Ephesians 5.2a-Living One's Life By Means of the Practice of Divine-Love
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 13, 2026
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 5:2a-Living One’s Life By Means of the Practice of Divine-Love
Lesson # 307
Ephesians 5:1 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives by imitating the one and only God because each and every one without exception are beloved children. 2 Specifically, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of living your lives by means of the practice of divine-love because the one and only Christ in fact divinely-loved each and every one of you of us as a corporate unit. Namely, He gave Himself up as a substitute for each and every one of us as a corporate unit to be a voluntary offering, which is a sacrifice for the benefit of the one and only God for a fragrant aroma. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 5:2 is composed of the following:
(1) epexegetical command: kai peripateite en agapē ( καὶ περιπατεῖτε ἐν ἀγάπῃ), “Specifically, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of living your lives by means of the practice of divine-love.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) causal clause: kathōs kai ho Christos ēgapēsen hēmas (καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς), “because the one and only Christ in fact divinely-loved each and every one of you of us as a corporate unit.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(3) epexegetical clause: kai paredōken heauton hyper hēmōn prosphoran kai thysian tō theō eis osmēn euōdias (καὶ παρέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ⸂ἡμῶν προσφορὰν⸃ καὶ θυσίαν τῷ θεῷ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας), “Namely, He gave Himself up as a substitute for each and every one of us as a corporate unit to be a voluntary offering, which is a sacrifice for the benefit of the one and only God for a fragrant aroma.” (Lecturer’s translation)
Therefore, we can see that the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:2 issues a command to the recipients of this epistle who were members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.
It explains in greater detail the meaning of the command in Ephesians 5:1 and required that they must continue to make it their habit of living their lives by means of the practice of divine-love.
He then emphatically presents the reason for this command, which asserts that the one and only Christ divinely-love them.
Paul then goes on to explain this statement by asserting that Christ gave Himself up as a substitute for them.
He describes Christ’s act of love for them as a voluntary offering and specifically a sacrifice for the benefit of His Father for a fragrant aroma.
So as we noted, the command in this verse explains or defines the meaning of previous command in Ephesians 5:1, which required that the recipients of this letter continue to make it their habit of conducting their lives by imitating God the Father’s love for them.
Therefore, this indicates that when Paul commands the recipients of this letter to continue to make it their habit of conducting their lives by imitating God the Father’s love them, he means that they are to continue to make it their habit of living their lives by practicing the love of the Father.
As was the case in Ephesians 4:1, the verb peripateō (περιπατέω) here in Ephesians 5:2 is employed in a figurative sense with reference to the post-justification lifestyle of the recipients of this epistle.
In other words, it speaks of the church age believer’s lifestyle after they have been declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, this verb speaks of the recipients of this letter experiencing fellowship with the triune God by exercising faith in the Father’s love for them in eternity past when He elected them by predestinating them to adoption as His sons (cf. Eph. 1:3-6).
This fellowship is also accomplished by exercising faith in the Son’s work for them on the cross (Eph. 1:7-12) as well as exercising faith in the Spirit’s work for them at justification when they were enemies of God (cf. 1:13-14; 2:4-6).
This post-justification faith by the believer with regards to the love of each member of the Trinity enables them to obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them at the cross.
The second personal plural form of this verb peripateō (περιπατέω) refers of course to the recipients of this letter, who we noted many times in this study of Ephesians, are members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia because this is a circular letter.
The second person plural form of this verb refers to them not only as a corporate unit but also as individuals.
The latter of which is indicated by the fact that Paul is using the distributive sense of the second person plural, which emphasizes no exceptions expressing Paul’s concern for the recipients of this letter not only as a corporate unit but also as individuals.
The noun agapē (ἀγάπη) means “divine love” because this love originates from the character and nature of the triune God (1 John 4:8) and is reproduced in the church age believer by the Holy Spirit when they exercise faith in the Spirit inspired contents of Scripture and in context, the Ephesian epistle (Gal. 5:22-23).
This post-justification faith provides the church age believer the capacity to practice the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love another as He loved them.
Therefore, this word contains the figure of metonymy, which means that divine love is put for the practice of the love of God as a result of obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He loves the believer.
The noun agapē (ἀγάπη) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which means “by means of” because it functions as a marker of means.
Therefore, it is marking God’s love as the means by which the verb peripateō (περιπατέω) is to be accomplished.
Therefore, this indicates that the recipients of this letter were to continue make it their habit of living their lives “by means of the practice of divine love.”
The present imperative conjugation of the verb peripateō (περιπατέω) is a customary present imperative, which not only expresses the idea of the recipients of this letter “making it their habit of” living their lives by practicing the love of God but also that of “continuing” to do so.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that Paul affirms in Ephesians 1:15 and 4:20-24 that they were already practicing the love of God when interacting with each other.
Therefore, the present imperative conjugation of this verb expresses the idea that they “must continue to make it their habit of” living their lives by practicing the love of God when interacting with each other.
Again, this would be accomplished by obedience to His Son’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another self-sacrificially loved them when they were spiritually dead and His enemies.
Up to this point in Ephesians, the apostle Paul has on two occasions addressed the lifestyle of the recipients of this letter, namely Ephesians 2:4-10, 4:1-3 and 17.
In the former, he reminds them that they should produce good works, which are in obedience to his Spirit inspired gospel, which he communicated to them.
He reminds them that despite the fact that they were spiritually dead because of their sins and transgressions and enslaved to the sin nature and Satan and his cosmic system, God the Father saved by grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
He also made them alive together with His Son in that He identified them with His Son in resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
In both instances, Paul employs the verb peripateō (περιπατέω) for the lifestyle of the recipients of this epistle.
Ephesians 2:10 For each and every one of us are His creative workmanship. For each and every one of us has been created by means of our faith in and union and identification with Christ Jesus in order to produce actions, which are divine good. These God prepared in advance so that each of us would conduct our lives by means of them. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:1 Therefore, I myself, the prisoner because of the Lord’s will, exhort and encourage each and every one of you as a corporate unit to live your lives in a manner worthy of your effectual calling with which each and every one of you as a corporate unit have been effectually called 2 with the fullest expression of that which characterizes humility resulting in that which characterizes gentleness. Specifically, by each and every one of you as a corporate unit continuing to make it your habit of tolerating one another with that which characterizes patience by means of the practice of divine love. 3 In other words, by all of you without exception continuing to cause yourselves to make it a habit of making every effort to maintain the unity produced by the Spirit by means of the bond, which produces a peace, which is divine in quality and character. (Lecturer’s translation)
Throughout the New Testament there is a concern for the Christian’s lifestyle or conduct and the verb peripateō (περιπατέω) appears often in the New Testament with reference to the lifestyle or conduct of the believer (cf. 1 Cor. 7:17; 2 Cor. 5:7; 10:3-4).
This verb appeared in Ephesians 2:2 with regards to the unregenerate lifestyle of the recipients of this epistle.
It also appears in Ephesians 2:10, 4:1 and 4:17 in relation to the lifestyle of the recipients of this letter as Christians or regenerate people of God.
