Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor.
2. walk ] On the metaphor, see above on Eph 2:2. It is just in the steps of actual life that Divine grace is to shew itself, if it is indeed present.
as Christ also ] “ Also,” as an Exemplar additional to the Father, and in different though profoundly kindred respects. See next notes. On “God” and “Christ” thus collocated see above on Eph 4:32.
hath loved hath given ] Better, loved gave. Cp. for a pregnant parallel, Gal 2:20, “Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” And, again of the community, the Church, ch. Eph 5:25; Rev 1:5. On this holy Love see above Eph 3:19; Rom 8:35; 2Co 5:14.
us ] Considerable evidence, but scarcely conclusive, gives the reading “ you.” All the ancient Versions favour the received text.
given himself for us ] as atoning, pacificatory, satisfactory Sacrifice. Thus we may safely interpret in the light of Scripture at large, and of the next following words here. But the business of this passage is with the Lord’s Example, and it does not enter in detail into His Sacrificial work, nor employ (in the Gr.) the strict formula for substitution, such as the Lord Himself uses, Mat 20:28, “to give His soul a Ransom in place, instead, of many.” The supreme Act of self-devoting love for others which, as a fact, the Atoning Death was, is here used as the great Example of all acts of self-devoting love in the Christian Church. As the Father has just been named as the Ideal for the forgiving Christian, so here the Son is named as the Ideal for the self-sacrificing Christian.
“ Hath given ”: better, as R.V., gave Himself up, to the agents of death. “ For us ” = “on behalf of us,” not here (see first paragraph of this note) “in place of us.” The phrase is the less precise and more inclusive.
offering sacrifice ] Both Gr. nouns have a large and general meaning in many places and thus often “overlap” each other; but where, as here, they occur together we must look for some limit and distinction. “Offering” is, on the whole, the more general word, “sacrifice” the more particular. “Offering” gives the thought of dedication and surrender at large to God’s purposes; “sacrifice” gives that of such surrender carried out in altar-death. Not that “sacrifice” necessarily implies death, but death is its very frequent connexion. Bp Ellicott here sees in “offering” a suggestion of the obedience of the Lord’s life, in “sacrifice,” of His atoning death.
a sweet-smelling savour ] The same Gr. occurs Php 4:18 (A. V. “an odour of a sweet smell”). It occurs often in the LXX. of the Pentateuch; e.g. Gen 8:21; and see esp. Lev 1:9; Lev 1:13; Lev 1:17, where the reference is to atoning sacrifices (see Eph 5:3). It translates the Heb. rach nchach, “a savour of rest.” In the picture language of typical sacrifices, the savour was “smelt” by the Deity as a welcome token of worship and submission, and thus it conveyed the thought of pacification and acceptance. Pagan sacrificial language has many parallels; see, e.g. Homer, Il. 1. 317, viii. 549. Cowper renders the last passage
“Next the Gods
With sacrifice they sought, and from the plain
Upwafted by the wind, the smoke aspires,
Savoury, but unacceptable to those
Above, such hatred in their hearts they bore” &c.
The Lord’s obedience and atonement “reconciled the Father unto us” (Art. ii.), in that they perfectly met the unalterable demand of the holy and broken Law. He thus sent up, as the result of His work for us, the sacred “odour of rest;” becoming our “peace with God.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And walk in love – That is, let your lives be characterized by love; let that be evinced in all your deportment and conversation; see notes on Joh 13:34.
As Christ also hath loved us – We are to evince the same love for one another which he has done for us. He showed his love by giving himself to die for us, and we should evince similar love to one another; 1Jo 3:16.
And hath given himself for us – As Christ also hath loved us. We are to evince the same love for one another which he has done for us He showed his love by giving himself to die for us, and we should evince similar love to one another; 1Jo 3:16. And hath given himself for us. This is evidently added by the apostle to show what he meant by saying that Christ loved us, and what we ought to do to evince our love for each other. The strength of his love was so great that he was willing to give himself up to death on our account; our love for our brethren should be such that we would be willing to do the same thing for them; 1Jo 3:16.
An offering – The word used here – prosphora – means properly that which is offered to God in any way; or whatever it may be. It is, however, in the Scriptures commonly used to denote an offering without blood – a thank-offering – and thus is distinguished from a sacrifice or a bloody oblation. The word occurs only in Act 21:26; Act 24:17; Rom 15:16; Eph 5:2; Heb 10:5, Heb 10:8,Heb 10:10, Heb 10:14, Heb 10:18. It means here that he regarded himself as an offering to God.
And a sacrifice – thusian. Christ is here expressly called a Sacrifice – the usual word in the Scriptures to denote a proper sacrifice. A sacrifice was an offering made to God by killing an animal and burning it on an altar, designed to make atonement for sin. It always implied the killing of the animal as an acknowledgment of the sinner that he deserved to die. It was the giving up of life, which was supposed to reside in the blood (see the notes on Rom 3:25), and hence it was necessary that blood should be shed. Christ was such a sacrifice; and his love was shown in his being willing that his blood should be shed to save people.
For a sweet-smelling savour – see the notes on 2Co 2:15, where the word savor is explained. The meaning here is, that the offering which Christ made of himself to God, was like the grateful and pleasant smell of incense, that is, it was acceptable to him. It was an exhibition of benevolence with which he was pleased, and it gave him the opportunity of evincing his own benevolence in the salvation of people. The meaning of this in the connection here is that the offering which Christ made was one of love. So, says Paul, do you love one another. Christ sacrificed himself by love, and that sacrifice was acceptable to God. So do you show love one to another. Sacrifice everything which opposes it. and it will be acceptable to God. He will approve nil which is designed to promote love, as he approved the sacrifice which was made, under the influence of love, by his Son.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eph 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God.
Walking in love
I. I gather out of these words something calculated to touch the heart.
1. There are many of our fellow creatures who have found but little love from man. To them this would have been a cold, cheerless place. To them the love of God, revealed in the gospel, comes as a strange and startling thing. It transforms life when thoroughly realized and embraced.
2. There are others who have known the value of human affection, and have lost it. A dark cloud has settled down upon their once happy homes and hearts. The gospel announces that all they have lost, and far more, they may find again in Christ. When anyone shall not only hear it, but grasp it–not only understand it, but try it–then life will wear a new aspect, and under the influence of Christ the whole soul expands.
II. I find here something to satisfy the conscience. What should we do in the presence of our sins, if we had no such truth as this to trust to?
III. I find here something to regulate life.
1. Walk in love as in an atmosphere of bright sunshine, bathing your soul in a consciousness of Gods love for you. It is your privilege, let it be your joy.
2. Walk in love as an apparel. It is a beautiful sight to see a man clothed with humility. It is a cheering sight when you look at a servant of Jesus in the armour of light, and a worshipper of God in the garments of salvation. It is a glorious sight when you see a holy man putting on zeal for a cloak. But above all these things put on charity or love, for it is the bond of perfectness. In this world of sorrow the Christian should be conspicuous for love. It was the prominent feature in Christ; it should be prominent in Christs followers.
3. Walk in love, as the appointed path in which God would have His children found. The walk of love will lead you into ways which you never once thought to find. It often turns aside from the more crowded thoroughfares of life, and runs through scenes where sorrow and shame have crept out of sight to weep and endeavour to forget. But there are some of the keenest experiences of human joy to be found in this lowly path. To stand, e.g., in the presence of despair, and watch how hope begins again to brighten a brothers eye; to whisper some holy truth in the ear of grief, and then receive the rich reward of a smile of thankfulness; to put the cup of cold water to the parched lip, and then listen to the gurgle of a new joy as some poor sufferer drinks down what refreshes soul and body both–oh, this comes only in the lanes and the by walks of the path of love. Sometimes the path descends into the darker regions of trial and temptation, when the believer himself needs sympathy; and I know nothing more sweet, nothing more soothing, than in such an hour of ones own sorrow to experience the sympathy which Christ shows in the tenderness of His insight into all our need, and to feel that the world is better than we thought it to be when some brother man comes in the warmth of his own regenerated heart and testifies that all is not cold, all is not barren. But sometimes the walk of love rises among the upland scenery of grace and godliness, and then, when we climb from height to height of Gods great mystery of redemption, as we look down and back upon all the way in which goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life, as we look around on the vastness and variety and beauty and blessedness for which our Father has given us an eye and a heart, and as we look above into that cloudland overhead and up to those greater worlds of glory which enable us to think what the universe must be and what the great Governor of that universe can do, why then the walk of love rises into a sublimity which a man can feel but cannot describe, and the climax upon earth is reached, and beyond it nothing further can go till this winged soul of ours shall have broken the silver cord that tied it to the body, and found the expansion of her wing feathers causing her to sear away into the presence of God, where are fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore. It is a great bright world that is yet known to few. Some have landed upon its shore–a great continent of joy. They know but the fringe of flower and fruit which the search of a few short days has found. But go through the length and breadth of the land, wander among its hills and valleys, drink of the deep fountains of love, swim over its inner seas, and you will never again return to the haunts of sin and the ways of shame, for the love of the higher and the purer and the more perfect will swallow up every meaner passion, and absorb every fainter light, and the passion, the privilege, the prerogative, the pleasure of the sinner saved by grace, is to walk in love. (John Richardson.)
The duty of walking in love
The doctrine is that Christ showed so much love in giving Himself for a propitiatory sacrifice to God for us, that thereby all true Christians are bound to walk in love.
I. Let me open the example and pattern here set before us. And there I begin–
1. With the principle–Christ also loved us. That was it which moved and inclined Him to so strange an undertaking as to die for our sins.
2. The act–He gave Himself for us. Where you have the giver, the gift, and the parties interested.
(1) The Giver, Christ. He voluntarily first assumed a body and then parted with His life for this use.
(2) The Gift was Himself. And both put together show that Christ was both Priest and Sacrifice; as God the Priest, as man the sacrifice: He offered up Himself to God through the eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14).
(3) The parties interested–for us.
II. The nature of the duty thence inferred, or what it is to walk in love. To walk in love signifieth not one act or two, but the perpetual tenor of our lives; our whole life should be an exercise of love. But what love doth He mean? Either love to God and Christ, or love to men? I answer–I cannot exclude the former totally, for these reasons.
1. Love to men is of little worth unless it flow from love to God.
2. Because it is a genuine product of this great love of Christ to us: We love Him because He loved us first (1Jn 4:19). To God Himself; we beat back His own beam and flame upon Himself first, and then to all that belong to Him.
3. Because not only the direct improvement of the love of Christ, but so much of the Christian life dependeth on the love of God, that it should not be excluded when we are discoursing of it (2Co 5:14-15). The sense of this love should work in us certainly a great fervour of love to God, that may level and direct all our actions to His glory, and make us study to please Him. Well, then, if we take it in this sense, how are we to walk in love?
I answer–
1. That love is to be at the bottom of all our actions and duties, that our whole religion may be but an acting of love, Let all your things be done with charity (1Co 16:14). If we pray, let us act the seeking love; if we praise God, let us act the delighting love; if we obey God, let us act the pleasing love.
2. Let us walk in love, all will be nothing else; but let us continue constant to the death in the profession of the Christian faith; for vehement pure Christian love casteth out all fear in danger. If we love Christ, we will run all hazards for His sake.
III. I come now to show you how we are bound to do so by the example of Christs love. And here I shall show you that it is both a motive and a pattern.
1. It is a motive to excite us to love Him, because the great thing that is remarkable in Christs giving Himself as a sacrifice for us is love. You may conceive it by these considerations.
(1) To suffer for another is more than to do or act for him, for therein is more self-denial.
(2) To suffer death for another is the greatest obligation that we can put upon him (Joh 15:13).
(3) This is the highest expression of love to friends, but Christ did it for enemies, for the ungodly sinful world (Rom 5:7-8).
(4) To suffer for the faults of another is the greatest condescension.
(5) Because this is not fit to be done among mankind, that the innocent should suffer capital punishment for the guilty. This was the wonderful act of Gods grace to find such a strange and unusual sacrifice for us.
