, Hosea, and Micah)--preachers who boldly proclaimed God's word of judgment against the economic, social, and religious disorders of their time. More, and even with the apostle Paul and gospel writers. But confronted with grace, the kind of love which gives up its rights, which assumes another’s sinfulness, which dies for but still loves that other human strength cannot hold up. That kind of pressure convicts and woos. As Paul teaches in his testimonies, when we are captured by this grace, we are spiritually formed and reformed, and transformed. The only response of love and gratitude flows from creature to creature and back to the Creator. This is the essence of what Paul is summoning Ephesian Christians to, and consequently summoning present and future Christians as well. In essence, there is nothing that can replace God’s love, and humanity is called to grow in understanding the holistic love of the Creator.
With each conversion, gratitude grows, and love is made purer, and one is drawn into the amazing grace of God. Love creates a melody, and as each counter melody is sung with the melody, a larger circle is created, and the cycle is repeated. Refraining from worldly acts such as sexual immorality, impurity, greed, rationalizing of the gospel, binding the gospel under a spell, and coarse talk, Christians will not just be imitators of God, but they will become practitioners of heavenly living (5:4). The journey of conversion, transformation, and formation leads to an appreciation of God and love of others. Imitating God and becoming like Christ changes one’s talk of “Christ in me,” to ‘me in Christ.’ In a global world where people, denominations, church leaders, and lay members treat each other as enemies, true Christian love can be lived out when the church teaches the love of neighbors, who in many respects have become the immigrant communities in every nation. In the letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul speaks of “the love and peace of God that passes all understanding;” it is indeed this love that can create the avenues of unity, love, peace, and liberty (Philippians 4:7). This is what the Ephesians needed badly, and it is what the 21st century needs urgently if it should imitate God and be the imitation of heaven on earth. Our global world and centers of worship could be characterized by love, unity, forgiveness, freedom, security, liberty, wholesomeness, and prosperity. Instead of the latter being the ideals of the church, Paul warns the Ephesians and the present global church of immorality, greed, injustice, impurity, and conflicts; these vices are a daily occurrence in families, denominations, and tragically among all church leaders.
The replacement of God with what suits and comforts people corrupts human beings, but God always remains faithful. While we talk about building the kingdom of GodThe kingdom (reign) of God is a central theme of Jesus' teaching and parables. According to Jesus this reign of God is a present reality and at the same time is yet to come. When Christians pray the Lord's Prayer, they ask that God's kingdom... More, the apostle Paul warns in this part of the letter that practitioners of vices have no part in the kingdom of Christ (5:5). Yes, it is one thing to fallThe Fall refers specifically to the disobedience of Adam and Eve when they listened to Satan rather than adhering to God's command not to eat the fruit from the tree. When people act contrary to God's will, they are said to fall from from grace... More short in a season but when it becomes a normal vice practice then God is not imitated but mocked. Paul wishes then, and even more today, that the imitation of God and of heaven on earth would take root in the global church, and all its followers. The lesson of this passage is that life on earth should be a mirror image of heaven. God’s standards and commandments can never be substituted by sloppy and accommodating philosophies of intellectuals and arrogant church leaders. The Scriptures teach that people reap what they sow, and false teachers and those who support them will encounter God’s wrath, and maybe some are already facing God’s anger before they even die (5:6-7). Imitating God is a call and a challenge from Jesus Christ who called on Christians to be “the salt and light of the earth” (MatthewA tax collector who became one of Jesus' 12 disciples. More 5:13-14).
Simply put, Paul’s teaching in these few verses is that the light of the gospel is not only to expose and reprove but to allow converted Christians to see their situation in light of Christ and become virtuous imitators and proclaimers of Jesus Christ. The gospel is not only a proclamation, but it is an exercise in embodiment or living it out in real life. Light as proclaimed in the Gospel of John and New Testament teachings has the power to transform the entire creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... More. Ephesian Christians and those in the 21st century have been transformed, formed, and called from darkness to light, and they become the hope and life of the global World. It is necessary to caution ourselves and pause to remember that light cannot do its work without the participation of believers. For the light of the gospel to transform the world, praying to God to call and anointTo anoint is to pour oil, water, or other substances on a person's head in a ritual fashion. In the Old Testament the prophet Samuel anointed David; and in Luke's gospel Jesus declared that he was anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to... More rulers who love and fear him, rulers who truly and earnestly desire to create true Christlike congregations must be always done. For prayer is the harbinger of all life. The leaders and the entire church are the bearers of light to a dark world (5:7-14).
Discipleship is the lifestyle of those who desire to respond to God and have the heart to assume responsibility to be agents of God’s mission. Gentiles and Jews in Paul’s time were redeemed by Jesus Christ, and 21st-century Christians in all their diversity are also redeemed by Jesus; together we profess that we have been saved by grace through faith. That being said, we are the bearers of light, and we are the children of the light of God. Our actions, words, and our entire being should reflect holiness, goodness, truth, and righteousness. In human wisdomWisdom encompasses the qualities of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, which sometimes invokes a Woman as the personification of Wisdom, is a collection of aphorisms and moral teachings. Along with other biblical passages, it teaches, "The fear of the... More, to be told is to be reminded, and in verses 8-14, Paul reminded the Ephesians who they had become, children of the light and they no longer accommodate evil deeds and wicked acts in their lives and that of others. This is our message, and the present and future Christian generation needs to capture these warnings of Paul and intentionally live lives that reflect Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God (5:8-9).
For one to be the “child of light” means living intentionally with an agenda to expose deeds of darkness such as racism, homophobia, nationalism, and all forms of injustice. Global Christians need to view themselves as children of one parent, belonging to one heavenly kingdom, under one Creator. It is spiritually and theologically interesting that God is called by many and various names, yet God is the same loving higher power. It is this higher power or God “who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,” to redeem and love all in the world (John 3:16). Humanity is ensnared in conflict and fighting. The human family is tragically in a state of decline. Paul warned the Ephesian Christians that failure to live as the Light of Christ in the world surely grieves the heart of God. When we theologize denominational disagreements over doctrines, creeds, credentialing, and all the politics of wanting to dominate others, it surely disturbs, disappoints, and upsets God. The highest and most excellent form of creation, that is humanity, should in all its living, being, and doing reflect God, Jesus Christ, and the HolyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine More Spirit.
“When God created the world and humanity in his image, everything was very good,” (Genesis 1:18), so why can’t humanity be good to each other? Or why can’t the church be a place of love, light, hope, and joy? The apostle repeats the role, place, and function of light whose main purpose is to enable people to see things from the perspective of God (5:13-14). In the last verses (14–15), Paul reveals his anguish of heart for the Ephesian Christians by singing a hymn that calls all who are asleep in evil and all forms of wickedness to wake up. It sounds like resurrection, the power that rises people from death to life in Christ and with each other. Could it be that the church needs to teach the meaning of baptismJesus was baptized (literally, "dipped") in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer, at which time he was acclaimed from heaven as God's Son, the Beloved. Much later baptism became one of the sacraments of the Church, the action by which a person is incorporated... More to new converts and to those who have settled in the lifeless culture of the church? Baptism, in this case, is not a once-in-a-lifetime ritual, but it is a daily exercise calling people to turn their back on their former lives and strive to embrace the shining life of Jesus Christ who is the lord of their hearts.
Like the Ephesian Christians of Paul’s time, the contemporary global church should set an example as children of the light and as imitators of God. Reflecting God can be done in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity (1 TimothyThe companion on Paul's later journeys for whom two pastoral epistles are named. More 4:12).
