5:1
“Follow God’s example ...” This is quite an amazing statement in many ways. We were created in God’s image, we are, in many ways, meant to be like Him. Then it supports the divinity of Jesus. How do we know how to be like Him? We look at Jesus and see how He lived, for Jesus is God.
“As dearly loved children”. We are to obey, but it is not a matter of obeying out of terror, out of fear of punishment, but as dearly loved children”. We are children of God, for when we believe we are adopted into His family, and we are dearly loved. There are times when we may feel alone or vulnerable, in those times we should always remind ourselves that we are actually dearly loved children of God.
5:2
So how do we follow God’s example? By living a life of love, just as Christ loved us. He gave himself up for us as a “fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”. This is no sentimental mushy love, but a love that might well involve a great cost. We also see here that Christ is an example. There many debates about what the cross was all about. We actually see several of those aspects in this verse. First, Christ’s death was a sacrifice, a sacrifice that the Levitical sacrifices were pointing forward to, Jesus was punished in our place. It was also an act of love, not just towards us, but an act of love between the Father and the Son. Then it was an example for us to learn from. We go wrong when we emphasise one aspect at the expense of others, or even reject some aspects altogether. The most common one that is rejected by some is the penal substitution aspect of the cross, ie Jesus taking the judgement that should have been upon us. This is a grievous mistake, for it is the foundation on which everything else stands.
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