Walking in Love Requires Living Out of Christ (Ephesians 5:2)

What does it mean to “walk in love” as Paul commands in Ephesians 5:2? 

In this verse-by-verse Bible study, Nathan Johnson unpacks the radical nature of agapē love—a love that is not passive, emotional, or circumstantial, but a steadfast, sacrificial commitment modeled after Christ Himself. 

Paul’s command to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” reveals that biblical love is not measured by our comfort or preference, but by the extravagance of God’s own self-giving love. This message explores five defining characteristics of agapē love and shows why walking in love is only possible when we live out of union with Christ, who is love. 

If you’ve ever wondered how Christian love differs from the world’s version—or felt the gap between how you love and how Christ loves—this Ephesians 5:2 exposition will challenge and equip you to pursue a love that costs something.

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Key Passage: Ephesians 5:2

…and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
– Ephesians 5:2

Therefore be imitators …

• Ephesians 5:1 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children …
• How can we be possibly imitate God?
  • Not WWJD!
  • We can’t!
  • Ian Thomas – You can’t, but God never said you could. He will, and God always said He would.
  • Oswald Chambers– The secret to imitation is impartation.
  • This is Paul’s entire message of Ephesians: IN CHRIST
  • 1 John 4:9– By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

Walk in Love

• Ephesians 5:1–2 – Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
  • AND (kai) – and, also, likewise; in this context it is the idea of “that is” … which tells you that if you are going to imitate God (v1) this is how you do it 
    • [be imitators of God, that is, walk in love]
  • WALK (peripateō) – how you live and behave
    • Verb: present, active, imperative
  • IN (en) – a state or condition, a position of being “in” (unmoved)
  • LOVE (agapē) – an active, fervent, self-sacrificing, unconditional love that seeks the benefit of another even at risk or cost to one’s life
    • Not a feeling/emotion that changes 
    • Based on the character and nature of God
    • 1 John 4:8, 16 – … God is love.

God’s Agapē is Extravagant

• Mathew Nelson Saturday Reflection [Ellerslie student 2014, Advanced 2015] – Love is an essential attribute of God and love is part of His nature. Love is something true of God. We can gain a greater understanding of His love through His other attributes. For instance, God is eternal and therefore, His love is also eternal; it has no end. God is self-existent and so His love has no beginning. He is holy; His love is holy and pure. He is perfect; His love is perfect. He loves us so perfectly, so that there is absolutely nothing we can do to cause Him to love us any more or any less. … His love is infinite; it has no end and no boundaries. His love is also selfless, faithful, true, unwavering, sweet, satisfying, patient, kind, humble, affectionate, constant, beautiful, and strong. His love is unconditional, active, fearless, gracious, merciful, mighty, powerful, deep, incomparable, amazing, free, and humble.
• A.W. Tozer – From God’s other known attributes we may learn much about His love. We can know, for instance, that because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because He is eternal, His love can have no end; because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because He is immense, His love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful silence and from which the loftiest eloquence retreats confused and abashed. ⁽¹⁾
• Hymn: Love of God 
  • The love of God is greater far
    Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
    It goes beyond the highest star,
    And reaches to the lowest hell;
    The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
    God gave His Son to win;
    His erring child He reconciled,
    And pardoned from his sin.
    
    Refrain
    O love of God, how rich and pure!
    How measureless and strong!
    It shall forevermore endure
    The saints’ and angels’ song.
    
    Could we with ink the ocean fill,
    And were the skies of parchment made,
    Were every stalk on earth a quill,
    And every man a scribe by trade,
    To write the love of God above,
    Would drain the ocean dry.
    Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
    Though stretched from sky to sky.
• Context of E5:2 – I am not to imitate God out of my own resource or ability but out of His own life dwelling within me
• Ian Thomas – The Christian life can be explained only in terms of Jesus Christ, and if your life as a Christian can still be explained in terms of you — your personality, your willpower, your gift, your talent, your money, your courage, your scholarship, your dedication, your sacrifice, or your anything — than although you may have the Christian life, you are not yet living it! ⁽²⁾

5 Love Handles

1. Agapē Love is a steadfast commitment

• Ephesians 5:2: Christ loved us and gave Himself for us … despite hardship, pain, and the cross … His love was a steadfast commitment
• Agape love doesn’t change when things get difficult, it perseveres
• A determination to love regardless of emotion or circumstance
• Matthew 22:37–40– And Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
• All I am and all I have
• Has idea of intimacy, obsession, and obedience

2. Agapē Love is extreme

3. Agapē Love is Not Passive

• God’s love took action
• John 3:16– For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

4. Agapē Love is Sacrificial

• Ephesians 5:2 – … and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
• Lust grabs, love gives
• Lust asks how can I use you, love asks how can I serve and pour out my life for you
• Cross (the great picture of God’s love): bleed, suffer, die 
• John 15:12–13 – This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
• 1 John 3:16– By this we have known love, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

5. My love (and life) is measured by the extravagance of God’s agapē love

• I am to imitate God and walk in love … how is such a life measured? – by the life of Christ 
• 1 Peter 2:21 – For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps …
• When can I stop loving and pouring my life out for others? – only when Jesus stops (and He doesn’t stop)

Is My Life Marked by His Love?

• Ephesians 5:1–2– Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and [that is] walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
• When someone sees me, do they see love expressed, spoken, proclaimed? 
• The primary mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit is love (Fruit of the Spirit)
• John 13:35 – “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

A Desperate Need for His Love in Me

• 1 Corinthians 13:1–3– If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
• Can I declare 1 Cor 13 in my life?
• 1 Corinthians 13:4–8– Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up; it does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered; it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
  • Jesus is patient, He is kind …
  • Nathan is patient, he is kind … ?

FOOTNOTES

(1) // A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 1964), 105.
(2) Ian Thomas, The Saving Life of Christ and The Mystery of Godliness (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988), 162-163.

Photo Credit: Pixel Creative

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In Our Next Study Together …

I invite you to join me on this journey from the book of Ephesians to discover God’s eternal purpose, His plan for your life, and learn how to practically live out an abundant and fruitful Christian life. 

• The focus of our next study: Ephesians 5:2
  • We are going to dive into the concept of the fragrance of our lives.
  • I encourage you to read through Ephesians a couple of times this week and focus specifically on Ephesians 5.