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“Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.”
— Ephesians 5:1–2
This passage sets before us one of the highest calls in all Scripture: *to imitate God*. Not merely to admire Him, not merely to talk about Him—but to *imitate* Him. And the apostle Paul immediately connects this with the way we walk, the way we conduct ourselves day by day.
Ephesians 5:1–20 sets out a contrast between two realms: darkness and light; impurity and holiness; drunkenness and Spirit-filled living; foolishness and wisdom. The central command is this:
> “For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8)
The lyrics drawn from this passage highlight the essential marks of those who truly walk in the light: love, purity, separation from darkness, spiritual discernment, and Spirit-filled worship and gratitude.
God is not vague. He gives clear, concrete instructions. He shows us what light looks like and what darkness looks like. And then He says: “Walk this way.”
Let us look at what the Word of God says.
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Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul, most likely from prison in Rome, to believers in Ephesus and the surrounding region. Ephesus was a center of pagan religion, occult practices, immorality, and idolatry. The temple of Artemis (Diana) dominated the city’s culture. Sexual immorality and perversion were intertwined with religious rituals. Covetousness, greed, and idolatry were normal.
Paul writes to believers who have been brought out of this environment by the gospel of Christ. In chapter 1–3 he explains what God has done: they have been chosen, redeemed, seated with Christ in heavenly places, made part of His body. In chapters 4–6 he explains how they must now live in light of this new identity.
Ephesians 4–5 emphasizes a radical transformation:
Ephesians 5:1–20 continues this theme by applying it to:
1. Our relationship with God
– Imitators of God, walking in love (vv. 1–2)
2. Our moral and sexual conduct
– Separation from immorality, impurity, covetousness (vv. 3–7)
3. Our identity and behavior as light
– Walking as children of light, exposing darkness (vv. 8–14)
4. Our use of time and understanding of God’s will
– Redeeming the time, understanding the will of the Lord (vv. 15–17)
5. Our filling: not wine, but the Holy Spirit
– A lifestyle of worship, gratitude, and mutual submission (vv. 18–20)
Paul is speaking not to unbelievers, but to Christians. He is not describing how to become a child of God, but how a true child of God must walk. The danger he confronts is this: professing believers being seduced back into the darkness from which they were saved, under the influence of empty words.
So the passage is both a call and a warning. A call to walk in the light; a warning that those who persist in the deeds of darkness have no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
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Let us focus on two key words: *imitators* and *walk*.
### 1. “Imitators” — Greek: *mimētai* (μιμηταί)
Ephesians 5:1: “Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.”
The word *mimētai* is where we get the English word *mimic*. It means: one who copies, follows, reproduces the pattern of another.
This is not superficial imitation. Children naturally imitate their parents because they share their life and nature. Paul is not saying, “Try to act like God” in your own strength. He is saying: Because you are *beloved children*, born of God, you can now reflect His character. Imitation flows from relationship and identity.
This sheds light on the lyrics: “Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love…” Our lifestyle is to be a visible reproduction, in human form, of the character of God revealed in Christ.
### 2. “Walk” — Greek: *peripateō* (περιπατέω)
This verb appears repeatedly:
*Peripateō* literally means “to walk around,” and by extension, “to live, to conduct oneself, to behave.” It speaks of a habitual way of life, not a momentary experience.
You might say: “Your *walk* is your lifestyle.” Not your Sunday posture, but your Monday reality. Not your words alone, but your patterns, habits, choices.
So when Paul says, “Walk in love,” “Walk as children of light,” “Watch carefully how you walk,” he is talking about a consistent, observable manner of life that either aligns with God’s nature—or it does not.
This deepens our understanding of the song: it is not about occasional inspiration, but about a continuous, disciplined lifestyle shaped by the Word and empowered by the Spirit.
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We will move through the themes of the lyrics and the passage.
### A. Imitators of God: The Pattern of the Cross (vv. 1–2)
“Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.”
Notice three truths:
1. Our identity – “beloved children”
God’s commands are always rooted in who we are in Christ. We imitate Him because we are already His children through the new birth.
2. Our model – “even as Christ also loved us”
The pattern is the self-giving love of Christ. Love in Scripture is not primarily a feeling, but a choice to lay down oneself for the good of another.
3. Our direction – “to God”
Christ’s offering was “to God” for “a sweet-smelling fragrance.” The primary direction of true Christian love is Godward. When we love others sacrificially, we are actually offering something to God.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God commends His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That is the standard of love we are called to walk in. Walking in the light begins with embracing the cross as the pattern for our relationships, priorities, and choices.
