It is difficult indeed to take a few verses from the context in the Epistle to the Ephesians, and make of them a complete whole. It is like taking a beautiful cluster of gems from its setting amid a galaxy of a thousand others. It is beautiful and precious by itself, but with its fellows it is beautified by their luster, while by its own brilliance it adds beauty to theirs. But we can not take all these gems; let us consider a cluster found in Eph. 5: 1-10, containing most precious light, warning, and instruction for seven-days-in-the-week religion, and every moment of each day. The passage reads as follows:—
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient; but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth); proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.”
“Be Ye Therefore.”
—Literally, “become ye therefore,” in view of what God has done. Aim at the highest mark. God in the beginning elected that His children “should be holy and without blame before Him” (Eph. 1:4), and He has pledged the hoarded love of eternity in the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, the power that raised Christ from the dead and created the worlds, and all the exceeding riches of His grace, that He may take every child of earth who will trust Him and make them that for which He chose them, “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Therefore by God’s grace become that to which He called you. If you wish to do it, if you are willing it shall be done in God’s way, He will do the work. It may seem impossible to you so to “become,” but He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”
What Shall We Become?
“Become ye therefore followers of God as dear children,” or, better, as the Revised Version has it, “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.” Not followers in the sense of walking after, or with; tho it is true that God goes with His children, and His children with Him. The injunction is more striking. Connect it with chapter 2:17, 18: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;” but be ye “imitators of God, as beloved children.” He is your pattern, your copy, your model. We are not to look to humanity for a copy to imitate, for we shall find imperfection, and excuse ourselves by that imperfection. Yet we are not to take a stranger. The son loves to follow his father’s example. So God would have His children imitate Him, copy from the perfect Pattern.
How May We Do It?
—Not by a formal life. Not by wearing a seamless robe as did Jesus, letting the hair grow long, and aping a “sanctified” look. It is not by working in human strength or wisdom that we become imitators of God. God wants living disciples, not lay figures or automatons. Those who walk as the Gentiles walk are “alienated from the life of God.” Those who walk as God walks must therefore have His life. And this is revealed in the next sentence: “Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love.” “God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.” 1 John 4:16. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:5. How then shall we imitate God?—By having His life and His love in our hearts. O soul, “receive ye the Holy Ghost!” God is more willing to give His Spirit than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. Luke 11:9-13. Then will your life bear the same fruit manifest in the life of Jesus Christ; then will you indeed “walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” As Christ gave Himself that the life and love of God might be manifest unto the world, so will we yield ourselves that2the life of God may be in us even as in Jesus, an odor of sweet things, a goodness, not our own, but God’s in us.
Leave the Old Life.
—There are many who think an outward profession of Christianity sufficient. It is enough, they seem to think, to go through certain forms, while the life, the disposition, the passions, the lusts, are the same. He who would become a child of God, who would in love be an imitator of God, must forever leave the old life. He must “resist the devil” if he would conquer. If sinners entice him, he should never consent to sin. The old course of life, even to its thoughts and words, is to be forsaken forever. “But fornication [the newspapers teem with reports of it], and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not once be named among you as becometh saints.” God would have the characters of His people look becomingly. He who dwells on fornication and uncleanness, who is coveting the things of the world, is not a follower of God.
“Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting [“lewd terms,” Doddridge], which are not convenient,” “not befitting,” R. V. These are the things that should not, must not, be among the children of God. And yet how much there is of it. Newspapers are oftentimes vile cesspools, or sewers for the same. The evil creeps into the social circle, around the fireside. The foolish talking opens the way for the “lewd turns.” No evil word may be actually said, but the look, the leer, the intonation, the gesture, all bespeak the lurking devil of unsubdued, lustful passion which finds a home in many a heart and a place in many a social circle, corrupting the minds and hearts of youth. If some true, brave soul indignantly protests we hear the sneer of “prudery or puritanism.” Nevertheless, such talk should be condemned; for God condemns it; because that in it is death to the soul that indulges it. “For this ye know of a surety, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, which is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” And the apostle makes it more emphatic. He anticipated that men would say that we need not be particular; and therefore He continues: “Let no man deceive you with empty words; for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience.” Surely the child of God should heed the warning. The professed Christian who has indulged in these things, should, in the light of this scripture, bow in abject humiliation, and repent of his sins. O, how many are confirmed in evil and led in the downward path, because of the utterly unbefitted and inconsistent course of some light-minded or lustful professor!
What Shall We Do?
—“Be not therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but are now light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord.” R. V. “Arise, and shine.” He who will yield to God to shine will have the light of God to shine with. What a blessed life, walking in the light, leading souls from darkness to light, ever a friend to the lost and a light to those in darkness! O Christian, light your lamps at the great Central Light! Dear soul, live no longer in darkness. What you sow you shall reap. You may call darkness light and light darkness, but they that do evil shall not enter the kingdom of God. They who yield to God will be channels of life and light to the world. Which will you choose, the blackness of darkness forever, or a place in the family of God? X.
