Ephesians 5:1-7·~1 min

Imitators of God

Paul calls them to imitate God as beloved children and to walk in love just as Christ loved them and gave himself up as a fragrant offering to God.

B¹e imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, ²and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

Because they are saints, sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, and crude joking must not mark them. Such things belong to idolatry and disobedience under wrath, so they are not to be deceived or become partakers with those who practice them.

³But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed. ⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ⁷Therefore do not be partakers with them.

Section summaryPaul tells believers to imitate God as beloved children by walking in love after Christ's sacrificial pattern. Because they belong to the saints, sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, and empty words have no place among them, and they must not share in the disobedience that stands under wrath.

Role in the chapterThis opening section carries the call to put on the new self into desire, speech, and belonging. It sets Christ's self-giving love as the positive pattern and impurity as a direct contradiction of that life.