(6) That He should suffer to such ends, or that the consequent benefits should be so great, as the remission of sins and eternal life.
(7) That, with respect to the end, God and Christ took such pleasure in it (Isa 53:10).
2. It is a pattern which we should imitate.
(1) In the reality of it (1Jn 3:18).
(2) In the freeness of it. He was not induced to it by any overture from us, but by His own love only (Eph 5:25).
(3) In the constancy of it. He was not discouraged when it came to push of pike (Joh 13:1).
(4) In the self-denial and condescension of it (Mat 20:28). But because we cannot pursue all, two things I shall commend to you from this love of Christ.
(a) The kind of the love; it was a love of souls.
(b) The greatness and degree of this love. We must be ready to lay down our lives for the Church of God.
Use
1. This love of Christ must be firmly believed.
2. It must be closely applied for our good and benefit, till we are duly affected with it, so as to make suitable returns to God; partly by devoting ourselves to Him (Rom 12:1), and partly by rendering our thank offerings of charity towards others (Heb 13:17). (T. Manton, D. D.)
The nature, properties, and acts of charity
I. Loving our neighbour doth imply that we should value and esteem him: this is necessary, for affection doth follow opinion; that is not amiable, which is wholly contemptible; or so far as it is such.
II. Loving our neighbour doth imply a sincere and earnest desire of his welfare, and good of all kinds, in due proportion: for it is a property of love, that it would have its object most worthy of itself, and consequently that it should attain the best state whereof it is capable, and persist firm therein; to be fair and plump, to flourish and thrive without diminution or decay; this is plain to experience in respect to any other thing (a horse, a flower, a building, or any such thing) which we pretend to love: wherefore charity should dispose us to be thus affected to our neighbour. We should wish him prosperous success in all his designs, and a comfortable satisfaction of his desires; we should wish him with alacrity of mind to reap the fruits of his industry; and to enjoy the best accommodation of his life.
III. Charity doth imply a complacence or delightful satisfaction in the good of our neighbour; this is consequent on the former property, for that joy naturally doth result from events agreeable to our desire. Charity hath a good eye, which is not offended or dazzled with the lustre of its neighbours virtue, or with the splendour of his fortune, but vieweth either of them steadily with pleasure, as a very delightful spectacle.
IV. Correspondently, love of our neighbour doth imply condolency and commiseration of the evils befalling him: for what we love, we cannot without displeasure behold lying in a bad condition, sinking into decay, or in danger to perish; so, to a charitable mind, the bad state of any man is a most unpleasant and painful sight. Is any man fallen into disgrace? charity doth hold down its head, is abashed and out of countenance, partaking of his shame; is any man disappointed of his hopes or endeavours? charity crieth out alas, as if it were itself defeated; is any man afflicted with pain or sickness? charity looketh sadly, it sigheth and groaneth, it fainteth and languisheth with him; is any man pinched with hard want? charity, if it cannot succour, it will condole; doth ill news arrive? charity doth hear it with an unwilling ear and a sad heart, although not particularly concerned in it. The sight of a wreck at sea, of a field spread with carcasses, of a country desolated, of houses burnt and cities ruined, and of the like calamities incident to mankind, would touch the bowels of any man; but the very report of them would affect the heart of charity. It doth not suffer a man with comfort or ease to enjoy the accommodations of his own state, while others before him are in distress; it cannot be merry while any man in presence is sorrowful; it cannot seem happy while its neighbour doth appear miserable: it hath a share in all the afflictions which it doth behold or hear of, according to that instance in St. Paul of the Philippians: Ye have done well, that ye did communicate with (or partake in) my afflictions; and according to that precept, Remember those which are in bonds, as bound with them.
V. It is generally a property of love to appropriate its object; in apprehension and affection embracing it, possessing it, enjoying it as its own; so charity doth make our neighbour to be ours, engaging us to tender his case and his concerns as our own; so that we shall exercise about them the same affections of soul (the same desires, the same hopes and fears, the same joys and sorrows), as about our own nearest and most peculiar interest. So charity doth enlarge our minds beyond private considerations, conferring on them an universal interest, and reducing all the world within the verge of their affectionate care; so that a mans self is a very small and inconsiderable portion of his regard.
VI. It is a property of love to affect union, or the greatest approximation that can be to its object.
VII. It is a property of love to desire a reciprocal affection; for that is the surest possession and firmest union which is grounded on voluntarily conspiring in affection; and if we do value any person, we cannot but prize his goodwill and esteem. Charity is the mother of friendship, not only as inclining us to love others, but as attracting others to love us; disposing us to affect their amity, and by obliging means to procure it.
VIII. Hence also charity disposeth to please our neighbour, not only by inoffensive but by obliging demeanour; by a ready complacence and compliance with his fashion, with his humour, with his desire in matters lawful, or in a way consistent with duty and discretion.
IX. Love of our neighbour doth imply readiness on all occasions to do him good, to promote and advance his benefit in all kinds.
X. This indeed is a property of charity, to make a man deny himself, to neglect his own interest, yea to despise all selfish regards for the benefit of his neighbour. To him that is inspired with charity, his own good is not good, when it standeth in competition with the more considerable good of another; nothing is so dear to him, which he gladly will not part with on such considerations.
XI. It is a property of love not to stand on distinctions and nice respects; but to be condescensive, and willing to perform the meanest offices, needful or useful for the good of its friend. He that truly loveth is a voluntary servant, and gladly will stoop to any employment for which the need or considerable benefit of him whom he loveth doth call. So the greatest souls, and the most glorious beings, the which are most endued with charity, by it are disposed with greatest readiness to serve their inferiors.
XII. Charity doth regulate our dealing, our deportment, our conversation toward our neighbour, implying good usage and fair treatment of him on all occasions; for no man doth handle that which he loveth rudely or roughly, so as to endanger the loss, the detriment, the hurt or offence thereof. Wherefore the language of charity is soft and sweet, not wounding the heart, nor grating on the ear of any with whom a man converseth; like the language of which the wise man saith, The words of the pure are pleasant words; such as are sweet to the soul, and health to the bones; and, The words of a wise man are gracious. Such are the properties of charity. There be also farther many particular acts, which have a very close alliance to it.
1. It is a proper act of charity to forbear anger on provocation, or to repress its motions; to resent injuries and discourtesies either not at all, or very calmly and mildly.
2. It is a proper act of charity to remit offences, suppressing all designs of revenge, and not retaining any grudge.
3. It is a duty coherent with charity, to maintain concord and peace; to abstain from contention and strife, together with the sources of them, pride, envy, emulation, malice.
4. Another charitable practice is, being candid in opinion, and mild in censure, about our neighbour and his actions.
5. Another charitable practice is, to comport with the infirmities of our neighbour; according to that rule of St. Paul, We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves; and that precept, Bear one anothers burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
6. It is an act of charity to abstain from offending, or scandalizing our brethren. (I. Barrow, D. D.)
Christs love
But how doth it appear that Christ loves us?
1. By amorous expressions. Read His love songs and see how affectionately He sets out the beauty of His beloved (Son 4:1; Son 4:3, etc.).
2. By His thoughts. Thoughts and affections are mutual causes one of another. Thoughts give life to affection, and affection begets thoughts. Christs thoughts of us are many and high. He had thoughts of love to us from eternity, and we were never one moment out of His mind since then (Isa 49:15).
3. But this flame, where it is, cannot be confined to the breast and thoughts, but will break forth into action. And so does the love of Christ appear to us, by what He has done for us. He has made us rich, fair, honourable, potent, yea, one with Himself.
4. The love of Christ appears by what He has given us; His love tokens. Whatever we have, for being or well-being, spring from His love. Take a survey of heaven and earth, and all things therein; and whatever upon sure grounds appears good, ask it confidently of Christ; His love will not deny it. But we are not yet come to the height of Christs love. These unspeakable, inconceivable, unsearchable favours are but streams or drops of love; Christ has given us the fountain, the ocean: these are but sparks and beams; He has given us the sun, the element of love. The love of Christ gives us interest in the glorious Trinity. And now, what is there in heaven and earth that the love of Christ has not made ours?
5. Take an estimate of the love of Christ from His sufferings. Consider how and what He suffers by us, with us, for us.
(1) His love makes Him patiently suffer many things by us.
(2) This love makes Him willing to suffer with us. In all our afflictions He is afflicted.
(3) His love made Him willing to suffer for us.
But further, to set out this love of Christ, consider some properties by which the Spirit describes it.
1. Christ loves us freely. He loved us when we had neither love nor beauty to attract His affections.
2. It is unchangeable (Joh 13:1). No act of unkindness or disloyalty of ours can nonplus it.
3. It is an incomprehensible love (Eph 3:19).
1. Consider whom he loves. How unfit, unworthy, unlovely.
(1) How impotent! Man can do nothing to engage or deserve love, nothing to please or honour such a lover; and was so considered when Christ had intentions of love, therefore it is admirable.
(2) How poor! No such poverty as mans.
(3) How deformed! Poverty alone cannot hinder love, especially if there be beauty; but who can love deformity?
(4) How hated! Not only hateful, but hated; hated of all. Who would love him whom none loves, who has no friends, who can meet with none in the world but enemies? The whole creation is at enmity with man. He cannot meet any creature, but harbours a secret hatred, and would be ready to manifest it at Gods command. What a wonder that Christ will love that which all hate!
(5) What enmity! Man is not only hateful and hated, but a hater of Christ, with such a hatred as would exclude all love from the breast of any creature; a hatred so extensive, that he hates Christ and all that is His, all that is like Him; all His offices, especially that which is most glorious, His royal office; keeps Christ out of His throne as to himself, and would do it in others.
(6) How pre-engaged to his deadly enemies, sin and Satan. Who will love one for a wife who is contracted to another, given her heart and self into his possession, and has long continued so? Such is a mans state, married to sin, in league with Satan, and brings forth fruit, not unto God, but unto them. Here is the wonder of Christs love, that it does fix upon the worst of creatures, man, yea, and upon the worst of men in some respects.
(7) How powerful. All power is given to Him in heaven and earth (Mat 28:18), that as Mediator; but as God, He is coequal with His Father, and so omnipotent.
(8) How absolute. The sovereignty of Christ makes His love a wonder.
2. How Christ loves man.
(1) Christ loves men more than the best of men love one another.
(2) Christ loves man more than man loves himself. The love of Christ is more than self-love in man; therefore it is wonderful.
(3) Christ loves man more than He loves the angels, in divers respects. It is evident in that distinction His love has made betwixt both fallen by sin. Not one of the fallen angels have, or ever shall taste of His love; but innumerable companies of men are restored to His favour.
(4) Christ loves man more than heaven and earth, more than the kingdom of heaven, more than all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of both, more than the whole world.
(5) Christ loves man as Himself, in some respects more. Christ loves man more than Himself, as man. I do not say Christ as God, or absolutely; but as man, and in some respects. He advances them to the like state with himself, so far as man is capable. He bestows upon them all things that Himself hath, so far as they are communicable. The same natures. He consists of Divine and human, and so does man in some sense. That Christ might be like them, He took human nature; that they might be like Him, He communicates the Divine nature (2Pe 1:4). Not that it is altogether the same, but that it most resembles it. Did not Christ get much glory by the work of redemption? Was not this the most glorious administration that ever the world was witness of? Yes. Yet the glory the Son of God got hereby was an inconsiderable advantage to Him, compared with the benefits thereby purchased for man. The Son of God had lost nothing if He had wanted this; this did not add any degree of glory to that which He enjoyed from eternity. He was infinitely glorious before the foundation of the world, and nothing can be added to that which is infinite. (D. Clarkson, B. D.)
Christs sacrifice
1.He gave. Gifts are expressions of love. We judge of love by the quality or value of the gift. Now, what did Christ give?
2. He gave Himself, nothing less than Himself; and that is more, incomparably more, than if He had given all the angels in heaven, all the treasures on earth for us; more than if He had given all the works of His hands. The small dust of the balance is as nothing to the universe, and the universe is as nothing compared with the Son of God.
