2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
2 And [that is]
Verse two explains how we are to imitate God by walking in love.
walk in love,
This is the third time so far that Paul used “walk” in Ephesians (4:1, 17). The word “walk” means to walk as a course of life, a habit of life. The habit of our life is to love others, to give to others.
as Christ also has loved us
The supreme example of love is the graphic love of Christ’s death for our sins. There was no condition for Him to love us. He loved us without condition or without requirement. He does not require us to earn His love. We cannot deserve His love. He loves the ungodly and sinners (Ro 5:8).
Jn 13: 1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Eph 3: 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
We Christians shape our lives by Christ’s love for us. This is how we order our way of life. We are never more like God than when we forgive someone. We imitate God in that regard.
PRINCIPLE:
Christ’s love forgives us; our love should forgive others.
APPLICATION:
We love as Christ loved us. Because Christ paid the penalty for the sin of everyone, we do not have the right to punish anyone (Mt 18:22; Eph 1:7; Co 2:13; 1 Jn 2:12). We show our love by our willingness to forgive others (Lu 7:36-47).
In order to do this, we need to see the enormity of sin in our own life. To not forgive others is the height of priggishness. It is also a form of unbelief because we sense no need to forgive. The person who sees what it took for his own forgiveness will forgive others.
