and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.
Paul has been urging his readers to imitate God. Now he shows what that looks like: Christ's own self-giving, described in the language of the altar — which raises the question of how much of it we can copy.
Love as the nature we have received
The command is not to work up a feeling foreign to us. It is to let out what is already there.
We are to walk in love. This is not natural to us as the children of Adam, but it is natural to us as born of God, for God is love. Walking in love simply shows the Divine nature in practice. So it adds, "as Christ loved us," because in Christ the Divine nature appeared in all its fullness and perfection.
The order matters. What we are comes first; how we walk follows from it.
If we are accepted in the Beloved, we are now urged to "walk in love" (Eph. 5:2). We ought to walk in a way that matches our high place. Responsibility flows from relationship... But to imitate anyone, we must know that person. Now God has made Himself known to us. He has placed us in His presence and given us His mind.
Love comes down, and goes back up
The verse traces a movement: love reaches us, and then returns to its source as self-sacrifice.
The burnt offering pictures Christ — He freely offered up His life to God as a sweet savour... When divine love comes down here, it always returns upward as self-sacrifice. God acts in love; Christ walked in love; and divine love acting in a person offers itself to God as a sweet savour.
"For us" — but "to God"
Two little words carry the weight of the verse. One points to us; the other points higher.
He gave Himself for us, yet His blessed offering and sacrifice was to God. As an offering, it speaks of the value of the gift in God's eyes. As a sacrifice, it shows how great a thing Christ gave up for the glory of God. His sacrifice has the character of both the peace offering and the burnt offering. The peace offering brings us into sweet agreement with God in Christ, and the burnt offering rises to God to delight His heart of infinite love.
A sweet savour, not sin-bearing
The Bible does not always describe Christ's death in these terms. Set this verse beside another, and the difference stands out.
Here we see the sacrifice of Christ on its burnt offering side. It was a sweet smelling savour, and — blessed be His name — it was "for us." In 1 Peter 2:24 we get the trespass offering side of His cross. There "a sweet savour" could not be said. He bore our sins, and drank the cup of divine wrath that our sins deserved.
What we can copy, and what we cannot
The verse sets Christ as pattern, but not every part of His death is open to imitation.
The death of Christ was a propitiatory offering, and we cannot follow Him in that. But we can imitate Him in the love that would lead us to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16). Paul mentions two saints of God who risked their own necks for his life. If one risks his life for another, that is the same as laying it down.
This standard reaches past anything the law asked, and it comes with a promise about our own small acts.
Such love goes far beyond what the law demands, that a man love his neighbour as himself. Christ did more, for He gave Himself to God for us. This is the love we are asked to imitate... In its little measure, like the infinite love of Christ, it will go up as a sweet savour to God.
Summary
- Down — Love begins at God's side, not ours. Walking in love lets our new nature show itself in practice.
- Up — Divine love comes down to us. When it acts in a person, it turns back upward as self-sacrifice offered to God.
- To — The gift was for us, but the offering was to God. Christ gave Himself up for the glory of God.
- Fragrance — This verse shows the burnt offering side of the cross, which delights God's heart. The sin-bearing side is different: there Christ drank the cup of wrath.
- Echo — We cannot repeat the propitiation. But we can love enough to lay down our lives, and even that small measure rises to God as a sweet savour.