Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Ephesians 5:2


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Ephesians 5:2

2 And [kai] walk [peripateo] in [en] love, [agape] as [kathos] Christ [Christos] also [kai] hath loved [agapao] us, [hemas] and [kai] hath given [paradidomi] himself [heautou] for [huper] us [hemon] an offering [prosphora] and [kai] a sacrifice [thusia] to God [theos] for [eis] a sweetsmelling [euodia] savour. [osme] KJV-Interlinear

2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.  NASB

And so the word ‘love’ comes along and unfortunately most people have no clue as to what the bible is talking about.

Most match this term to emotion, to feeling good about life and things, to treating others with a turning of the cheek, to cowering down in the face of bullying, to being sincere, to doing good works, to having good intentions.

And then these feelings turn to social justice by mans definition, justifying the taking of one persons possessions and giving them or redistributing them to others, of negotiating with children rather than training them, of lowering the social standards so as to please or at the very least to not offend others.

And, they are all wrong, and miss the point of the spiritual life entirely.

That is why most believers fail, and why society fails miserably, and wonders why.

We are to love as Christ loved. This does not say to love as Christ loved and give of ones self as Christ gave of Himself.

This verse says, as far as you are concerned, to love as Christ loved.

It goes further and states that Christ loved and gave of Himself in the context of that love, which means that you too, must form your life around love.  But then most folks get the definition of love all mixed up with their emotions and moral values as defined by society, as stated above.


  


So, love here is ‘agape.’

This is the love of principle, not of emotion, not of intimacy, not of friendship.  Those last three use different words to describe them.

But the love of principle means the content of the scriptures, or Bible doctrine.

God made a promise and He kept that promise.  God is righteousness and that is perfection, not compromise, not looking the other way at times.  God is justice, which demands the cleansing away of the filth of crime, of sin, of human good.

Concepts of principle mandate that you be honest, truthful, honorable, have integrity, be fair and not show favoritism or take short cuts at the expense of others, to not take advantage.  Concepts of principle demand that you live your life in truth, and not in fiction.  That means you must be saved through faith, you must grow up in doctrine in the spiritual life, the life of discernment, not in the carnal life, the life of blindness and disorientation.

God deals with humanity through a policy of grace and grace is the sum total of righteousness plus justice which equals holiness, and then adding love or doctrine, which makes grace which is the policy of God.

Christ lived in accordance with this, and so too, you are to live your life in the same fashion.   But you cannot do that if you do not learn doctrine, which by the way, means that you must study daily in order to learn and receive your daily diet of spiritual food.

No one can live from day to day without eating food, and no one can grow up or live the spiritual life without their spiritual diet.  And, God defines the diet, not you.

All self-defined diets fail and that is true in the spiritual life.  Only Gods defined plan and procedure for spiritual growth, will work.

And that is the sweet smelling savor which God accepts. 

Christ went to the Cross in accordance with Gods plan.  Christ lived His life in doctrine in accordance with Gods will.  Only that which God approves, will produce an acceptable aroma to His liking and acceptance.

All that man can do on his own, will produce only the stench aroma of decay and rot, and that will never be accepted by God.


  


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