3. How did He give Himself? He did not give Himself as we are wont to give, nor did He give Himself as He gives other things. He gave Himself, not in the common way of giving; but, as the text shows, His giving was an offering of Himself. He gave Himself an offering for us. But then–
4. How did He give Himself as an offering for us? There are several sorts of offerings mentioned in Scripture. Offerings that were not sacrifices. Such were the persons and things which were devoted or dedicated unto God for the service of the tabernacle and of the temple. Thus the vessels and utensils given up and set apart for the service and ministration under the law are called offerings (Num 7:10), and those offerings are specified (verse 13, etc.). Silver chargers, bowls, and spoons; and not only things, but persons are called offerings when set apart; for thus the legal ministry (Num 10:10-11; Num 10:13). The other sort of offerings were sacrifices, such as were offered so as to be consumed and destroyed, and to be deprived of life, if they were things that had life. So that there is a great difference betwixt these offerings: the former were offered so as to be preserved, the latter were offered so as to be killed or consumed. For that is the true notion of a sacrifice; it is an offering daily consumed. And such an offering was Christ, such an offering as was a sacrifice, as the text shows. He gave Himself to be sacrificed for us. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. Christ offered Himself a sacrifice of expiation for His people.
To give you distinctly the evidence which the Scripture affords for this great and fundamental truth, take it in these severals.
1. He offered Himself (Heb 7:27); He offered up Himself (Heb 9:14; Heb 9:28).
2. He offered Himself a sacrifice (1Co 5:7; Heb 9:26).
(1) The person offering was to be a priest; it was the peculiar office of the priest under the law (Heb 5:1). So Christ, that He might offer this sacrifice, was called to that office, and made a high priest (verses 5, 6, 10).
(2) The things offered were to beef Gods appointment, otherwise it had been not a true and acceptable sacrifice, but will-worship.
(3) That which was offered for a sacrifice was to be destroyed. This is essential to a sacrifice; it is an offering daily consumed. Those things that had life, that they might be offered as sacrifices, they were killed, and their blood poured out; and the other parts of them, besides the blood, were burned, either wholly or in part. Thus was Christ sacrificed; His dying and bleeding on the cross answered the killing and bloodshed of the Levitical sacrifices, and His sufferings were correspondent to the burnings of the sacrifices (Heb 13:12-13); His sufferings without the gate are held forth here as answering the burning of the sacrifices without the camp.
(4) The person to whom they were offered was God, and Him only.
3. He offered Himself a sacrifice of expiation.
(1) He suffered. He was a man of sorrows and sufferings; His whole life was a state of humiliation, and His humiliation was a continued suffering. But near and in His death He was made perfect through sufferings; there was the extremity of His sufferings, there He became a perfect sacrifice (Heb 2:9-10; Heb 5:9).
(2) What He suffered was penal; it was that which sin deserved, and the law threatened.
(3) Thirdly, He suffered this in our stead.
(4) The sacrifice pacified, appeased, the Lord, made atonement, turned away His anger. (D. Clarkson, B. D.)
Christs sacrifice
I. Christs sacrifice was voluntary. There was no external compulsion brought to bear upon Christ which He could not have successfully resisted; but with an entire concurrence of His will, He gave Himself up.
II. Christs sacrifice was vicarious. It was in the room and place of others–of us all. His sufferings, though voluntary, were, in this sense, necessary to accomplish the end He had in view.
III. Christs sacrifice was of infinite valve and sufficiency. He gave Himself.
IV. The sacrificial dedication of Christ for man was perfectly pleasing to the father. (Dr. Drummond.)
The sacrifice of Christ
Let us consider–
I. The interposition of Christ on behalf of His people: He hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.
1. He is represented as our Priest. The offering of sacrifices, unquestionably had its origin in the earliest ages of the world. This mode of worship may be traced back, not only to the era of giving the law from Sinai, but to the days of the ancient patriarchs. Its Divine origin is not less evident than its antiquity. We read, indeed, of the practice, before we read of the precept enjoining it; but from the former, we may fairly infer the latter. Since, then, the offering of sacrifices was enjoined by the Supreme Lawgiver, and was practised in the Church from the beginning, for what end was it appointed? What could move the eternal Majesty to require that sacrificial oblation should, for so many ages, form an essential part of His worship? My brethren, ye know the sublime explanation! Ye know that it was to prefigure the offering up, in the fulness of time, by Jesus Christ.
2. Christ is also represented as the sacrifice of His people. Let us, then, contemplate this stupendous sacrifice. In it we behold a sacrifice at once perfectly suitable, and infinitely valuable. Christ, I say, in giving Himself, gave a sacrifice that was perfectly suitable. Being independent, His life was entirely at His own disposal; being a partaker of flesh and blood, He was allied to His people, and was thus qualified to make satisfaction in the same nature that had offended; and, being at the same time supernaturally conceived and born of the Virgin, He was exempt from the penalty which Divine justice had attached to the violation of the first covenant, and immaculately pure–and was thus altogether fitted for being a true and proper sacrifice in the room of His people. But the sacrifice which Christ gave was not only perfectly suitable, it was also infinitely valuable; for, mark the force of that wonderful expression, He gave Himself. It was not simply His blood, or His life, or abstractly His human nature, but Himself that He gave an offering and a sacrifice for us. We now proceed to consider–
II. The satisfaction and delight with which this interposition of Christ on behalf of His people is regarded by God. His sacrifice is to Him for a sweet-smelling savour. In this expression the allusion is clearly to the wine and oil, or rather, to the precious perfumes that were wont to be sprinkled on the sacrifices under the law, in order to counteract the offensive savour of that bloody service. The apostle represents the fragrance of such sweet perfumes as arising to God from the propitiatory sacrifice of His beloved Son, to intimate the supreme satisfaction and pleasure which He has in that sacrifice. When the magnificent work of creation was finished, Jehovah is represented as resting from all His work which He had made, and surveying it with delight. But from no part of creation, even although retaining its original purity and loveliness, does there arise so sweet and grateful a fragrance to Him as from the altar of the Saviours sacrifice. If you inquire on what grounds that sacrifice is so peculiarly and supremely delightful to God, the following considerations may serve to illustrate the subject: It is a sacrifice of Gods own appointment; it is in itself a sacrifice of transcendent worth and efficacy; and it is in consequence of these things the means of eternal salvation and happiness to countless thousands of His immortal creatures, and the source of glory to Himself in the highest. (W. Duncan.)
Christs redeeming love
I. The love of Christ, as the source of our redemption.
II. The sacrifice of Christ, as the means by which our redemption was accomplished.
1. It is evident from these words that we had incurred some penalty which we must have endured personally, had not the love of Christ induced Him to interpose on our behalf.
2. But the text intimates that Jesus Christ did interpose on our behalf, and hath given Himself for us.
3. Our text intimates that it was the person of Christ which rendered His sacrifice efficacious, and that because He gave Himself for us. His substitution was acceptable to God, and available to the salvation of man.
4. The text intimates that this offering and sacrifice was acceptable to the Father to whom it was presented, for it is said to be a sweet smelling savour to Him.
III. Walking in love, as the effect which this redemption is intended to produce.
1. Let us walk in love to Christ.
2. Let us walk in love to Christians.
3. Let us walk in love to all mankind. (J. Alexander.)
Christs sacrifice, a sweet-smelling savour
I. In the first place, let us consider, that as the offering and sacrifice, the burnt offering and burnt sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ is especially a sweet-smelling savour to God.
1. Consider the dignity of His Person.
2. Look at the purity of His sacrifice. Look at the faith that never gave way; look at the patience that never was exhausted; look at the courage that never flinched; look at the love that never wasted; look at the zeal for God that was always on fire; look at the tenderness for poor, perishing, lost and ruined sinners.
3. Look we at the work itself–look we at those for whom He was all this.
II. But observe the many proofs that have been given and are still given, that this sacrifice is a sweet-smelling savour before God. Four thousand years before that sacrifice was offered, there came forth the first promise in all its fragrancy. Whence that cry of victory–It is finished? Why was it the stone was rolled away? why did the body ascend? why did the Conqueror go up? why did the Spirit descend? why was it, on the Day of Pentecost, that the timid became brave, that blasphemers stood forth as real penitents before God? Why was all this? Because the sacrifice went up as a sweet-smelling savour, and a descending Spirit was the mark of Gods infinite and eternal approval of it. But, beloved, perhaps now the savour of it has passed away. More than 1,800 years have passed away since it was offered. Kingdoms have risen and fallen since then. But the fragrancy of that offering has in no sense passed away. It has not lost one iota of its acceptance before a holy God. But, beloved, there is one point more in reference to this sweet savour–it will cast its fragrancy throughout eternity. It fills heaven with its odour.
III. And now let us consider a few practical bearings of our subject.
1. In the first place, if all this be true, then how awful is that mans state, that can hear of this atonement and find fragrancy in everything else except that one thing that is fragrant before God! The things that God hates he can delight in.
2. Let me give one word of tender caution to those whose conscience has been awakened by the blessed Spirit to feel a real concern for salvation. If they go to other sacrifices, they have still to seek sweetness elsewhere. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
Christs sacrifice
I. The design of the Saviours interposition. He gave Himself a sacrifice for us. He had given us many things before. He had given us the sun to cheer us, the air to brace us, the rain to refresh us, and made the earth to bring forth and to bud; and at last He gave us Himself. He gave Himself for us long before His incarnation; and when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
II. The acceptableness of the sacrifice. An offering and sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour. Go back to the time of the flood. Here we are informed that Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and offered sacrifices; and the Lord smelled a sweet savour: and the Lord said, I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake. So God delighted in the sacrifice of His Son, and said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. You may be reconciled to a servant, and you may admit him to a place in your house; still it may not be easy to admit him to a place in your affections. But we never can be so dear to God as when clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and sprinkled with His precious blood.
III. The principles that actuated him. He loved us, and gave Himself for us. That which cannot be known perfectly may be known preeminently.
1. His love is magnified in His gift.
2. It is magnified in the greatness of His sufferings.
3. It is magnified because He was acquainted with every part of His sufferings before He engaged to suffer.
4. It magnifies His love because we were unworthy of its exercise.
5. It magnifies His love because He did not wait to be asked. He did this not only without our desert, but without our desire.
6. It magnifies His love by the number of blessings to be derived from it.
IV. We have now to draw some inferences from this subject.
1. What is enjoined? Walk in love. Strive to excel in it. We read of men walking in pride. He is lofty; he swaggers as he walks; he answers those beneath him roughly. Pride is his region; it is the air in which he breathes. So is it with love: you are not only to walk in love, but to live in it.
2. For whom is this enjoined? It is to be exercised towards Himself.
3. To whom is this enjoined? Walk in love. It was to the Ephesians. But are you blameless here?
4. How is it enjoined? Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us.
(1) As the model of our love. Thus our love must resemble His. And are you to exercise no self-denial? His love was a constant love; is yours to be changeable and varying?
(2) But the apostle means that we should make the love of Christ the motive as well as the model of ours. We love Him, because He first loved us. By this motive be led to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (W. Jay.)
The love of Christ
As God is incomprehensible in His eternity, His power, His immensity, His knowledge, and His wisdom; so is He in His love.
1. The first thing which strikes us as wonderful in this love of God is, that it should have sinners as its objects.
2. Another thing which is incomprehensible in the love of Christ to sinners is, that among men, all of whom were equally lost and helpless, it should select a certain number as its objects and leave all the rest under condemnation and depravity, as they were before.
3. A third characteristic of the love of Christ is its degree of intensity, which is unparalleled.
4. As this love did not originate in time, but, from eternity, the delights of the Son were with the children of men; so it will never have an end.
5. The love of Christ to His people is manifested by the revelation which He has made for their instruction; by all the institutions of His Church for their edification; and by all the dispensations of His providence, whether afflictive or prosperous. But, especially, the love of Christ toward His chosen people is evinced by the gift of His Spirit, the Comforter, to abide with them forever.
6. Finally, the love of Christ to His disciples is tender, condescending love. He deals with them as a mother with a child; carries tern in His bosom, and gently leads them in the right way. (A. Alexander, D. D.)
