Salvation Makes us Imitators of Christ

Salvation Makes us Imitators of Christ

Ephesians 4:32-5:2

 We have spent the year of 2026 studying the basics of the good news of the gospel and the work of salvation. Beginning with the origins of sin in Genesis to the salvation provided through Christ as the solution to the sin problem, we have been digging deep to understand the most important issue of life. We have devoted this time to this study because our eternal destiny depends on this work. We haven’t studied it for information purposes, but for transformation purposes, and confirmation purposes. My prayer is that we are all carefully examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith.

In the last couple months of this series we have been looking at what the work of salvation accomplishes in us. The true work of salvation makes us worshippers. It makes us witnesses who carry out the mission. It makes us slaves of Christ. It makes us those who present themselves as living and holy sacrifices, acceptable to God. It makes us humble. These are just a few of the highlights of the work of salvation in us. What we must understand is that the work of salvation transforms us.

How could salvation do otherwise, seeing that it is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. We spent the last few weeks looking at the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of every true follower of Christ. He is the very presence of God in us. He is the Spirit of truth who guides us into all the truth and teaches us. He is the presence of God in us who enables us to successfully carry out the mission as He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. We testify to the hearing of the lost and the Holy Spirit testifies to the heart. The Holy Spirit is our Helper, like Jesus, who is not just the presence of God with us, as Jesus was with His disciples. He is the presence of God in us. How can we not be transformed by His presence?

If we were to find biblical terminology that captures the heart, or the essence of the work of salvation, I think we would have to conclude that the work of salvation conforms us to the image of Jesus. Romans 8:29 describes God’s work. “For those whom He (God) foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…” We become like Jesus. The more we become like Jesus, the more we become imitators of Jesus. This so often emphasized by the writers of the New Testament, we become imitators of Jesus Christ. The transformation of salvation makes us imitators of Christ. In some of these verses the writer is calling people to imitate them as they imitate Christ. The point is that we become imitators of Christ.

Listen to a sampling of the Scriptures which emphasize this concept of imitation.

• 1 Cor. 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.”

• Eph. 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

• Phil. 3:17 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”

• Phil. 4:9 “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

• 1 Thess. 1:6 “You also have become imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word with much tribulation and with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

• Heb. 6:12 “so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

• Heb. 13:7 “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”

The verse I am going to focus on for today’s message is found in Ephesians 4:32-5:1-2. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 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.” 

Ephesians 5:1-2 presents us with this very tall order. “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a fragrant aroma.” Please note this. Paul commands us to be imitators of God, but then He points to the example of Jesus that we are to follow. Jesus showed us the Father. He and the Father were One. Jesus said if you have seen Me you have seen the Father. By imitating Christ we will become imitators of God.

Unless we get confused with the semantics, let’s make sure we know the difference between an imitator and an imitation. “Imitation” is a term used to described something that is sometimes a counterfeit, or a phony. Imitation ice cream is no substitute for real ice cream. Being an imitator of Christ does not in any way imply or indicate that we are not genuine. In fact, it is the proof that we are the real deal. The work of salvation makes us become imitators of Christ and it is the likeness to Christ that proves the work of salvation to be real.

These are present tense, imperative commands. Because it is a present tense command this means that this is something that should always be happening. Every moment of every day in every situation we are to be imitating God. This verb is in the active voice, meaning that the subject is responsible for the action of the verb. The subject is implied “you.” Therefore, you be imitators of God. This means that we are responsible for doing the imitating. 

I don’t know about you, but this sounds like an impossible command. I think we all understand that this isn’t something we do in our own strength. It requires the same supernatural power that raised Christ from the dead. It requires the divine power that comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit but we are to yield to Him and allow Him to fill us and control us so that we are empowered to imitate God in every moment and situation of every day. And what have we learned over the last few weeks? We have learned that this power does dwell in us.

The Greek word which is translated “imitators” is “mimetes.” It the same word from which we get our English word “mimic.”  It means to imitate. We are to mimic God. The KJV of the Bible translates it “follower.” When Paul commands us to be imitators of God, he is telling us to follow the example of God. 

Some people like to describe Christians as “believers.” I don’t prefer that term because there are a lot of people who “believe” in Jesus who provide no evidence of salvation. I like to refer to Christians as “followers of Christ.” The idea of a follower of Christ is not that we simply go where He goes, but that we become like Him.

