Imitate God

1 As most beloved children of God, strive to imitate him.

2 Follow the way of love, the example of Christ who loved you. He gave himself up for us and became the offering and sacrificial victim whose fragrance rises to God.

3 And since you are holy, there must not be among you even a hint of sexual immorality or greed, or any kind of impurity: these should not be named among you.

4 So too for scandalous words, nonsense and foolishness, which are not fitting; instead offer thanksgiving to God.

5 Know this: no depraved, impure or covetous person who serves the god ¡®Money¡¯ shall have part in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for these are the sins which God is about to condemn in people who do not obey.

7 Do not associate with such people.

8 You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Behave as children of light;

9 the fruits of light are kindness, justice and truth in every form.

10 You yourselves search out what pleases the Lord,

11 and take no part in works of darkness that are of no benefit; expose them instead.

12 In deed it is a shame even to speak of what those people do in secret,

13 but as soon as it is exposed to the light, everything becomes clear; and what is unmasked, becomes clear through light.

14 Therefore it is said:
¡°Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead that the light of Christ may shine on you.¡±

15 Pay attention to how you be have. Do not live as the unwise do, but as responsible per sons.

16 Try to make good use of the present time, be cause these days are evil.

17 So do not be foolish but un derstand what the will of the Lord is.

18 Do not get drunk: wine leads to levity; but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

19 Gather together to pray with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and celeb rate the Lord in your heart,

20 giving thanks to God the Father in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, always and for everything.
Husbands, love your wives

21 Let all kinds of submission to one another become obedience to Christ.

22 So wives to their husbands: as to the Lord.

23 The husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, of whom he is also the Savior.

24 And as the Church submits to Christ, so let a wife submit in everything to her husband.

25 As for you, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.

26 He washed her and made her holy by baptism in the Word.

27 As he wanted a radiant Church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless, he himself had to prepare and present her to himself.

28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves him self.

29 And no one has ever hated his body; he feeds and takes care of it. That is just what Christ does for the Church,

30 be cause we are members of his body.

31 Scripture says: Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother to be united with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

32 This is a very great mystery, and I refer to Christ and the Church.

33 As for you, let each one love his wife as himself, and let the wife respect her husband.

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Comments Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 5

• 5.1 Here are a few elements of a new way to live, as was already shown in the previous verses.

To imitate God (Rom 5:6-11) who loves everyone, the good and the bad (Mt 5:48). In a more tangible way we have a model in Christ, the Son of God, who gave himself out of love for us, as the way, the light and life.

Reject all that is shameful (v. 12) and that can only be done in the dark. It is true that much that was shameful has become normal today for many people: will it be so for a person who often seeks light and looks for it in the face in Christ? The witness of one Christian who lives in light (and still more of a community) is enough to condemn what has been taken as normal (v. 13).

To be more sensible and responsible in our lives. Because these days are evil (v. 16): that means that if we are unable to judge, choose, make a personal decision, the very current of daily events will keep us in mediocrity or will lead us to evil. Everything changes when a believer, a couple, a group ¡°awakens¡± and takes daily or weekly time out to discover what is God¡¯s will for them, in the time and circumstances in which they live.

Do not get drunk (v. 18)! We need stimulants; there is nothing wrong in experiencing a sort of trance to the point of feeling happy and relaxed when ice is broken and tongues untied. The Bible has praise for wine. It is impossible, however, to experience at the same time the ecstasy that comes from the spirit and that which is the effect of alcohol, drugs and dangerous diversions. We must constantly make choices.

Sing and celebrate the Lord in your heart, giving thanks (v. 19)! Experience the comfort of the Spirit and find it in a community gathering.

• 21. In the passage 5:21¨C6:9, Paul more or less repeats what he wrote in the letter to the Colossians (3:18¨C4:1). Here he has so much on his mind on the role of Christ as head of redeemed humanity that he will develop in an unexpected way the meaning of marriage.

So wives to their husbands (v. 22). It is not Paul who in the name of God demands that the wife be submissive: it is the society of the time that required it. And Paul says: ¡°Let all kinds of submission become obedience to Christ.¡±

So, even if Paul¡¯s way of speaking reflects the culture of his day with regard to marriage, there is no reason to scorn his teaching in support of feminism. There have been and there are different cultural models regarding the relationship between husband and wife. In our time the models differ in the economically developed countries from those of the Third World, for the middle and lower classes. What is still better, it is each couple that should find its own balance and the taking of initiatives according to the natural authority and the capacity of each one.

In any case, whether one partner makes a decision or follows it, neither will feel superior or inferior since the ideal for both is to ¡°make oneself slave¡± (Mk 9:35). Paul says: The hus band is the head but being the head is not the same as being the boss. Think of Christ: he has authority since he is the truth of God (which the hus band is not to his wife); Paul however prefers to show him as the savior of his partner baptized humanity.

Paul points out what is essential in conjugal love when he recalls the word of Scripture: a man shall leave¡­ (v. 31). He applies this word to the union of God with humanity in Christ, the Beloved (Mk 2:19). For marriage contains a mystery, that is a divine treasure which cannot be understood before the coming of Christ. When it is said that marriage is a ¡°sacrament,¡± that does not mean primarily that there is a Church ceremony: it signifies that through marriage and the couples who live a life of love ¡°according to Christ,¡± the mystery of the love of God is manifested among humankind. That is, in our midst, the sign of a covenant that God made with humanity, as the husband with his wife: a covenant of love, fidelity, fruitfulness.

He gave himself up for her. Christ finds us in our sins and he takes charge of us, even to the ultimate consequences: he gives his life to purify us. This is the way to show the main quality of Christian love, which is faithfulness. The self-gift of the spouse is permanent and from that moment on, each will do his best to save the other, that is, to help the other grow and be better. The perfect couple is not the one that lives without problems and accepts mediocrity, but the two who compel each other to give their best.

He washed her by the baptism in the Word (see James 1:18-21 and Jn 15:3). If the ritual of baptism is important, what is even more important is for us to welcome the Word of God that gives us life.

Many young people flee marriage, partly because they fear a risk (total fidelity is indeed a way of losing one¡¯s life: Mk 8:35), partly because they consider that their love is their own business. Paul shows that Christ¡¯s love for us, however personal it may be, never forgets his love for all those who make up his body. It is an example: married Christians are invited to have their place in the transformation of the world through the radiation of their love and their service to others.