### B. Radical Separation from Impurity and Greed (vv. 3–7)
“But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned amongst you, as becomes saints…”
Paul names three categories:
1. Sexual immorality *(porneia)* – any sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman.
2. Uncleanness *(akatharsia)* – moral filth, including impurity of mind, speech, imagination, and behavior.
3. Covetousness *(pleonexia)* – an insatiable desire for more: more possessions, more pleasure, more status. Paul adds, “who is an idolater” (v. 5). Covetousness is a form of worship of self and things.
He then says: “let it not even be mentioned among you.” This does not mean we never address these sins in teaching or correction. The point is: such things must be so foreign to the lifestyle of saints that they are not topics of casual, approving, joking conversation.
He extends the command to speech:
Instead, our mouths are to be occupied with “giving of thanks.” The tongue will either be an instrument of impurity and unbelief, or an instrument of worship and gratitude.
Paul then adds the solemn warning:
> “Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” (v. 5)
He is not speaking of a momentary fall immediately repented of. He is describing a settled lifestyle. A person who persists in such a lifestyle, unrepentant, has no inheritance in the Kingdom. This is absolute.
This confronts much “empty words” preaching today that assures people they are saved while they continue in deliberate sin. Verse 6 says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.”
Notice: wrath comes “because of these things.” God’s wrath is not an arbitrary emotion; it is His settled opposition to sin that destroys His creation. Whenever the church tolerates what God condemns, it comes under deception and forfeits its testimony as light.
The command follows: “Therefore don’t be partakers with them.” There must be a clear break in fellowship with the deeds of darkness, and often with the environments that promote them.
### C. From Darkness to Light: Identity and Fruit (vv. 8–10)
“For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…”
Notice carefully: Paul does not say, “You were in darkness.” He says, “You *were* darkness.” And he does not say, “You are in the light.” He says, “You are light in the Lord.”
This speaks of a total change of nature. Before conversion, our very nature was darkness. After conversion, through union with Christ, our very nature is light. This is why any attempt to mix the two is a betrayal of our identity.
Verse 9: “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” Walking as children of light will produce visible fruit:
Verse 10: “Proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.” The word translated “proving” means to test, discern, and approve. As we walk in the light, we develop spiritual discernment. We do not merely ask, “Is this allowed?” but, “Is this pleasing to the Lord?”
Many believers live weak lives because they stop at the lowest standard: “Is it sin?” Instead, Scripture calls us to ask: “Does this please Jesus? Does this reflect light, or does it blur the line between light and darkness?”
### D. Exposing, Not Participating in Darkness (vv. 11–14)
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.”
Two commands:
1. Have no fellowship – no participation, no sharing, no partnership, with the deeds of darkness.
2. Reprove them – expose, bring them into the light by word and by example.
Verse 12: “For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.” The realm of darkness delights in secrecy, hidden sin, secret arrangements, private indulgences. The Spirit of God says: these things are shameful.
Verse 13: “But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light.” Wherever the light of Christ shines—through the Word, through the testimony of believers, through the operation of the Spirit—hidden things are brought out into the open.
This is why people either repent or resist when true light comes. Light does not negotiate with darkness. It exposes it.
Then verse 14 gives a prophetic call:
> “Therefore he says, ‘Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’”
This likely echoes Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” Paul applies it to spiritually sleepy believers. Sleep is a condition in which one is alive but inactive, unconscious to reality, unresponsive. Many in the church are in such a state.
The call is threefold:
### E. Wisdom, Time, and the Will of God (vv. 15–17)
“Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
Again we meet the word “walk.” We must watch carefully, exactly, how we live. Not careless, not casual. Wisdom in Scripture is not merely intellect. It is the ability to live in harmony with God’s order and purpose.
“Redeeming the time” means buying up every opportunity. Time is a currency. Every day you spend your time on something. You can waste it, or you can buy it back for God’s purposes. Why is this urgent? “Because the days are evil.” Evil days will not automatically produce good fruit. We must make deliberate choices.
Verse 17: “Therefore, don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Foolishness is not ignorance alone; it is indifference to God’s will. Wisdom seeks to *understand*—not just what God can do for us, but what He wants from us.
Walking in the light means living with a clear, growing understanding of God’s will as revealed in Scripture, and adjusting our life accordingly.
### F. Drunkenness vs. Spirit-Filling (vv. 18–20)
“Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit…”
Here we have a contrast between two ways of dealing with pressure, pain, and emptiness:
The Greek verb “be filled” is in the present continuous tense: “keep on being filled.” This is not a one-time experience at conversion or a single dramatic event. It is an ongoing lifestyle of surrender and reception.
How is this expressed?
1. Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
– Our speech to one another is shaped by worship and the Word. Fellowship becomes mutual edification, not gossip, not complaint.
2. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord
– Worship is both outward and inward. The heart is engaged. It is to the Lord, not for performance.
3. Giving thanks always concerning all things
– A continual attitude of gratitude, not only in some things, but “concerning all things.” This does not mean we call evil “good,” but that in every circumstance we recognize God’s sovereignty and goodness, and we give thanks.
4. Subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ
– True Spirit-filling produces humility and mutual submission, not independence and pride. The “fear of Christ” keeps relationships aligned.
These are marks of a life truly walking in the light: worship, gratitude, and humility under the Lordship of Christ.
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Let us now move from doctrine to practice. How do we walk in this light? I will give four clear steps, each accompanied by a practical proclamation you can make.
### Step 1: Accept Your New Identity as Light in the Lord
First, we must agree with God about who we are. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Stop thinking and speaking of yourself primarily in terms of your past. Begin to see yourself as God sees you in Christ.
Proclamation 1:
“In Christ, I am no longer darkness. I am light in the Lord. I am a beloved child of God, called to imitate my Father and walk in love.”
### Step 2: Break Fellowship with the Deeds of Darkness
Second, we must decisively renounce all known forms of sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness, including impure speech, entertainment, and relationships that pull us back into darkness.
This may involve:
Proclamation 2:
“I renounce all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. I break with sexual immorality, uncleanness, covetousness, and corrupt speech. I choose to walk in purity, truth, and thanksgiving, as a saint of God.”
### Step 3: Cultivate the Fruit of Light: Goodness, Righteousness, Truth
Third, walking in the light is not merely avoiding evil; it is actively pursuing what pleases the Lord.
You can do this by:
Proclamation 3:
“I choose to walk as a child of light. By the Holy Spirit, I pursue all goodness, righteousness, and truth, testing and approving what is well pleasing to the Lord.”
### Step 4: Live a Spirit-Filled, Worship-Filled, Grateful Life
Fourth, we must replace worldly ways of coping and celebrating (such as drunkenness) with Spirit-filled worship, fellowship, and gratitude.
This includes:
Proclamation 4:
“I choose not to be drunk with wine or controlled by any substance or desire. I choose to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. My mouth will be filled with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. My heart will make melody to the Lord. I will give thanks always for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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Let us now make a united proclamation based on Ephesians 5:1–20, and then turn it into prayer.
### Proclamation
“I declare that I am a beloved child of God.
In Christ, I am no longer darkness; I am light in the Lord.
I choose to imitate God as His child and to walk in love,
just as Christ loved me and gave Himself up for me,
an offering and a sacrifice to God, a sweet-smelling fragrance.
I renounce sexual immorality, all uncleanness, and covetousness.
I refuse filthiness, foolish talking, and coarse jesting.
Instead, my mouth will be filled with giving of thanks.
I will not be deceived by empty words.
I will not partake with the children of disobedience.
I will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but I will expose them by the light of God’s Word and Spirit.
I awake from spiritual sleep; I arise from the realm of death,
and Christ shines on me with His light.
I will watch carefully how I walk, not as unwise, but as wise.
I will redeem the time because the days are evil.
I refuse to be foolish; I choose to understand the will of the Lord.
I will not be drunk with wine or mastered by any addiction or desire,
but I will be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
I will speak to my brothers and sisters in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
I will sing and make melody in my heart to the Lord.
I will give thanks always for all things
to God the Father in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ.
I will submit myself to others in the fear of Christ.
By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit,
I choose to walk as a child of light. Amen.”
### Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the Light of the world. Whoever follows You will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. I present myself to You afresh today.
Thank You that, through Your death and resurrection, You have delivered me from the authority of darkness and transferred me into Your Kingdom. I ask You now: shine Your light into every area of my life. Expose every hidden work of darkness in my thoughts, desires, habits, and relationships.
I confess any sexual immorality, impurity, or covetousness. I bring it into the light. I ask for Your cleansing by Your precious blood. I renounce all fellowship with the works of darkness. I ask You to break every chain of bondage and deception over my life.
Holy Spirit, I ask You to fill me. Take control of my mind, my emotions, my will, and my body. Fill my mouth with worship and thanksgiving. Fill my heart with melody to the Lord. Produce in me the fruit of goodness, righteousness, and truth. Teach me to discern what is well pleasing to the Lord.
Father, I choose to redeem the time You have given me. Teach me wisdom. Reveal Your will to me through Your Word and by Your Spirit. Make me a clear, uncompromising witness of the light of Christ in a dark world.
I submit myself to You, Lord, and I also submit to my brothers and sisters in the fear of Christ. Establish me as a true child of light, walking in love, purity, and power, until the day I see You face to face.
I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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