Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us… I. THE DESIGN OF THE SAVIOUR'S INTERPOSITION. "He gave Himself a sacrifice for us." He had given us many things before. He had given us the sun to cheer us, the air to brace us, the rain to refresh us, and made the earth to bring forth and to bud; and at last He gave us Himself. He gave Himself for us long before His incarnation; and "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." II. THE ACCEPTABLENESS OF THE SACRIFICE. "An offering and sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour." Go back to the time of the flood. Here we are informed that "Noah builded an altar unto the Lord," and offered sacrifices; "and the Lord smelled a sweet savour: and the Lord said, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake." So God delighted in the sacrifice of His Son, and said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." You may be reconciled to a servant, and you may admit him to a place in your house; still it may not be easy to admit him to a place in your affections. But we never can be so dear to God as when clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and sprinkled with His precious blood. III. THE PRINCIPLES THAT ACTUATED HIM. "He loved us, and gave Himself for us." That which cannot be known perfectly may be known preeminently. 1. His love is magnified in His gift. 2. It is magnified in the greatness of His sufferings. 3. It is magnified because He was acquainted with every part of His sufferings before He engaged to suffer. 4. It magnifies His love because we were unworthy of its exercise. 5. It magnifies His love because He did not wait to be asked. He did this not only without our desert, but without our desire. 6. It magnifies His love by the number of blessings to be derived from it. IV. We have now to DRAW SOME INFERENCES FROM THIS SUBJECT. 1. What is enjoined? "Walk in love." Strive to excel in it. We read of men walking in pride. He is lofty; he swaggers as he walks; he answers those beneath him roughly. Pride is his region; it is the air in which he breathes. So is it with love: you are not only to walk in love, but to live in it. 2. For whom is this enjoined? It is to be exercised towards Himself. 3. To whom is this enjoined? "Walk in love." It was to the Ephesians. But are you blameless here? 4. How is it enjoined? "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us."(1) As the model of our love. Thus our love must resemble His. And are you to exercise no self-denial? His love was a constant love; is yours to be changeable and varying? (2) But the apostle means that we should make the love of Christ the motive as well as the model of ours. "We love Him, because He first loved us." By this motive be led to present your bodies "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (W. Jay.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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 sweetsmelling savour. |
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