“Be Imitators of God”: Manifestation, Not Mimicry
Imitation or manifestation? A child doesn’t perform to resemble his father—he simply bears the family likeness by life within.
Introduction
At first glance, Paul’s command in Ephesians 5:1–2 seems to challenge the exchanged-life understanding of sanctification:
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
How can believers be told to imitate God if the Christian life is not achieved through imitation but through participation—Christ living His life through us?
This tension dissolves when the passage is read not as an exhortation to self-initiated performance but as an invitation to Spirit-enabled manifestation.
Paul’s theology of imitation is not about striving to resemble God but yielding to express Him. The call to “be imitators” rests entirely upon the prior reality of union with Christ. To grasp this, we must examine the command’s result, means, and mechanism.
1️⃣ The Result: Manifested Likeness
Paul’s imperative—“be imitators of God”—flows directly from what he has just taught in Ephesians 4:20–24:
“You were taught… to put off your old self… and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
The result is likeness: a life that displays the moral and relational character of God. Yet this likeness does not arise from mimicry but from creation — “the new self, created after the likeness of God.”
The Greek word mimētai (μιμηταί) often translated “imitators,” carries the sense of representation or embodiment. It can mean “to reproduce the pattern of another’s life,” but within the Pauline context it implies participation in a shared nature. As children reflect the life of their father, believers reflect the life of their Father by virtue of spiritual birth.
Thus, the imitation Paul calls for is filial resemblance, not performative mimicry.
We are not playing the role of God-like beings; we are manifesting the life of God that has been implanted in usthrough regeneration.
“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” — Ephesians 5:8
2️⃣ The Means: Participation in Divine Life
If resemblance is the result, what is the means?
The means is not human discipline alone but participation in Christ’s life through the Spirit.
Paul consistently locates moral transformation in the believer’s union with Christ:
Romans 6:11 — “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 2:20 — “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Colossians 3:3–4 — “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with Him in glory.”
For Paul, ethical exhortation never stands alone; it always flows from ontology—who we are in Christ.
We imitate God precisely because His Spirit indwells us:
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” — Ephesians 4:30
In other words, the call to imitation assumes the indwelling presence that makes such imitation possible.
Our participation in divine life is the means by which divine likeness is expressed.
Without the Spirit, imitation degenerates into moralism; with the Spirit, it becomes manifestation.
3️⃣ The Mechanism: The Spirit’s Expression Through Yielded Humanity
How does this manifestation occur? Through the Spirit’s inward operation and our outward yielding.
Paul’s language elsewhere clarifies the mechanism:
“It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” — Philippians 2:13
“The life of Jesus is made manifest in our mortal flesh.” — 2 Corinthians 4:11
The believer’s responsibility is not to initiate divine behavior but to yield to divine indwelling.
The Spirit forms the character of Christ within us (Galatians 4:19) and expresses the love of God through us (Romans 5:5). This aligns precisely with Paul’s phrase “walk in love, as Christ loved us.” The verb walk (περιπατεῖτε) denotes the continual sphere of daily conduct empowered by the Spirit.
Hence, the mechanism of imitation is not self-generated effort but Spirit-enabled expression.
The believer’s act is consent, not construction.
When Paul says “walk in love,” he presupposes the inner supply:
“The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” — Romans 5:5
This makes imitation an outcome of fellowship, not an exercise in imitation per se.
4️⃣ Theological Coherence Within Pauline Ethics
Across Paul’s letters, three recurring movements appear:
Result: outward likeness to Christ (Ephesians 5:1–2; 1 Corinthians 11:1).
Means: participation in His death and resurrection (Romans 6; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3).
Mechanism: the Spirit’s energizing indwelling (Philippians 2:13; Galatians 5:25).
These categories provide a hermeneutical key for understanding Pauline ethics. Commands are never isolated imperatives but expressions of union with Christ realized through the Spirit.
To separate moral imitation from spiritual participation is to divorce Christian ethics from Christian ontology. Paul’s moral imperatives presuppose the believer’s new creation status; his “ought” always arises from an “is.”
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” — Galatians 5:25
Therefore, the imitation of God is nothing less than the visible outworking of divine indwelling—the life of Christ animating the believer through the Spirit’s continuous operation.
5️⃣ Summary: From Moralism to Manifestation
Ephesians 5:1–2 can be read as a concise summary of Paul’s theology of sanctification:
Result: “Be imitators of God…” — the visible likeness of divine character.
Means: “…as beloved children…” — participation in the Father’s life by new birth.
Mechanism: “…and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.” — the Spirit’s reproduction of Christ’s self-giving love within us.
Thus, Paul’s exhortation does not undermine the exchanged-life message; it articulates it.
True imitation is not achieved by self-effort but experienced as Christ expresses His life through yielded believers.
To “imitate God” is to manifest His nature by union, not mimic His actions by effort.
Ethical transformation is not imitation striving upward but incarnation working outward.
Conclusion
The ethical vision of Ephesians 5:1–2 stands as a bridge between Paul’s theology of union and his exhortations to holy living. The imperative to “be imitators of God” is grounded in adoption (“as beloved children”), empowered by the Spirit, and exemplified in Christ’s love.
For the exchanged-life theologian, this passage affirms that the moral image of God is not the product of moral exertion but the expression of divine indwelling. We do not become like God by imitation; we bear His likeness because His life now resides within us.
To walk in love, therefore, is not to mimic Christ’s example but to manifest His presence.
As branches in the Vine, we resemble the life we receive. The imitation Paul envisions is the natural reflection of our supernatural union.