The voluntariness of Christs death
His love was antecedent to His shedding His blood, and our being washed in it. Love renders any work delightful.
I. Propositions for explaining it.
1. The Fathers appointing Him to be a sacrifice, doth not impair His own willingness in undertaking. The Father is said to send Him and deliver Him (Joh 3:34; Rom 8:32). The Father is said to deliver Him, because the first motion of redemption is supposed to arise from the will and motion of the Father; yet the love of Christ was the spring of all mediatory actions, and His taking our nature on Him; and therefore He is no less said to give Himself, than the Father is said to give Him to us and for us. His engagement was an act of choice, liberty, and affection.
2. The necessity of His death impeacheth not the voluntariness of it. Many things are voluntary which yet are necessary; there are voluntary necessities. God is necessarily yet voluntarily holy.
II. Wherein this voluntariness of Christs death appears.
1. He willingly offered Himself in the first counsel about redemption to stand in our stead.
2. The whole course of His life manifests this willingness. His will stood right to this point of the compass all His life. Many enter the lists with difficulties out of ignorance, but the willingness of our Saviour cannot be ascribed either to ignorance or forgetfulness.
III. Why this voluntariness was necessary.
1. On the part of the sacrifice itself. He was above any obligation to that work He so freely undertook for us. Nor could He be overruled to anything against His own consent.
2. Necessary on the part of justice.
3. Necessary in regard of acceptation. Christs consent was as necessary as Gods order. In vain had we hoped for the benefit of a forced redemption.
IV. Use.
1. The way of redemption by a sacrifice was necessary.
2. The death of Christ for us was most just on the part of God. Christ did willingly submit to, God might justly charge upon Him as a due debt.
3. How wonderful was the love of Christ!
4. How willingly then should we part with our sins for Christ, and do our duty to Him! (S. Charnock, B. D.)
The love of Christ seen in His best gift
I. Christ giving Himself for us, is the utmost which He could devote to our service and to our use. He does employ, for the use and service of those who trust in Him, all things. He hath all things under His feet, all things that are in heaven and on earth. If Christ see that an angel can serve one of His disciples, He gives some angel a commission to serve that disciple. Here is a case of self being given. Not the purse only; not the hand merely, or the eye, or the ear, in an occasional service; but the whole being. And, in this sense, Christ gives to His disciples Himself. In giving Himself for us, Christ gives us all that pertains to His original nature; the Divine qualities of His nature as the manifested God; His knowledge, His wisdom, His power; all that is involved in His goodness, and He gives the qualities of His woman-born nature, as the Word made flesh. For example, His sympathy. Moreover, in giving Himself for us, Christ gives us all that pertains to His position as Lord of all.
II. But, brethren, He gave Himself for a special purpose–an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. He gave Himself for us–what to be? If we only wanted teaching, He would have given Himself as a teacher. If we only wanted leading, He would have given Himself to us as a leader. But a starving man wants something more than instruction about food, or information about digestion, or instruction as to the laws of life and death; and a criminal who is under a capital sentence wants something more than discussions about rewards and punishments, or about human governments and human laws; and if anything is to be done for sinning man, you must do something more than present to him a teacher. If you are sick, you do not send for your medical attendant to give you, at the side of your sick bed, a lecture on anatomy or physiology. You want the medical man to do something for you as well as to say something to you. And Christ gave Himself, not to be my teacher, or nay leader chiefly, but, in the first instance, He offered Himself to be a sacrifice.
III. Now, herein is love; not self-love, but outloving love; not the love that is shut up within a man, as wafer in a sealed fountain, but the love that flows forth from a being as water from an open spring. Herein is love; not complacent love, the love of delight in another because that being is delightsome, but benevolent love. Herein is love; not merited love; but undeserved love. Herein is love; not expected love, but surprising love. Herein is love; not love of friendship, but mercy, and compassion, and pity. Herein is love; not ordinary love, but unequalled love, love to which there is no parallel, and to which there never can be. Brethren, there are just two things more I want to say to you.
1. This love of Christ is our refuge. The heart of Christ is the refuge we need.
2. The love of Christ is our refuge, but this love is also our pattern. We are to love as Jesus loved. I do not wonder at people saying this is impossible. It does seem impossible, and it would be utterly impossible, if we were required to attain to such love at once, but we are to grow into it. If you were unacquainted with the oak, and a full-grown tree were pointed out to you, and if you were then shown an acorn, and were told that out of that little thing would spring forth the monarch of the forest, you would not believe the statement, or you would say, if this happen it certainly will be a miracle, (S. Martin, D. D.)
The sweet-smelling sacrifice
I. That in His redeeming work the self-sacrificing love of Christ reached its climax–its last and highest point.
II. That this self-sacrificing love of Christ was not intended to produce any change in God, but rather to affect the relations and the destinies of our humanity.
III. That in this self-sacrificing love of Christ there was something peculiarly acceptable and well-pleasing to God.
IV. That it is only as man is brought to replace his dependence on God through the mediation of Jesus Christ as the Helper and Redeemer of our race, that he can rise into the enjoyment of the great salvation. (R. Ferguson, LL. D.)
The acceptableness of Christs death
The sacrifice of Christ was acceptable to God and efficacious for men.
I. I shall premise two things for the explication of it.
1. God was not absolutely bound to accept it for us. He might have rejected every sacrifice but that of the offender.
2. As the acceptation of it depended upon the will of the Lawgiver and Rector, so the acceptableness of it depended upon the will of the Redeemer. The merit of His death depended not upon His mere dying, or upon the penal part in that death, but upon His willing obedience in it, in conjunction with the dignity of His person; without this, He might have breathed out His soul without being a victim.
II. That this sacrifice is acceptable to God and efficacious for us will appear in several propositions.
1. God took pleasure in the designment and expectation of it.
2. The highest perfections of Gods nature had a peculiar glory from this sacrifice. All His perfections, not discovered before to the sons of men, are glorified punctually according to His intentions and resolves for their discovery. Not a tittle of His nature which was to be made known to the sons of men, but is unveiled in this sacrifice to their view in a greater glory than the creatures were able to exhibit Him.
3. Compare this sacrifice with the evil for which He was sacrificed, and which had invaded the rights of God, and the sweet savour of it will appear, as also the efficacy of it.
4. It is so acceptable to God, that it is sufficient sacrifice for all, if all would accept of it, and by a fixed faith plead it.
5. The effects of this sacrifice show the acceptableness of it to God. As the effect of Adams disobedience demonstrates the blackness and strength of his sin, so the fruit of this sacrifice evidenceth the efficacy of it.
What was it that rendered this sacrifice acceptable to God, and efficacious for us?
1. The dignity of His person.
2. As the dignity of the person, so the purity of the sacrifice renders it fragrant to God, and efficacious for us.
3. The graces exercised in this sacrifice rendered it fragrant in the account of God.
(1) His obedience.
(2) His humility (Php 2:8).
(3) His faith. This resolution of trust He brought with Him, and this resolution He kept–I will put my trust in Him (Heb 2:13), cited out of Psa 18:2.
(4) In regard of the full compensation made to God by this sacrifice, and the equivalency of it to all the demands of God. His obedience was fully answerable to the law: His active answered the perceptive part, and His passive the penalty.
(5) In regard of the glory Christ by His sacrifice brought to God. The glory of God was that which He aimed at, and that which He perfected. Needs must that be fragrant to God that accomplished the triumph of all His attributes.
III. Use.
1. If this sacrifice be acceptable to God, it is then a perfect oblation.
2. All popish doctrines of satisfaction, and all resting upon our own righteousness and inherent graces, are to be abandoned.
3. It is a desperate thing to refuse this sacrifice, which is so sweet to God.
(1) It is a great sin.
(2) It will end into a great misery.
4. It administers matter of comfort to the believer. It is a comfort to a diseased hospital that a physician is chosen and accepted by the governors that is able to cure every disease; it is no less a comfort to a guilty soul that there is a sacrifice sufficient to expiate every sin.
(1) If once acceptable to God, then it is forever acceptable; if once sweet, it is always sweet. God cannot be deceived in His estimations, nor change His value of it, nor can the sacrifice ever become noisome.
(2) From this ariseth pardon of sin.
(3) Hence, then, there can be no condemnation to them that are in Christ.
(4) Here is a sufficient ground for peace of conscience. This only can give a repose to our spirits, turn our fears into hopes, and our sorrows into songs.
(5) Here is a full ground of expectation of all necessary blessings. Let those that believe, continually apply and plead it. (S. Charnock, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. And walk in love] Let every act of life be dictated by love to God and man.
As Christ – hath loved us] Laying down your lives for your brethren if necessary; counting nothing too difficult to be done in order to promote their eternal salvation.
Hath given himself for us] Christ hath died in our stead, and become thereby a sacrifice for our sins.
An offering] . An oblation, an eucharistic offering; the same as minchah, Le 2:1, c., which is explained to be an offering made unto the Lord, of fine flour, with oil and frankincense. It means, any offering by which gratitude was expressed for temporal blessings received from the bounty of God.
A sacrifice] . A sin-offering, a victim for sin the same as zebach, which almost universally means that sacrificial act in which the blood of an animal was poured out as an atonement for sin. These terms may be justly considered as including every kind of sacrifice, offering, and oblation made to God on any account; and both these terms are with propriety used here, because the apostle’s design was to represent the sufficiency of the offering made by Christ for the sin of the world. And the passage strongly intimates, that as man is bound to be grateful to God for the good things of this life, so he should testify that gratitude by suitable offerings; but having sinned against God, he has forfeited all earthly blessings as well as those that come from heaven; and that Jesus Christ gave himself , in our stead and on our account, as the gratitude-offering, , which we owed to our MAKER, and, without which a continuance of temporal blessings could not be expected; and also as a sacrifice for sin, , without which we could never approach God, and without which we must be punished with an everlasting destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power. Thus we find that even our temporal blessings come from and by Jesus Christ, as well as all our spiritual and eternal mercies.
For a sweet-smelling savour.] . The same as is expressed in Ge 8:21; Le 1:9; Le 3:16: reiach nichoach laihovah, “a sweet savour unto the Lord;” i.e. an offering of his own prescription, and one with which he was well pleased; and by accepting of which he showed that he accepted the person who offered it. The sweet-smelling savour refers to the burnt-offerings, the fumes of which ascended from the fire in the act of burning; and as such odors are grateful to man, God represents himself as pleased with them, when offered by an upright worshipper according to his own appointment.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And walk in love; let your whole conversation be in love.
As Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us; viz. to die for us, Gal 2:20, as the greatest argument of his love, Joh 15:13; Rom 5:8.
An offering and a sacrifice to God: either offering signifies a meat-offering, which was joined as an appendix with the bloody sacrifice; or rather more generally, all the oblations that were under the law; and the word
sacrifice either restrains it to those especially in which blood was shed for expiation of sin, or explains the meaning of it: q.d. Christ gave himself an offering, even a sacrifice in the proper sense, i.e. a bloody one.
