The Church's commitment

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Here the expression "therefore" connects this section with the previous one, where the walk or life of the believer was under consideration, and continues to expose the commandments for Christian conduct. These commandments are of undoubted relevance to the church, which will be presented to Christ without spot or blemish. Such a lofty and noble goal, wholly due to the work of Christ, is a compelling and fascinating dynamic for pure conduct here and now.

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We have learned that the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer and seals every believer, although we can sadden the Holy Spirit. If we allow ourselves to be carried away by the sins mentioned in Ephesians 4:31, it means that we will sadden the Holy Spirit; This does not mean that we are no longer children of God. It means that unsaved people will not believe that we are children of God. However, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, the day that the Spirit of God will present the church to the Lord Jesus. And we have already said that this goal should encourage us to lead a pure life.

The believer has to be an imitator of God, especially on the subject of forgiveness. However, this applies to all aspects of the Christian life. Non-Jews, who previously lived on a lower level had been brought up to the high level of love. In this new situation they were then called beloved children. The plane of love to which you have been elevated is the love that Christ showed when He loved us to the point of giving Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice.

And the last sentence of verse 2, which says, he gave himself for us, offering and sacrificing fragrance to God, is a clear reference to the cross. It presents the cross of Christ as more than the public execution of a criminal. The cross was like the bronze altar in the Old Testament, where the Lamb of God was offered as a burnt offering. That sacrifice takes away the sin of the world. Identify Christ with every sacrifice that was offered in the Old Testament at God's command. All those sacrifices pointed to Christ.

Since Christ died in place of each of us on the cross, the believer has to reach a high level of love. The believer cannot live with a sad, aggrieved or offended Holy Spirit, because only the Spirit can produce this fruit in life. Recall that in Galatians 5:22, love is first on the list as the fruit of the Spirit.

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