We are studying Ephesians 5 in our faith family. I am reading Peter O'Brien's commentary on the passage in preparation. The first two verses of Ephesian 5 are as follows.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV)
O'Brien does some word studies and cultural analysis. He summarizes the verses as follows.
... 'for a fragrant aroma', which was used in the Old Testament of all the main types of sacrifice in the levitical ritual, indicates what is well pleasing to God. Paul is here capturing this Old Testament sense of a sacrifice that is truly acceptable to God. Christ willingly offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father, and this was fully pleasing to him.
The apostle's point is plain. Christ's handing himself over to death for his people was the supreme demonstration of his love for them. Because he is both the ground and model of their love, costly, sacrificial love is to be the distinguishing mark of their lives. To serve others in this way is not only to please God; it is also to imitate both God and Christ.(p. 355, The Letter to the Ephesians)
O'Brien then summarizes the section of this section of the epistle (4:25-5:2) with the following observations.
Paul has depicted in the strongest possible terms the contrast between the readers' previous way of life in the society of his day and their present existence in Christ. The standards presented in this passage are very different from the lifestyle of the surrounding world. This is not to say that some moralists would have disagreed with the apostle's assessment and given contrary advice. Some would have concurred with him at a number of points. Virtue and vice lists, and negative and positive injunctions of a kind similar to Paul's can be found in the Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic-Jewish literature of the day. But it is 'the framework of motivations supplied by his gospel' that makes his 'ethical teaching coherent and distinctly Christian'. Particularly significant is the motivation not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom they were sealed until the day of redemption (v. 30). God has stamped the readers with his own character and guaranteed to protect them until the final day. How ungrateful they would be if they now behaved in a manner which grieved the very Spirit by whom God had marked them as his own. Further, they are to forgive others just God in Christ forgave them (v. 32), and they are to be imitators of God by walking in love. The model and ground for such a life of love is Christ's love so signally demonstrated in the cross. Ultimately, then, to imitate God is to imitate Christ, and costly, sacrificial love is to characterize believers in their relationships with one another. (pp. 355-356, ibid)
At the end of Ephesians 4, Paul describes how Christians should live together in community. Some moralists in the secular world would recognize that moral behavior is the only way a society can thrive. However, without Christ's sacrificial death for us, it would be impossible to live in such a manner. Without the Holy Spirit living within us and enabling obedience, we cannot live as a loving, holy community together. We need to remember who we are in Christ and what Christ sacrificed for us in love. Furthermore, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit's sanctifying work in our lives. This living in Christ-like love with one another will distinguish the Church supernaturally from the rest of the world (John 13:35).
No comments:
Post a Comment