For a sweet-smelling savour; i.e. acceptable to God; alluding to the legal sacrifices, {see Gen 8:21; Lev 1:9} and intimating those other to have been accepted of God, only, with respect to that of Christ; and that as Christ dying to reconcile sinners to God was acceptable to him, so our spiritual sacrifices are then only like to be accepted of him, when we are reconciled to our brother, Mat 5:23,24.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Andin proof that you areso.
walk in loveresumingEph 4:1, “walkworthy of the vocation.”
as Christ . . . loved usFromthe love of the Father he passes to the love of the Son, in whom Godmost endearingly manifests His love to us.
given himself for usGreek,“given Himself up (namely, to death, Ga2:20) for us,” that is, in our behalf: not herevicarious substitution, though that is indirectly implied, “inour stead.” The offerer, and the offering that Heoffered, were one and the same (Joh 15:13;Rom 5:8).
offering and asacrifice“Offering” expresses generally Hispresenting Himself to the Father, as the Representative undertakingthe cause of the whole of our lost race (Ps40:6-8), including His life of obedience; though notexcluding His offering of His body for us (Heb10:10). It is usually an unbloody offering, in the morelimited sense. “Sacrifice” refers to His death forus exclusively. Christ is here, in reference to Ps40:6 (quoted again in Heb10:5), represented as the antitype of all the offerings of thelaw, whether the unbloody or bloody, eucharistical or propitiatory.
for a sweet-smellingsavourGreek, “for an odor of a sweet smell,”that is, God is well pleased with the offering on the ground of itssweetness,and so is reconciled to us (Eph 1:6;Mat 3:17; 2Co 5:18;2Co 5:19; Heb 10:6-17).The ointment compounded of principal spices, poured upon Aaron’shead, answers to the variety of the graces by which He was enabled to”offer Himself a sacrifice for a sweet-smelling savor.”Another type, or prophecy by figure, was “the sweet savor”(“savor of rest,” Margin) which God smelledin Noah’s sacrifice (Ge 8:21).Again, as what Christ is, believers also are (1Jo4:17), and ministers are: Paul says (2Co2:17) “we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And walk in love,…. To God; to which the saints are obliged, not only by the law of God, which requires it, but by the goodness of God, and the discoveries of his love to them; and which shows itself in fearing to offend him, in a conformity to his will, in making his glory the chief end of all actions, and in loving all that belong to him: and also the saints should walk in love to Christ; who is to be loved fervently, constantly, in sincerity, with all the heart, and above all creatures and things; because of the loveliness of his person, the love he bears to them, and the things he has done for them, and the relations he stands in to them; and which is manifested in keeping his commands, in delighting in his presence, and in a concern at his absence: and also they should walk in love to one another, which is chiefly designed; which is Christ’s new commandment, and is an evidence of regeneration; and without which a profession of religion is in vain: and to “walk” in love, is not merely to talk of it, but to exercise it; and to do all that is done for God, and Christ, and the saints, from a principle of love; and to advance, increase, and abound in it, and to go on and continue therein: the example to be copied after, and which carries in it an argument engaging to it is,
as Christ also hath loved us; with a love exceeding great and strong, which is wonderful, inconceivable, and unparalleled; and even as the Father has loved him; with a love that is free and sovereign, unchangeable and everlasting, of which he has given many instances; and a principal one is hereafter mentioned: the “as” here is a note of similitude, not of equality; for it cannot be thought that the saints should love God, or Christ, or one another, with a love equal to Christ’s love to them, but only that theirs should bear some likeness to his: the Alexandrian copy and Ethiopic version, instead of “us”, read “you”:
and hath given himself for us; not the world, and the things of it, which are his; not men, nor angels, nor animals, but himself; he gave away his time, service, and strength; his name, fame, and reputation; all the comforts of life, and life itself; his whole human nature, soul and body, and that as in union with his divine person; and that not only for the good of his people, but in their room and stead; not for angels, nor for all men, but for his chosen ones, the church, his sheep, his people, and when they, were sinners; in the following manner, and for the said purpose:
an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour; Christ was both priest and sacrifice; he offered up himself a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of his people, to expiate them, and make reconciliation and satisfaction for them; and this he offered up to God, against whom they had sinned, and whose justice must be satisfied, who called him to this work, and engaged him in it; and which was well pleasing to him, he smelled a sweet savour of rest in it, it being an unblemished sacrifice, and voluntarily offered up; and was complete, full, and adequate to the demands of his justice; by it sin was put away, finished, and made an end of, and his people perfected for ever; see Ge 8:20.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
An offering and a sacrifice to God ( ). Accusative in apposition with (himself). Christ’s death was an offering to God “in our behalf” ( ) not an offering to the devil (Anselm), a ransom () as Christ himself said (Mt 20:28), Christ’s own view of his atoning death.
For an odour of a sweet smell ( ). Same words in Php 4:18 from Le 4:31 (of the expiatory offering). Paul often presents Christ’s death as a propitiation (Ro 3:25) as in 1Jo 2:2.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Walk in love. As imitators of God who is love.
Loved us [] The correct reading is uJmav you.
Gave [] . To death Compare Rom 4:25, where the same verb was delivered is followed by was raised. See also Rom 8:32; Gal 2:20.
Offering – sacrifice [ – ] . Offering, general, including the life as well as the death of Christ : sacrifice, special : on the cross. Properly, a slain offering.
A sweet smelling savor [ ] . Rev., correctly, odor of a sweet smell. See on 2Co 2:14, 15, 16. The Septuagint, in Lev 1:9, uses this phrase to render the Hebrew, a savor of quietness. For [] expresses design, that it might become, or result : so that it became.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And walk in love” (kai peripateite agape) “And walk ye in love,” imitating the walk of Christ, Gal 6:2; 1Pe 1:8; 1Pe 1:22; 2Jn 1:5.
2) “As Christ also hath loved us” (kathos kai ho christos egapeson humas) “As also Christ loved you all.” Christ is introduced as the great example of love, Joh 13:34-35; 1Jn 3:11; 1Jn 3:16; 1Th 4:9.
3) “And hath given himself for us” (kai paredoken heauton huper hemon) “And gave Himself up in behalf of us,” Rom 4:25; Rom 8:32; Gal 2:20; Eph 5:25.
4) “An offering and a sacrifice to God” (prosphoran kai thusian to theo) “An offering, even a sacrifice to God,” 2Co 5:14-15; 2Co 5:21; Gal 3:13. This offering and sacrifice implies surrender and dedication to God’s purposes.
5) “For a sweet smelling savour” (eis osmew euodias) “Relating to an odor of sweet smell;” Lev 1:9; Lev 1:13; Lev 1:17; Lev 2:2. These Old Testament sweet odor sacrifices typify Christ in His own perfections and devotions to the Father’s will, Php_4:18; Heb 13:15-16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
2. And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. Having called on us to imitate God, he now calls on us to imitate Christ, who is our true model. We ought to embrace each other with that love with which Christ has embraced us, for what we perceive in Christ is our true guide.
And gave himself for us. This was a remarkable proof of the highest love. Forgetful, as it were, of himself, Christ spared not his own life, that he might redeem us from death. If we desire to be partakers of this benefit, we must cultivate similar affections toward our neighbors. Not that any of us has reached such high perfection, but all must aim and strive according to the measure of their ability.
An offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savor. While this statement leads us to admire the grace of Christ, it bears directly on the present subject. No language, indeed, can fully represent the consequences and efficacy of Christ’s death. This is the only price by which we are reconciled to God. The doctrine of faith on this subject holds the highest rank. But the more extraordinary the discoveries which have reached us of the Redeemer’s kindness, the more strongly are we bound to his service. Besides, we may infer from Paul’s words, that, unless we love one another, none of our duties will be acceptable in the sight of God. If the reconciliation of men, effected by Christ, was a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor, (154) we, too, shall be “unto God a sweet savor,” (2Co 2:15,) when this holy perfume is spread over us. To this applies the saying of Christ,
“
Leave thy gift before the altar, and go and be reconciled to thy brother.” (Mat 5:24.)
(154) “The offering, in being presented to God, was meant to be, and actually was, a sweet savor to Him. The phrase is based on the peculiar sacrificial idiom of the Old Testament. (Gen 8:21; Lev 1:9.) It is used typically in 2Co 2:14, and is explained and expanded in Phi 4:18 — ‘a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.’ The burning of spices or incense, so fragrant to the Oriental senses, is figuratively applied to God.” — Eadie.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) As Christ also hath loved us.To this idea of the imitation of God, essential to all true religion, St. Paul now adds an exhortation to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, in that especial exhibition of love by suffering and self-sacrifice, which is impossible to the Godhead in itself, but which belongs to the incarnate Son of God, and was the ultimate purpose of His incarnation. There is a similar connection of idea in Joh. 15:12-13, This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The imitation of God is in free and natural beneficence; the imitation of Christ is in that power of showing mercy, which is bought by suffering and sacrifice. He not only loved us, but gave Himself for us.
An offering and a sacrifice to God,The same words, sacrifice and offering, are found in close connection in Heb. 10:5, which is a quotation from Psa. 40:7. Comparing these with the Hebrew words which they represent, and looking also to the etymology of the Greek words themselves, we see that the word offering signifies simply a gift offered to God, and is applied especially, though not exclusively, to unbloody sacrifices; while the word sacrifice distinctly implies the shedding of blood. Each word, when used alone, has constantly a more general sense. Thus offering is used in Heb. 10:10; Heb. 10:14; Heb. 10:18, for the sacrifice on the cross; while sacrifice, in Act. 7:42, is made to translate the word commonly rendered as offering. But when placed in juxtaposition they must be held distinctive; and hence we may conclude that our Lord made Himself an offering in the perfect obedience of His great humility, coming to do Gods will (according to the prophetic anticipation of Psa. 40:7-8), and gave Himself a sacrifice, when He completed that offering by shedding His blood on the cross. Both are said to be offered for us, i.e., on our behalf. We have, therefore, here a complete summaryall the more striking and characteristic because incidentalof the doctrine of the Atonement.
For a sweet-smelling savour.The sense of this phrase is explained in Php. 4:18 by the addition of the words a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. It is the translation of an expression, frequent in the Old Testament (as in Gen. 8:21; Exo. 29:18; et al.), signifying a smell of acquiescence or satisfaction. It describes the atoning sacrifice as already accepted by God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. And Not only as children forgive and forget, but even walk in love. And that no mere animal love. There are meretricious natures who appear strongly capable of blending what they esteem spiritual with sexual love. Such blending, in thought or language, is morbid, and repulsive to a sound Christianity. But Christian love is after the model of Christ, which is absolutely pure and transcendently self sacrificing.
Hath given himself By an act of free, voluntary love. His right to so act he very explicitly declares in Joh 10:18. He performed this self-surrender by that right which we all have to suffer for others, undeterred even by the guilt of those who inflict the suffering, as well as by that divine right which he possessed over himself.
For us The offering was for us; to furnish blessed results to us, parallel to those which a sacrifice under the law furnished to him in whose behalf the victim bled.
Offering sacrifice The former includes any presentation to God, bloody or bloodless; but it is also defined by the word sacrifice as bloody.
To God Not given himself to God, but for us a sacrifice to God, as the Levitical sacrifices all were.
Sweet-smelling savour Literally, a smell of fragrance; the smell referring to the sensation, the fragrance to its agreeableness. So Gen 8:21, at Noah’s sacrifice, “Jehovah smelled a sweet savour,” and became propitious. So Lev 1:9. Christ is here doubly presented: 1. In his manward relation, as an example of unsurpassable self-sacrificing love, forming and glorifying a holy Church by its inspiring power; and, 2. In his Godward relation, as a well-pleasing self-sacrifice to the divine well-pleasing. The former of these views is admitted by all classes of Christian thinkers; the latter is denied by some classes, but in vain.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eph 5:2. An offering, &c. Some think that the words and are used in reference to the peace-offering and the sin-offering, as the truth of both is in the sacrifice of Christ, which appeased God, and obtains the blessings consequent upon his favour. The words possibly are here used in conjunction, to express the completeness of the sacrifice:of a sweet-smelling savour, was, in scripture phrase, such a sacrifice as God accepted and was pleased with. See Gen 8:21.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 2114
CHRISTS LOVE A PATTERN FOR OURS
Eph 5:2. Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.
TO restore us to the Divine image is one great end of all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done and suffered for us. There are indeed perfections in the Deity which are incommunicable to any creature; but his moral perfections admit of imitation and resemblance: and therefore we are exhorted to be followers, or imitators, of God, as dear children [Note: ver. 1.]. But in the person of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jehovah is brought nearer to us, so that we may trace his very steps, and learn to follow him in every disposition of the mind, and every action of the life. Hence in the passage before us, whilst we are particularly informed of the manner in which he has displayed his love to man, we are exhorted to walk in love, as he has loved us.
In our further elucidation of these words, we shall be led to speak of the Lord Jesus Christ in a twofold view;
I.
As a sacrifice to God
It was not merely as a martyr that Jesus died, but as a sacrifice for sin. This appears,
1.
