Ephesians 5:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ephesians 5:1

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At first sight, this almost fills us with dismay: the exhortation, ‘Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.’ Imitators of Paul, followers of Paul? Yes! – the apostle urges that in four other places and that is feasible for us, since Paul is but a man – but to be commanded to be followers of God, surely that is impossible. To some extent, our dismay is caused by the position of the chapter division. The chapters and verses are not inspired, but they are very useful. Nevertheless, chapter 4:32 and chapter 5:1 belong together and the chapter heading destroys the link; both verses speak of following God’s example, but the particular aspect of God's being and conduct which is singled out here for our close imitation is kindness. Obviously we cannot be imitators of God in terms of his incommunicable attributes, those great attributes of God which cannot be shared by human beings. They are part of his divine being. His omnipotence, his infinity: we cannot of course imitate those. His omnipresence: that would be ridiculous; we cannot imitate God in that he is everywhere. His omniscience, his limitless knowledge: only God possesses these attributes. His transcendence: we cannot in any degree imitate or follow that. Or in his immutability, his unchangeableness, the incommunicable aspects of the Almighty, everlasting God, we cannot share them. His self-existence: for God requires nothing from outside himself. His incomprehensibility, his infinite unknowable depths of being and knowledge. His sovereignty or his glory and his majesty: these things cannot be imitated and the apostle does not for a moment suggest they can be. But in some respects his communicable attributes can, to a limited degree, be embraced also by us: his love, and we can imitate his justice to some extent, and we can have something of his goodness, his mercy, and his truthfulness. In this instance, ‘Be ye kind one to another’ is part of his goodness and love. We can never be totally kind in this fallen world. Not until we’re taken to glory and purified and our final salvation takes place, but we can be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.‘Dear children’ means greatly loved children. It is not always the case in this fallen world, but you would think that if a child were greatly loved, he would be appreciative. You would think it would follow that he would have a great sense of indebtedness to his parents. You would think he would have a great desire to please them. You would think he would even want to be like them. Be followers of God, because as his children you are greatly loved and therefore you have an enormous debt to him and should desire greatly to resemble him, to resemble your Saviour. Like him, you should desire to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. The sense of ‘walk in love’ is walk in kindness. What is in mind is the church (Ephesians 4:16). Principally the thought here is kindness to fellow believers. Of course it applies beyond the church, love your enemies, says the Lord, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, but particularly in mind are fellow-believers.

Application

Kindness starts at home: kindness to husband, kindness to wife. Note the word here ‘walk’. God does not want just a few spurts of kindness, but a steady walk every day throughout life. To be kind is costly. It is hard to be kind when the other party is unreasonable, or unappreciative. It doesn't matter. By this means you are imitating in some degree the very Saviour to whom you owe, everything.

What are the impediments to kindness? They are many: self-love and pride – preoccupation with my way, my comforts, what redounds to my credit, my ease; critical spirit – we see unworthy conduct everywhere and we are hostile to it, but we don’t know how to restrain it and switch the spotlight on ourselves; ill temper – we develop a simmering ill-will and anger is not restrained and put in proportion; indifference and failure to notice other people's trials and pains and needs; the tendency to harbour blame or disapproval. These are some of the things to watch which elbow and force out any motive to be kind.

Kindness is a matter of heart. Spurgeon used an illustration once in Lectures to my Students about people that they had at the church, who didn't last very long. He singled out in his mind an example: a person who soon grew tired of them and went over to the Brethren. And he soon grew tired of the Brethren, and he went over to the Methodists. And he soon grew tired of the Methodists, and he went to a hyper-Calvinistic group. And he soon grew tired of that and he went somewhere else. And in each place he gained a reputation for being very good at argument, arguing some new distinctive set of doctrines or ideas. But in no place did he ever really participate, and Spurgeon's diagnosis was, ‘he had no heart.’ That is what is being referred to here, ‘Walk in love, in kindness.’ Some love the theory – we don't disparage the theory; they love the doctrines – well, that is to be commended. They are good at argument, always talking, always arguing a point, but something you notice is they never participate; you never see them collecting children for Sunday School. Never will this very articulate person offer himself or herself to be a teacher. They never do anything for the Lord. Should you have a workgroup or work party, you never see them there. There is no heart, you see; it is all in the head. They don’t feel for souls, for the Lord, for the work, for people. We are to be people who really appreciate Christ, and are indebted to him, and seek to reflect him.

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Ephesians 5:1 Commentary and Bible Study

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