"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Ephesians 5:1-2
It will be helpful, as we begin this new chapter, to take an overview of its teaching, before looking in detail at the opening verses. We see that the Apostle underlines three things in particular in 1-21 - walking in love (2), walking as children of light (8), and walking circumspectly, in wisdom (15). Then, from 5:22-6:9, he 'sets the agenda', so to speak, for this Christian walk as being in the context of relationships - between husbands and wives, between parents and children, and between masters and servants. This is a comprehensive, and indeed challenging, unfolding of Christian living, as we are to see in the Notes that follow. We look first, in this Note, at the chapter's first emphasis in its opening verses, that of walking in love as God's dear children.
By way of introduction, we may look back for a moment at the final thought of the previous chapter (4:30), 'Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption'. That is the climax and heart of the negative aspect of the Christian life. But the opposite is also blessedly possible: it is possible, by the way we walk, to bring pleasure and delight to the Holy Spirit of God. This is a very fruitful and, one fears, a much too neglected thought, and it is worth spending some time on it at the outset. This we will do in the next Note.