From all the sacrifices of the Mosaic law
[For what end were these instituted, but to prefigure him? These beyond a doubt were offerings for sin, the victims dying in the place of the offerer, and making an atonement for him by their blood: and if the Lord Jesus Christ did not correspond with them in this particular, and actually fulfil what those prefigured, they were all instituted in vain, and were shadows without any substance at all.]
2.
From the declarations of the prophets
[The prophet thus plainly speaks of Christ as dying for the sins of men; He made his soul an offering for sin: He bare the sins of many: On him were laid the iniquity of us all [Note: Isa 53:6; Isa 53:10; Isa 53:12.]. What is the import of these testimonies, if Christ did not offer himself a sacrifice for sin?]
3.
From the testimony of John the Baptist
[It was in reference to the lambs that were offered every morning and evening for the sins of all Israel, that the Baptist spake, when he pointed out the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. If Christ were not a sacrifice for sin, this testimony was not founded in truth.]
4.
From the declarations of Christ himself
[He constantly affirmed, that he came to give his life a ransom for many: that his blood should be shed for the remission of sins; and that by being lifted up upon the cross, he would draw all men. unto him.]
5.
From the united testimony of all the Apostles
[All with one voice represent him as redeeming us to God by his blood, and offering himself as a propitiation, not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. In a word, the whole tenour of the sacred writings proves, that he bare our sins in his own body on the tree, and died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.]
But in all this he was further designed,
II.
As an example to us
In the circumstance before noticed, we cannot resemble him; for no man can redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him. Nevertheless in the love which instigated him to this we may resemble him. Our love, like his, should be,
1.
Disinterested
[It is not possible for us to add any thing to him: we cannot make him more happy or more glorious by any thing that we can do: our goodness extendeth not to him; nor can we by any means profit him: yet did he in this astonishing manner display his love to us. Thus in the exercise of our love we should not consider whether the objects of it will ever be able to make us any suitable return: we should shew love in every possible way, without so much as desiring any return from man, or even desiring that our exercise of it should be known; yea, even though we knew that it would only be requited with evil. We should love our very enemies; and, instead of being overcome of evil, should strive incessantly to overcome their evil with good.]
2.
Generous
[What unsearchable riches has he purchased even for his bitterest enemies? He would not that any one of them should fall short of the glory of heaven. True it is, that we cannot thus enrich the objects of our love: yet we should do all we can towards it, by providing for them not only the things needful for the body, but, above all, the things that may promote the welfare of the soul. Here the poor may be on a par with those who are able to give out of their abundance: for if they are constrained to say, Silver and gold have I none, they may add, but such as I have, give I unto thee; and then may proceed to speak to them of the Saviour, through whom they may obtain all the blessings of salvation. Thus, though poor, we may make many rich.]
3.
Self-denying
[Our blessed Lord emptied himself of all the glory of heaven, and endured all the wrath of an offended God; and became a curse himself, in order to deliver us from the curse which our iniquities had deserved. And shall we decline exercising our love, because it may be attended with some pain or difficulty on our part? No: we should not hesitate even to lay down life itself, if by so doing we may promote the eternal welfare of our brethren [Note: 1Jn 3:16.].]
4.
Constant
[Whom our Lord loved, he loved to the end. There were many occasions whereon his immediate disciples displeased him: but he did not therefore withdraw his mercy from them, or shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure. There are occasions also whereon we shall be called to exercise forbearance and forgiveness one towards another; and we ought to meet those occasions with love proportioned to them. We should strive with all our might to follow peace with all men, and to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.]
Address
1.
Be thankful to Christ for all the wonders of his love
[Think how unworthy you were of all his love: for, it was when you were yet enemies, that he died for you, Think too what must have been your state to all eternity, if He had not so undertaken for you: his sufferings under the hidings of his Fathers fare, and under the strokes of Divine justice, shew what miseries awaited you in hell for ever, if He had not become your substitute and surety to discharge your debt. O! never for a moment lose sight of the obligations you owe to him for that love of his, which passeth knowledge.]
2.
Present yourselves as living sacrifices to him
[This may be done; and it is the very end for which such astonishing mercies have been vouchsafed to you [Note: Rom 12:1.]. Consider all that you arc, and all that you have, as his: and let it all be devoted henceforth to the glory of his name.]
3.
Endeavour to resemble him more and more
[Whatever attainments you may have made, you must still be aspiring after higher degrees of love [Note: 1Th 4:9-10.]. Look at him then, not only as the ground of your hopes, but as the pattern for your imitation. Trace him in all the labours of his love: trace him from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven: trace him in all that he either did or suffered: and study to resemble him in the whole of his spirit and deportment. In all his labours God smelled a sweet savour; even as he had done in those offerings and sacrifices by which Christ had been shadowed forth [Note: Gen 8:21. Lev 1:9.]: and though your labours of love can never resemble his, as making an atonement for sin, they shall, like his, come up for a memorial before God, and be accepted as well-pleasing in his sight [Note: Heb 6:10; Heb 13:16.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ver. 2. Hath loved us, and hath given ] When Christ wept for Lazarus, “Lo, how he loved him,” said the Jews, Joh 11:35-36 . When he poured forth his soul for a drink offering for us, was not this a surer seal of his endeared love?
An offering and a sacrifice ] By this to expiate our sins, by that to mediate and make request for us; and so to show himself a perfect High Priest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eph 5:2 . : and walk in love . Here, again, explains in connecting and adding . The “imitation” must take effect in the practical, unmistakable form of a loving course of life. : even as Christ also loved us [ you ]. The reading (with [489] [490] 1 [491] , Sah., Eth., etc.; TTrWHRV) is to be preferred to the of TR (with [492] [493] [494] [495] [496] 3 , etc.). The aor. should have its proper historical force, “loved,” not “hath loved” (AV). Christ is now introduced as the great Example, instead of God , and the Divine love as openly seen in Christ is given as the motive and the pattern of the love that should mark our walk. : and gave Himself up . Statement of the act in which Christ’s love received its last and highest expression, viz. , the surrender of Himself to death. The has something of its ascensive force. The idea of death as that to which He gave Himself up is implied in the great Pauline declarations, e.g. , Rom 4:25 ; Rom 8:32 ; Gal 2:20 ; Eph 5:25 . : for us . The of the TR, supported by [497] [498] [499] [500] [501] [502] , etc., is to be preferred on the whole to the of [503] , m, 116, etc., which is regarded by WH as the primary reading and given in marg. by RV. The prep, seldom goes beyond the idea of “on account of,” “for the benefit of”. In classical Greek, however, it does sometimes become much the same as ( e.g. , Eurip., Alc. , 700; Plato, Gorg. , 515 c), and in the NT we find a clear instance in Phm 1:13 . In some of the more definite statements, therefore, on Christ’s death as a sacrifice (2Co 5:14-15 ; 2Co 5:21 ; Gal 3:13 , and here) it is thought that the more general sense is sharpened by the context into that of “in place of”. But even in these the idea of substitution, which is properly expressed by (Mat 20:28 ; Mar 10:45 ), is not in the itself, although it may be in the context; cf. Win.-Moult., pp. 434, 435; Mey. on Rom 5:6 , Gal 3:13 ; Ell. on Gal 3:13 . : an offering and a sacrifice to God . The primary idea in the whole statement is the love of Christ, and that love as shown in giving Himself up to death. This giving up of Himself to death is next defined in respect of its character and meaning, and this again with the immediate purpose of magnifying the love which is the main subject. The acc., therefore, is the pred. acc., = “as an offering”. The defining , as its position indicates, is best connected with the ; not with , to which is the natural supplement; nor with , for that would place in an emphatic position not easy to account for. The term is used in the NT of offerings of all kinds, whether bloody or unbloody, whether of the meal offering , (Heb 10:6 ; Psa 40:7 ), or of the bloody offering (Heb 10:10 ) and the expiatory sacrifice (Heb 10:18 ). When it has the latter sense, it has usually some defining term attached to it ( (Heb 10:18 ), . . (Heb 10:10 )). The term in like manner is used for different kinds of offerings. In the LXX it represents both and , and in the NT in such passages as Mat 9:13 ; Mat 12:7 , etc., it is used generally. Sometimes it is applied to unbloody oblations (Heb 11:4 ). Again ( e.g. , Heb 9:23 ; Heb 10:5 ; Heb 10:26 ) it is sin-offerings, expiatory offerings that are in view. The two terms, therefore, cannot in themselves be sharply distinguished, but they get their distinctive sense in each case from the context. Here, as in Heb 5:8 , etc., it is possible that the two terms are used to cover the two great classes of offerings; in which case, as in Psa 40:6 ; Psa 40:8 , the will refer to the sacrifice of slain beasts. If that is so, the sin-offering, or oblation presented with a view to the restoration of broken fellowship will be in view. And this is in accordance with the particular NT doctrine of Christ’s death as a propitiation , which has a distinct and unmistakable place in Paul’s Epistles, though not in his only (Rom 3:23 ; 1Jn 2:2 ; 1Jn 4:10 ), and a reconciliation (Rom 5:11 ; 2Co 5:18-19 ), as well as with the OT view of sacrifice offered in order to effect forgiveness and removal of guilt (Lev 4:20 ; Lev 4:26 ; Lev 4:35 ; Lev 5:10 ; Lev 5:13 ; Lev 5:16 , etc.). : for a savour of sweet smell . So Ell.; “for an odour of a sweet smell” (RV); “for a sweet smelling savour” (AV, Gen., Bish.); “in to the odour of sweetness” (Wicl.); “in an odour of sweetness” (Rhem.); “sacrifice of a sweet savour” (Tynd., Cov., Cranm.). Statement of the acceptability of Christ’s sacrifice, taken from the OT , Lev 1:9 ; Lev 1:13 ; Lev 1:17 ; Lev 2:12 ; Lev 3:5 , etc. ( cf. Gen 8:21 ; Phi 4:18 ), where is defined as , . The foundation of the phrase is of course the ancient idea that the smoke of the offerings rose to the nostrils of the god, and that in this way the Deity became partaker of the oblation along with the worshipper (Hom., Il. , xxiv., 69, 70). The phrase was naturally used oftenest of the burnt offering (Lev 2:9 , Lev 2:13 , 17), and some have argued that there is nothing more in view here than the idea of self-dedication contained in that offering. But the phrase is used also of the expiatory offering (Lev 4:31 ).
[489] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
[490] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[491] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).
[492] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.
[493] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.
[494] Codex Augiensis (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.
[495] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.
[496] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[497] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[498] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).
[499] Codex Claromontanus (sc. vi.), a Grco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.
[500] Codex Augiensis (sc. ix.), a Grco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of G, and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.
[501] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.
[502] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.
[503] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
love. App-135.
Christ. App-98.
hath loved = loved. App-135.
us. The texts read “you”.
hath given = gave up. Compare Rom 4:25. Joh 19:30.
sweetsmelling savour = an odour of a sweet smell.
sweetsmelling. Greek. euodia. See 2Co 2:15.
savour. Greek. ocme. Compare Joh 12:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eph 5:2. , walk) The fruit of our love, which has been kindled from [by the love of] Christ [to us].[76]- , for us) The Dative, to God, is not construed with the verb, gave Himself, but with an offering and sacrifice, which immediately precede it. For Paul is alluding to Moses, in whose writings such words are common: , , , …, Exo 29:18; Exo 29:25; Exo 29:41; Lev 23:13; Lev 23:18, etc.- , an offering and a sacrifice) Comp. Heb 10:5, etc.- , for a sweet-smelling savour) By this sweet-smelling odour we are reconciled to God.
