Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 1 Holy Bible
Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children;
read chapter 5 in ASV
Let it then be your desire to be like God, as well-loved children;
read chapter 5 in BBE
Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children,
read chapter 5 in DARBY
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
read chapter 5 in KJV
read chapter 5 in WBT
Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
read chapter 5 in WEB
Become, then, followers of God, as children beloved,
read chapter 5 in YLT
Ephesians 5 : 1 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 1. - Be ye therefore imitators of God, as children beloved. These words are closely connected with the preceding. In Ephesians 4:32 he had urged the example of God in one very momentous matter; he now urges it in a more general sense and on another ground. We ought to forgive men because God has forgiven us - all admit that; but moreover, we ought to imitate our Father in his forgiveness and in his loving spirit, be-because beloved children should always imitate, and will always strive to imitate, what is good in a beloved father. Forgiving love is one of the great glories of our Father; it has been made peculiarly attractive in our eyes, because it has been exercised by him towards us; every consideration, therefore, ought to induce us to show the same spirit.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersV.(1, 2) These verses are an expansion and enforcement of the last verse of Ephesians 4. There the forgiveness of "God in Christ" is set forth in one pregnant phrase. Here the two parts of this idea are divided; and there is put before us, first, the free universal love of God as our Father, and next, the self-sacrificing love of Christ, as the Son of God and man.(1) Followers of God.--The phrase is unique and very striking; literally, imitators of God: and the word "therefore" implies that this imitation of God must be chiefly in His essential attribute of love. It is instructive to observe that our Lord's startling command, "Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48), is explained both by the context and the parallel passage in St. Luke (Luke 6:36) to mean, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful." See in Hooker's Ecc. Pol., i. 5, a striking passage on the imitation of God as the law of all moral progress in man. In this idea, indeed, lies the essential and distinctive principle of a religious morality as such.As dear children.--Literally, as children beloved of Him. The knowledge of the love of God to us is the first source, as of our love to Him (1John 4:19), so also of our love to men as brethren under His fatherhood (1John 4:11). As being His "children," and therefore partakers of the divine nature (2Peter 1:4), we can imitate Him; as His "beloved children" we imitate Him most naturally in love, and especially in that form of love which we call "mercy," and which, as being ourselves sinners, we especially crave and receive from Him. . . .