Paul used this same word in 1 Corinthians 11:1 where he challenged the Corinthian believers by saying, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” Become like me as I am becoming like Christ. To be an imitator of God is to become like Jesus. Jesus is the image of the invisible God in human form. He is the representation of God as a man. The goal of the Christian life is not to just become a believer in Jesus. It is to become an imitator of Jesus and become like Him. If we are imitators of Jesus, we are imitators of God.

We all love Romans 8:28. It says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Too often people pull that verse out of context. They like to be the ones to decide what the “good” is that God is causing as He works all things together. Verse 29 tells us what the “good” is that God is working on. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that we would be the firstborn among many brethren.” God’s purpose in bringing us to salvation is to conform us to the image of His Son. He is working all things together in our lives to make us like Jesus.

The first question that comes to my mind is this. How am I supposed to be an imitator of God? We must begin by understanding that there are some attributes of God which cannot be imitated. There are certain dimensions of God’s attributes and character which belong only to Him. Theologians call these God’s incommunicable attributes. God’s self-sufficiency, sovereignty, omnipotence and omniscience belong only to Him. I’ve been accused of trying to imitate God’s omniscience. I’ve been accused of believing that I know everything. Don’t worry about imitating those aspects of God that are above your pay grade. 

God’s communicable attributes are those which He shares with us. These are the attributes of God we can and should imitate. His love, mercy, longsuffering, forgiveness, and grace are to be evident in our lives. 

Look again at verse 1. We are to be imitators of God, “as beloved children.” We are to be imitators of God by virtue of the fact that we have been born again by His Spirit. He is doing the work that makes us like Him. I hear often about how much I look and act like my father. I am a replica of him in the way I am built. My walk, or gait, is just like my dad’s was. Many of my mannerisms and expressions are just like his. This is true by virtue of the fact that he was my biological father. I can’t help being like him. I imitate him because it comes naturally. As beloved children of God we are to be imitators of Him. It should be happening by virtue of the fact that He has given us a new birth, a new nature, and made us new creations in Jesus Christ. While I “naturally” imitate my biological father, we should “supernaturally” imitate our heavenly Father.

So, in what ways are we to imitate God? Paul does not leave that for us to wonder about. He tells us clearly. Now notice that the first word in verse 1 is “therefore.” When we are studying the Scriptures and we see the word “therefore” we need to look back at the previous verses and understand that to which this word is referring. I don’t think we have to go very far. In fact, we don’t have to go any further than the last verse of chapter 4. God is mentioned in verse 1 of Chapter 5 and He is also mentioned in the last verse of Chapter 4.  If you go beyond verse 32 you start to read about things God has never had to do, so you can’t imitate Him in doing things He never has had to do. He has never had to put away all those ugly things of verse 31, or He has never had to worry about grieving the Holy Spirit, and so on. 

So I believe the therefore points back to this last verse that tells us “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children, 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.” The chapter and verse designations were not part of the original manuscripts of Scripture. Chapter and verse divisions are not inspired. They are helpful, but not inspired, so there is no reason not to connect the thoughts of these verses since that is what the construction of the text suggests.

But there are two ways we are to imitate God. The command to be imitators of God is sandwiched between these to commands. We are to imitate God by forgiving each other just as God in Christ has forgiven you and by walking 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.

Consider the connection between forgiveness and love. Is it possible to forgive as God has forgiven us without also loving others selflessly and sacrificially? Is it possible to show love as Christ loved us without forgiveness like the forgiveness with which we have been forgiven? We cannot forgive unless we love and our love will always promote and produce forgiveness. “For God so loved the world that He gave…” God’s love produced His forgiveness and His forgiveness is the overwhelming evidence of His love.

Turn to Luke 7 for a moment. There was an incident in the life of Jesus which He used to explain to a Pharisee this same connection. Read verses 36-50.

So as we consider these two ways in which we are to imitate God, we must ask then, how does God forgive and how does Christ love? How does God forgive? For one, He forgives completely. He removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. He remembers our sin no more. He casts our sin into the depths of the sea. He will not bring our sin up ever once it has been forgiven.