[76] And also kindled by the Holy Ghost as the agent.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Eph 5:2
Eph 5:2
and walk in love,-Love prompts to do good, to benefit, to deny self to help. [The imitation must take effect in the practical, unmistakable form of a loving course of life.]
even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us,-He who was the Lord (Joh 1:1), in heaven, with God, endowed with honors and glories with the Father that surpassed all other honors and glories of the universe, saw man had brought death and ruin, temporal and eternal, upon himself, that he was helpless and hopeless in that ruin. With man in this condition, heaven lost its charm to him. He gave it all up; he came to earth, clothed himself with human weakness and human infirmities to rescue man. Jesus Christ, imbued with the true spirit of heroism, served and suffered for man. He found more pleasure in the crown of thorns and the cross of Calvary, with the door open for mans return to his Fathers house, than he found in heaven, with all its glories, with the door shut against man. This was heroism, this was vicarious service and suffering. Jesus is the truest, the greatest hero of the universe. Let us adore and honor him as such.
an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.-The odor of such a sacrifice was a sweet incense to God. With such he was well pleased. If we sacrifice to do good and to save others from sin, such sacrifices will be a sweet savor to the Lord-he will be pleased with those who make such sacrifices.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
walk: Eph 3:17, Eph 4:2, Eph 4:15, Joh 13:34, Rom 14:16, 1Co 16:14, Col 3:14, 1Th 4:9, 1Ti 4:12, 1Pe 4:8, 1Jo 3:11, 1Jo 3:12, 1Jo 3:23, 1Jo 4:20, 1Jo 4:21
as: Eph 5:25, Eph 3:19, Mat 20:28, Joh 15:12, Joh 15:13, 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15, 2Co 8:9, Gal 1:4, Gal 2:20, 1Ti 2:6, Tit 2:14, Heb 7:25-27, Heb 9:14, Heb 9:26, Heb 10:10, Heb 10:11, 1Pe 2:21-24, 1Jo 3:16, Rev 1:5, Rev 5:9
a sacrifice: Rom 8:3, *marg. 1Co 5:7, Heb 9:23, Heb 10:12
for a: Gen 8:21, Lev 1:9, Lev 1:13, Lev 1:17, Lev 3:16, Amo 5:21, 2Co 2:15
Reciprocal: Gen 22:9 – bound Gen 29:20 – for the love Exo 29:18 – sweet savour Lev 1:2 – If any Lev 2:9 – an offering Lev 3:7 – offer it Lev 4:31 – a sweet Lev 4:35 – and the priest shall make Lev 5:10 – offer Lev 5:12 – a memorial Lev 8:21 – a sweet savour Lev 9:12 – General Lev 14:20 – General Num 7:21 – General Num 15:3 – a sweet Num 28:2 – for a sweet savour unto me Deu 15:15 – General Deu 24:22 – General Deu 27:6 – burnt offerings 1Sa 20:14 – the kindness Ezr 6:10 – sweet savours Psa 20:3 – Remember Psa 26:3 – For Psa 51:19 – pleased Psa 85:13 – shall set Psa 112:4 – he is gracious Pro 3:3 – mercy Isa 53:5 – But he was Isa 53:10 – when thou shalt make his soul Eze 20:41 – with your Eze 45:17 – the prince’s Eze 46:12 – a voluntary Mat 5:9 – for Mat 5:48 – even Mat 18:33 – even Luk 6:36 – General Luk 10:37 – He that Luk 22:19 – given Joh 6:51 – my flesh Joh 10:11 – giveth Joh 10:15 – and I Joh 11:36 – Behold Joh 12:26 – let Joh 13:15 – given Rom 4:25 – Who was Rom 8:37 – him Rom 13:13 – us Rom 15:5 – according to 1Co 11:1 – even 1Co 15:3 – Christ 2Co 5:21 – he Gal 3:13 – redeemed Gal 4:5 – redeem Gal 5:22 – love Eph 1:4 – love Eph 5:8 – walk Phi 2:5 – General Phi 2:15 – sons Phi 3:16 – let us walk Phi 4:18 – an Col 1:10 – ye Col 1:14 – whom Col 2:6 – walk Col 3:13 – even 1Th 2:12 – walk 1Th 5:10 – died 1Th 5:14 – be 2Th 2:16 – which Heb 8:3 – have Heb 10:6 – thou Heb 12:2 – endured Heb 13:1 – General 1Pe 1:15 – so 1Pe 3:8 – courteous 1Jo 2:6 – to walk 1Jo 2:8 – which 1Jo 4:11 – General 2Jo 1:4 – walking 2Jo 1:5 – that we
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Eph 5:2.) -And walk in love. The same admonition under another and closer aspect is continued in this verse. The love in which we are to walk is such a love in kind as Christ displayed in dying for us. The apostle had just spoken of God in Christ forgiving men, and now, and very naturally, that Christ in the plenitude and glory of His love is also introduced-
-as also, or even as, Christ loved us. Tischendorf, after A and B, reads , and on the authority of B reads also in the following clause; but the ordinary reading is preferable, as the direct form of address may have suggested the emendation. The immeasurable fervour of Christ’s love is beyond description. See under Eph 3:19. That love which is set before us was noble, ardent, and self-sacrificing; eternal, boundless, and unchanging as its possessor-more to Him than the possession of visible equality with God, for He veiled the splendours of divinity; more to Him than heaven, for He left it; more to Him than the conscious enjoyment of His Father’s countenance, for on the cross He suffered the horrors of a spiritual eclipse, and cried, Why hast Thou forsaken me? more to Him, in fine, than His life, for He freely surrendered it. That love was embodied in Christ as He walked on earth, and especially as He bled on the cross; for He loved us-
-and gave Himself for us-in proof and manifestation of His love- being exegetical. The verb implies full surrender, and the preposition points out those over whom or in room of whom such self-tradition is made. Usteri, Lehrb. p. 117; Meyer on Rom 5:6; Ellicott on Gal 3:13. Joh 15:13; Rom 5:8; Gal 2:20. The general idea is, that Christ’s love led to His self – surrender as a sacrifice. He was no passive victim of circumstances, but in active and spontaneous attachment He gave up Himself to death, and for such as we are-His poor, guilty, and ungrateful murderers. The context and not simply shows that this is the meaning. The manner of His self-sacrifice is defined in the next words-
-an offering and a sacrifice-oblationem et hostiam. Vulgate. The words are in the accusative, and in apposition with , forming its predicate nouns. Madvig, 24. A similar combination of terms occurs in Heb 10:5; Heb 10:8, while , a noun of kindred meaning, is used with in Heb 5:1; Heb 8:3; Heb 9:9. usually represents in Leviticus and Numbers the Hebrew , H7933, and is not in sense different from . Deyling, Observ. 1.352. The first substantive, , represents only the Hebrew , H4966, once in the Septuagint, though oftener in the Apocrypha. It may mean a bloodless oblation, though sometimes in a wider signification it denotes an oblation of any kind, and even one of slain victims. Act 21:26; Heb 10:10; Heb 10:18. , as its derivation imports, is the slaying of a victim-the shedding of its blood, and the burning of its carcase, and frequently represents , H2285, in the Septuagint; Exo 34:15; Leviticus 2, 3 passim, 7:29; Deu 12:6; Deu 12:27; 1Sa 2:14; Mat 9:13; Mar 12:33; Luk 2:24; Luk 13:1; Act 7:41-42; 1Co 10:18; Heb 7:27; Heb 9:23; Heb 9:26; Heb 10:12. It sometimes in the Septuagint represents , H2633, sin-offering, and often in representing , H4966, it means a victim. See Tromm. Concord. We do not apprehend that the apostle, in the use of these terms, meant to express any such precise distinction as that now described. We cannot say with Harless, that Jesus, in reference to Himself and His own free-will, was an offering, but in reference to others was a sacrifice. On the other hand, the last term, says Meyer, is a nearer definition of the former. We prefer the opinion, that both terms convey, a nd are meant to convey, the full idea of a sacrifice. It is a gift, and the gift is a victim; or the victim slain is laid on the altar an offering to God. Not only is the animal slain, but it is presented to God. Sacrifice is the offering of a victim. The idea contained in covers the whole transaction, while that contained in is a distinct and characteristic portion of the process. Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice in its completest sense-a holy victim, whose blood was poured out in His presentation to God. In the meantime it may be remarked, that the suffering involved in sacrifice, such unparalleled suffering as Christ endured as our sacrifice, proves the depth and fervour of His affection, and brightens that example of love which the apostle sets before the Ephesian church.
-to God for the savour of a sweet smell-the genitive being that of characterizing quality. Winer, 30, 2; Scheuerlein, 16, 3. Some, such as Meyer and Holzhausen, join to the verb , but the majority connect them with the following phrase:-1. They may stand in close connection with the nouns , with which they may be joined as an ethical dative. Harless says indeed, that is the proper supplement after , but here implies it. may be implied in such places as Rom 4:25; Rom 8:32, but here we have the same preposition in the phrase . The preposition occurring with the verb denotes the purpose, as in Mat 24:9; Act 13:2. Winer, 49; Bernhardy, p. 218. In those portions of the Septuagint where the phraseology occurs, follows , so that the connection cannot be mistaken. 2. Or the words may occupy their present position because of their close connection with , and we may read-He gave Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. It is not easy to say which is preferable, being peculiarly placed in reference both to the beginning and the end of the verse. The phrase is based on the peculiar sacrificial idiom of the Old Testament-. Gen 8:21; Lev 1:9; Lev 1:13; Lev 1:17; Lev 2:9; Lev 2:12; Lev 3:5. It is used tropically in 2Co 2:14, and is explained and expanded in Php 4:18-a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. The burning of spices or incense, so fragrant to the Oriental senses, is figuratively applied to God. Not that He has pleasure in suffering for its own sake. Nor can we say, wi th Olshausen, that the Divine pleasure arises wholly from the love and obedience which Jesus exhibited in His sufferings and death. This idea of Olshausen is to some extent similar to that of several recent writers, who do not give its own prominence to the vicarious suffering of our Lord, but, as we think, lay undue stress on several minor concomitants.
Now the radical idea of sacrifice is violent and vicarious suffering and death. But the theory referred to seems to place the value of Christ’s sufferings not in their substitutionary nature, but in the moral excellence of Him who endured them. This is a onesided view. That Jehovah rejoiced in the devoted and self-sacrificing spirit of His Son-in His meekness, heroism, and love, is most surely believed by us. And we maintain, that the sufferings of Christ gave occasion for the exhibition of those qualities and graces, and that without such sufferings as a dark setting, they could never have been so brilliantly displayed. The sacrifice must be voluntary, for forced suffering can have no merit, and an unwilling death no expiatory virtue. But we cannot say with Dr. Halley-that the sufferings, indirectly, as giving occasion to these acts, feelings, and thoughts of the holy Sufferer, procured our redemption. Congregational Lecture-The Sacraments, part ii. p. 271, Lond. 1852. The virtues of the holy Sufferer are subordinate, although indispensable elements in the work of atonement, which consisted in His obedience unto the death. That death was an act of obedience beyond parallel; yet it was also, and in itself-not simply, as Grotius held, a great penal example-but a propitiatory oblation. The endurance of the law by our Surety is as necessary to us as His perfect submission to its statutes. The sufferings of the Son of God, viewed as a vicarious endurance of the penalty we had incurred, were therefore the direct means of our redemption. In insisting on the necessity of Christ’s obedience, the equal necessity of His expiatory death must not be overlooked. That Jesus did suffer and die in our room is the fact of atonement; and the mode in which He bore those sufferings is the proof of His holy obedience, which was made perfect through suffering. But if the manifestation of Christ’s personal virtues, and not the satisfaction of law, is said to be the prime end of those sufferings, then do we reckon such an opinion subversive of the great doctrine of our Lord’s propitiation, and in direct antagonism to the theology taught us in the inspired oracles. It pleased the Lord to bruise him-Worthy is the Lamb that was slain-He suffered once for sins, etc. The uniform testimony of the word of God is, that the sufferings of Jesus were expiatory-that is, so borne in the room of guilty men, that they might not suffer themselves-and that this expiatory merit lies in the sufferings themselves, and is not merely or mainly dependent on those personal virtues of love, faith, and submission, which such anguish evoked and glorified. True, indeed, the victim must be sinless-pure as the fire from heaven by which it is consumed; but its atoning virtue is not to be referred to the bright display of innocence and love in the agonies of immolation, as if all the purposes of sacrifice had been to exhibit unoffending goodness, and bring out affection in bold relief. No; in the sufferings of the Holy One, God was glorified, the law magnified, the curse borne away, and salvation secured to believers.
