Thursday 25 October 2012

Background

The Letter to the Ephesians deals with specific advice as to howto behave, and at the beginning of today's passage there is theextraordinary demand to "be imitators of God". This seems to be avery strange thing to write, and some versions of the Bible recordit as "be followers of God" (King James Version) or even "Try to belike him" (New English Bible). But "be imitators of God" is what ismeant.

Perhaps it helps to realise that Jesus shows what God is like,and so much of what is written in this letter is about behavinglike Jesus. In another letter in the Bible, Jesus is actuallydescribed as "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). So there it is - try tobehave like Jesus and therefore be an imitator of God!

Sacrifice is often a difficult concept for people today. In theOld Testament there are records of the sacrifice of animals in theworship in the temple. However, for Christians the death of JesusChrist is the final sacrifice. Jesus willingly offered himself inlove.

The rest of today's passage is about how followers of Jesusshould behave.

"Live as children of light" (v. 8) - Jesus is often described asthe "light of the world" (eg John1:4, 5 and John 8:12, 13). The writer of the Letter to theEphesians is telling readers that behaving like Jesus is likeliving in the light rather than living in the darkness.

To Ponder

• In what ways do you think that you might be able to be an"imitator of God"?

• Do you find it hard to think of Jesus' death as a sacrifice toGod? Why?

• What sort of behaviour is like living in the darkness? And whatsort of behaviour is like living in the light?