When we were in Washington D.C. we went through the Holocaust Museum. I was reminded of something Corrie Ten Boom said. She referenced the verses that tell us God casts our sins into the depths of the sea and then she said, “And He puts up a ‘No Fishing’ sign.” If we are to imitate God’s forgiveness with our own, we must forgive completely. When we communicate forgiveness we must not bring the forgiven offense again. If someone hurts or offends you and you say you forgive, but you allow resentment to foster bitterness and you keep bringing that offense up, even if it is in your own mind, you haven’t forgiven completely.

God forgives even the worst offenses. He will forgive the mass murderer who repents and trusts Christ. He will forgive the child molester. He will forgive the spouse abuser. If God will forgive any sin, if our forgiveness is to be like His, then we don’t get to develop our own list of things that are too great to forgive. I don’t remember how many of Corrie Ten Boom’s family members died at the hands of the Nazi’s. I know her father died and her sister. I believe she also had a brother who died. When the war was over and she heard that one of the guards was on trial who had been most responsible for her suffering in those camps, she wrote him a letter expressing her forgiveness and sharing the gospel with the man who had caused her so much pain.

God forgives repeatedly. God does not put a limit on the number of times we sin and draws a line and refuses if we cross that line. We are to forgive over and over and over and as many times as we need to. Jesus told Peter that the number was 70 times 7. I would submit to you that if you can forgive 490 times there is no limit to how many times you can forgive. If you can forgive 490 you can forgive 491, 492, and 493.

We could spend weeks examining various aspects of God’s forgiveness but we must move on. Let us consider the content of verse 2 and the command to 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.

Summed up in the teaching of this verse is the reality that Christ’s love is an unconditional love. Christ’s love for us depends exclusively on Him as the One who loves and has nothing at all to do with the merit, attractiveness, worth, or response of those He loves. Christ does not love you or me because we were somehow special in His sight. He does not love us because He knew we would respond to the gospel. He did not sacrifice Himself on our behalf because we were in any way deserving of that kind of concern. While we were sinners, when we were still His enemies, He died for us.

This is what our love should look like. We should love unconditionally. We should love even when the one we love is being unlovable, hateful, disrespectful, or hurtful towards us. There is a pretty accurate description of love somewhere in the Bible, like in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul tells us that love is patient and kind and does not take into account a wrong suffered. Love bears all things. Love never fails. Unconditional love cannot be destroyed. If it could, God would have the option of ceasing to love us when we disappoint Him or dishonor Him. We do that all the time and yet He loves us still.

God’s love is not only unconditional, it is sacrificial. Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, as a fragrant aroma. Sacrificial love gives without expecting anything in return. Jesus tells us to love one another just as He has loved us. He demonstrated that love on the night of His arrest. John’s gospel records the story. Jesus was with His disciples on Passover. He would die as the Passover Lamb. As He was facing arrest, torture, and death, Luke tells us they were arguing among themselves about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They were focused on themselves and how much power and prestige they would enjoy in God’s kingdom.

They were so dull of hearing that they didn’t understand what He is about to face. They were concerned only about themselves. So Jesus slapped them all upside the head! He called them idiots and morons. After all, that is what they deserved. No. He disrobed and took a towel and basin of water and knelt before these selfish, stubborn, ignorant men and the Creator of heaven and earth washed their feet. He was still patient and kind and forbearing and gracious to these men. Verse 1 of John 13 says “He loved them to the end.” Paul tells us to walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for you.

Have we really taken to heart what it means to imitate God in the way we forgive and in the way we love? How much different would the body of Christ be if we were to get serious about getting this right? Divorce among Christians is just about equal to divorce among the unregenerate world. Could this continue to be so if we would begin to forgive and love according to the patter of God? No way.

People outside the church don’t see much difference between themselves and those in the church. That would change dramatically if we would start to be imitators of God.

God’s work of salvation is a powerful work. How could it be anything else since it involves the very presence of God, the Holy Spirit, coming to abide in us? God’s salvation transforms us radically. We must love as He loves and forgive as He forgives. We can imitate God in the way we love and forgive.

The application of this truth is simple. Does your life reflect the radical transformation of salvation? Has it impacted the way you love and forgive? Are you an imitator of God? 

Let’s pray?