Nor do we deem it correct on the part of Abelard and Peter Lombard in the olden time, or of Maurice recently, to regard the love of Christ alone as the redeeming element of the atonement, overlooking the merit of all that spontaneous and indescribable anguish to which it conducted. Such a hypothesis places the motive in the room of the act. It is true, as Maurice remarks, that we usually turn the mind of sinners to the love of Christ, and that this truth comforts and sustains the heart of the afflicted and dying; but he forgets that this love evolved its ardour in suffering for human transgressors, and derives all its charm from the thought that the agony which it sustained was the endurance of a penalty which a guilty world has righteously incurred. The love on which sinners lean is a love that not only did not shrink from assuming their nature, but that feared not to die for them. The justice of God in exacting a satisfaction is not our first consolation, but the fact, that what justice deemed indispensable, love nobly presented. If love alone was needed to save, why should death have been endured? or would a love that fainted not in a mere martyrdom and tragedy be a stay for a convicted spirit? No; it is atoning love that soothes and blesses, and the objective or legal aspect of the work of Christ is not to be merged in any subjective or moral phases of it; for both are presented and illustrated in the inspired pages. Even in the first ages of the church this cardinal doctrine was damaged by the place assigned in it to the devil, and the notion of a price or a ransom was carried often to absurd extremes, as it has also been in some theories of Protestant theology, in which absolute goodness and absolute justice appear to neutralize one another. But still, to warrant the application of the term sacrifice to the death of Christ, it must have been something more than the natural, fitting, and graceful conclusion of a self-denied life-it must have been a violent and vicarious decease and a voluntary presentation. Many questions as to the kind and amount of suffering, its necessity, its merits as satisfactio vicaria, and its connection with salvation, come not within our province.
Harless and Meyer have well shown the nullity of the Socinian view first propounded by Slichting, and advocated by Usteri (Paulin. Lehrbegriff, p. 112) and Rckert, that the language of this verse does not represent the death of Christ as a sin-offering. But the Pauline theology always holds out that death as a sacrifice. He died for our sins–1Co 15:3; died for us–1Th 5:10; gave Himself for our sins–Gal 1:4; died for the ungodly- -Rom 5:6; died for all- -2Co 5:14; and a brother is one on whose behalf Christ died- -1Co 8:11. His death is an offering for sin- -Heb 10:18; one sacrifice for sin- -Heb 10:12; the blood of Him who offered Himself- , -Heb 9:14; the offering of His body once for all- -Heb 10:10. His death makes expiation- -Heb 2:17; there is propitiation in His blood–Rom 3:25; we are justified in His blood- -Rom 5:9; and we are reconciled by His death–Rom 5:10. He gave Himself a ransom–1Ti 2:6; He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us- -Gal 3:13; Christ our passover was sacrificed for us- -1Co 5:7. So too in Mat 20:28; 1Pe 1:18-19. The view of Hofmann, which is not that commonly received as orthodox, is defended at length by him against Ebrard and Philippi in his Schriftb. 2.329. See Ebrard, Lehre von de r stellvertretenden Genugthuung, Knigsberg, 1857, or a note in his Commentary on 1Jn 1:9, in which some important points in the previous treatise are condensed; Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, 57, dritter Theil; and Bodemeyer, Zur Lehre von der Vershnung und Rechtfertigung, mit Beziehung auf den Hofmann-Philippischen Streit ber die Vershnungs-lehre, Gttingen, 1859; Lechler, das Apost. Zeit. p. 77. The death of Christ was a sacrifice which had in it all the elements of acceptance, as the death of one who had assumed the sinning nature, and was yet possessed of Divinity-who could therefore place Himself in man’s room, and assume his legal liabilities-who voluntarily obeyed and suffered in our stead, in unison with God’s will and in furtherance of His gracious purposes. What love on Christ’s part! And what an inducement to obey the injunction-walk in love-in that love the possession of which the apostle inculcates and commends by the example of Christ! And, first, their love must be like their Lord’s love, ardent in its nature and unconquerable in its attachment; no cool and transient friendship which but evaporates in words, and only fawns upon and fondles the creatures of its capricious selection; but a genuine, vehement, and universal emotion. Secondly, it must be a self-sacrificing love, in imitation of Christ’s, that is, in its own place and on its own limited scale, denying itself to secure benefits to others; stooping and suffering in order to convey spiritual blessing to the objects of its affection. Mat 20:26-28. Such a love is at once the proof of discipleship, and the test and fruit of a spiritual change. Joh 13:35; 1Jn 3:14.
In a word, we can see no ground at all for adopting the exegesis of Stier, that the last clause of the verse stands in close connection with the first, as if the apostle had said-Walk in love, that ye may be an odour of a sweet smell to God. Such an exegesis is violent, though the idea is virtually implied, for Christian love in the act of self-devotion is pleasing to God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Eph 5:2. Walk in love is along the same line as the preceding verse; love to walk so as to please the loving Father. An additional motive is in the fact that Christ as well as God loved us–even before we loved Him. The love of Christ for us was proved by the supreme sacrifice that He made for us by the death on the cross. Sweet-smelling savor is said in view of some sacrifices that were offered to God under the law of Moses, in which sweet incense was burned as an odor that was sweet.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eph 5:2. And walk in love; since in this (chap. Eph 4:32) they are to be imitators of God. Love is Gods characteristic (chap. Eph 1:4-5), and our aim (chap. Eph 3:17-19).
As Christ also loved you. Some authorities read us, and a few have you in both clauses, but the variation youus is the more probable reading. You here gives emphasis to the exhortation; also joins the Christian walk in love to the work of Christ among men.
And gave himself up for us. Some sup-ply to death others join to God with the verb, but it seems best to take it absolutely of Christs self-sacrifice. And serves to explain how He loved, while for us, which in itself means on behalf of us, in this connection points to the vicarious work of Christ; comp. on Rom 5:6, Gal 2:20. The pronoun us extends the thought to all Christians; the Apostle thus including himself.
An offering and a sacrifice. The former is the more general term for all offerings; the latter refers specifically to sacrificial (bloody) offerings. Here both terms explain Christs giving up of Himself: the former including His entire work, the latter referring especially to His vicarious death.
To God. This phrase is connected by Meyer and others with gave Himself up; Stier and Braune join it with the following phrase (as in the LXX. rendering of Exo 29:18). But Alford and Ellicott more correctly regard it as a qualification of the preceding substantives, the meaning being with respect to God.
For a savour of sweet smell. See marginal references. This phrase is rarely applied in the Old Testament to an expiatory offering (but see Lev 4:31). The Apostle, although speaking of the result of Christs propitiatory work (especially of His vicarious death), refers to His self-sacrifice as a proof of His love, in order to present a motive for Christian love. Hence the expression is appropriate here. Our free-will offering of self-sacrificing love becomes acceptable to God (comp. Rom 12:1-2) through His self-sacrificing work of love, which, however, was distinct from all other work in having a real expiatory character.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here we have a second argument urged, to walk in love one with and one towards another, drawn from the example of Christ; he also, as well as God the Father, hath loved us; and the instance given of his love, is the highest that ever was or can be given: He gave himself for us, an offering, and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.
Observe here, 1. The great duty of the law: Walk in love. This implies the exercise of this grace, not barely to have it in the principle and habit, but to exercise and exert it in the act; and it implies the universal exercise of grace; whatever we do both to God and man, must be done in love, Let all your deeds be done with charity. 1Co 16:14
Observe, 2. As the great duty of the law, to walk in love, so the great pattern of the gospel, as Christ also hath loved us. The particle as hath first the force of an argument, and is as much as because Christ hath loved us; and it has also the force of a rule to direct us in the manner how we should love one another, with an as of identity, but not equality: not with the same degree, but with the same kind, of love wherewith Christ hath loved us.
But why hath, rather than doth love us? Why in the past, rather than in the present, tense?
Ans. To denote both the priority of Christ’s love; that he loved us before we loved him; yea, before we loved ourselves; nay, before we had any being in the world, we had a being in his love, even from all eternity. And also to denote the indubitable certainty of his love: He hath loved you; you need not doubt it, nor question it; he hath given actual and undeniable proofs of it; follow him from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven again, and you will find every step he took to have been in love: Walk then in love, as Christ also hath loved us.
Learn hence, 1. That our Lord Jesus Christ hath given an ample and full demonstration of his great and wonderful love unto his church and people.
2. That this love of Christ towards us, should not only be an argument and motive to excite and quicken us to walk in love one towards another, but also an exact rule and copy to direct and guide us in our walking.
There are some incommunicable properties in Christ’s love, which we cannot imitate. As his love was an eternal love, an infinite love, a free love, without motive, and in despite of obstacles, a redeeming love; such cannot our love be one to another; but as Christ’s love was an operative love, a beneficent love, a preventive love, a soul love, a constant love: thus we are to imitate it, and walk in love one towards another.
Observe, 3. The high instance and expression which Christ has given of his love unto us: He gave himself for us, a sacrifice unto God, & c.
He gave; now gifts are expressions of love; he gave himself, that is more than if he had given all the angels in heaven, and all the treasures on earth, for us, more than the whole world, yea, than ten thousand worlds: he gave himself an offering and a sacrifice, a voluntary sacrifice, a meritorious, efficacious, expiatory, and propitiatory sacrifice, and this for us, to be stuck, and bleed to death in our stead. And he gave himself a sacrifice to God, as an injured and offended God; to God, as a revenger of sin; to God, as the asserter of his truth in the threatenings; he appeared before God as sitting upon a seat of justice, that he might open to us a throne of grace.
Lastly, For a sweet-smelling savour, that is, he gave himself with an intention to be accepted, and God received him with a choice acceptation. Our sin had sent up a very ill savour to heaven, which disturbed the rest of God: Christ expels this ill scent, by the perfume of his precious blood.
Learn hence, 1. That the sacrifice and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ were very free and voluntary: he offered himself, and his offering was a free-will offering.
Learn, 2. That this voluntary sacrifice and free-will offering of Christ, was acceptable to God, because a complete satisfaction for sin’s wrong; and efficacious for us, because a discharge from the obligation of sin’s guilt.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.
Not only are we to follow Him but we are to “walk in love” – that same self-sacrificing love that Christ walked to the cross in – that love that caused Him to give His life for us and all those in the future that would believe.
Let’s think of this love for a moment.
a. It was given without thought of reciprocation.
b. It was given to very nasty unloving people.
c. It was unconditional love.
d. It was directed love – toward the past and future believer.
e. It was a sufficient love – sufficient to do the job at hand.
f. It was a pure love.
g. It was a love that sought no gain.
h. It was a love that was not sought.
You can take each of these items and relate it to your spouse, to your child, and to that nasty terrible church goer that you tend to avoid on Sunday morning.
Walk seems to be related to our English word “perpetual” – continued walk or course of life. It is a present tense so you need to keep at it all your life, not just through this one terrible person – all terrible persons deserve the same walk on your part.
I don’t know that it matters, but the term translated “God” here is actually a general pronoun rather than the normal “Theos” which is God. Specifically it is a sacrifice offered to God, but it is not only a sweetsmelling savor to God, but to us as well that have benefitted from that sacrifice. It is a sweet fragrance for all that are involved in the sacrifice, both God and the recipients.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
This verse explains how we are to imitate God, namely, by loving. The measure and model of our love should be Christ’s love for us. He loved us to the extent of dying for us. His self-sacrifice was pleasing and acceptable to God, as a sweet aroma. Jesus’ death was both an offering of worship to God, like the burnt and meal offerings in Judaism, and a sacrifice of expiation, like the sin and trespass offerings. We also express our love most when we lay down our lives for those we love, particularly God (1Jn 3:16).
". . . there is not a single place in Paul’s writings, nor in the New Testament generally, where the death of Christ can be spoken of as only an example to be followed, without the further expression of its atoning significance." [Note: Foulkes, p. 139.]