Paul writes instructions.
Ephesians 4 and 5 are dense with them, stacked commands that describe what a life transformed by the gospel actually looks like in practice.
But Ephesians 5:2 is a command unlike most of the others.
It does not just tell you what to do.
It shows you a model, gives you a mechanism, and explains why the whole thing matters to God.
“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2, ESV)
“and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2, NIV)
The verse has three working parts: the command to walk, the model in Christ, and the description of what that model did.
Each part does something in the sentence, and each one deserves its own examination before the whole verse can be understood.
Part One: The Command
What “Walk” Actually Means
The Greek word is peripateite, meaning to walk around, to conduct yourself, to order your daily movement.
BibleRef notes that the theme of “walking” runs throughout the entire letter, appearing in Ephesians 2:2, 2:10, 4:1, 4:17, 5:8, and 5:15.
Paul uses the word because walking describes something continuous, habitual, and directional.
You do not walk once and arrive.
Walking is the ongoing mode of travel.
When Paul says walk in love, he is not describing a single act of kindness on a good day.
He is describing the constant orientation of a life, the direction and manner in which every step is taken.
BibleRef notes that the Greek expression peripateite en agape refers specifically to “continuing in selfless love,” meaning the walking Paul has in mind is sustained, not occasional.
What Precedes the Command
Ephesians 5:1 gives the command its foundation: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”
The “therefore” reaches back through everything Paul has said about who believers are in Christ: chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed by the Spirit, united as one new humanity.
Matthew Road Baptist Church notes that children naturally want to imitate their parents, and the invitation of Ephesians 5:1–2 is exactly that: live like someone who belongs to the family of God.
The command to walk in love is not a cold ethical requirement.
It is an invitation to look like your Father.
Part Two: The Model
Who the Model Is
The model Paul points to is not an abstract standard but a specific person: Christ.
Paul says: walk in love, as Christ loved us.
The word “as” is doing crucial work here.
It is not saying walk in love the same way you love your friends or the same way your culture defines love.
It is saying walk in love the same way Christ loved.
That is both a far higher and far more specific standard than anything human experience offers.
What Agape Means
The Greek word Paul uses for love here is agape.
BibleRef notes that agape is sacrificial, unconditional love that proves itself through action rather than feeling.
It is the word used in John 3:16 when God loved the world enough to give his Son.
It is the word used in 1 Corinthians 13 to describe love that is patient, kind, not self-seeking, and endures all things.
Agape is not the love that responds to lovable people or pleasant circumstances.
It is the love that gives regardless of what is offered in return.
When Paul says walk in love as Christ loved, he is specifying this particular kind of love, not affection, not tolerance, not mere goodwill, but the deliberate, self-giving love that cost Christ everything.
How Christ’s Love Was Demonstrated
Paul does not leave the model abstract.
He specifies exactly what Christ’s love looked like in action: he “gave himself up for us.”
The phrase is active and deliberate.
Christ did not stumble into the cross.
He gave himself up, a voluntary act of surrender on behalf of people who had no claim on his mercy.
Crosswalk notes that this giving of himself is the exact pattern Paul calls believers to follow: love that gives rather than takes, love that serves rather than demands, love that counts the other person’s good above its own convenience.
The measure of the imitation is not comfortable affection.
It is the willingness to bear personal cost for another person’s genuine good.
Part Three: The Mechanism
The Fragrant Offering Language
The verse does not stop with “gave himself up for us.”
It adds: “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
This language is drawn directly from the Levitical sacrificial system.
In the Old Testament, a fragrant or pleasing aroma was the description of a sacrifice that was accepted by God, one that was offered correctly and met with divine favor.
Bible Study Tools notes that the ancient commentary tradition understood this language as describing Christ’s sacrifice as acceptable, voluntary, and honoring to God in every way the older sacrificial system pointed toward.
The burnt offering of the Old Testament was a wholly voluntary gift, and the “fragrant aroma” associated with it described its acceptability before God.
Paul is placing Christ’s sacrifice directly in that framework.
What the animal offerings pointed toward, Christ fulfilled completely.
What This Means for the Believer’s Walk
Knowing that Christ’s self-offering was a fragrant sacrifice to God changes the logic of the command to walk in love.
When you give yourself for another person in love, that act is not simply a moral achievement.
It is an offering.
It rises toward God the same way a fragrant sacrifice rises from an altar.
The Daily Verse knowing-jesus.com commentary notes that Paul is calling believers to present their own lives as the continuation of what Christ demonstrated: a willing, sacrificial love that becomes a sweet-smelling aroma before the Father.
This is why Romans 12:1, just one letter earlier, describes offering your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, as your spiritual act of worship.
The two passages are describing the same reality.
Walking in love is worship.
Part Four: What the Walk Looks Like
Sustained Direction, Not Emotional Peaks
Walking in love is not the same as feeling warm toward people when circumstances cooperate.
Saraland Christians notes that to walk in love is to want more and more of Christ and to give yourself to him completely, which is a directional commitment, not a seasonal feeling.
The person walking in love is not waiting for the right mood.
They are moving steadily in a direction regardless of the emotional weather.
Paul describes the same reality in 1 Corinthians 13 when he says love endures all things, bears all things, and never fails.
Endurance language is not the language of feeling.
It is the language of sustained movement over difficult terrain.
The Motive Behind the Action
Matthew Road Baptist Church makes a distinction that is easy to miss: the true mark of love that imitates Christ is found not only in its measure but in its motive.
Non-Christians love their families and friends.
The question is not whether you love, but why and toward what end.
Christ’s love was offered as an act of worship to the Father, a sacrifice directed upward even as it poured outward toward people.
When a believer loves another person in the mode of agape, that love is simultaneously an act of service to the person and an offering of worship to God.
The motive is not self-improvement, social reputation, or even moral duty.
The motive is the same one that took Christ to the cross: love that overflows from its source and gives because giving is its nature.
Love as the Context for Everything Else
Ephesians 5 does not leave the command to walk in love alone.
Verses 3 and 4 follow immediately with a list of things that have no place in a life walking in love: sexual immorality, greed, obscenity, and foolish talk.
These are not arbitrary restrictions.
They are the natural counterexamples to a life organized around self-giving love.
The person walking in love is not orienting their life around self-gratification.
The contrast in the passage is intentional: this is what love looks like, and this is what its absence produces.
A Prayer From Ephesians 5:2
Lord, I want to walk in love, but I know how quickly I walk in self-protection, self-interest, and self-justification instead.
Show me what it costs to love the way Christ loved. Show me that the cost is not loss but worship. Show me that giving myself for another person rises before You as a fragrant offering.
Change the direction of my steps. Not a single good act here and there, but a walk, a sustained and habitual movement in the direction of love.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ephesians 5:2
What does “walk in love” mean in Ephesians 5:2?
It means to conduct your daily life in a pattern of agape love as a sustained habit, not a single act. BibleRef explains that the Greek peripateite en agape refers to continuing in selfless love. Walking is Paul’s metaphor for a consistent, directional way of living rather than occasional kindness.
What is agape love, and how is it different from other kinds of love?
Agape is sacrificial, unconditional love that expresses itself through action, regardless of whether the recipient deserves it. Unlike affection or friendship that depends on relational warmth, agape gives because it is its nature to give, modeled most fully in Christ’s death for sinners.
What does the “fragrant offering and sacrifice” mean in Ephesians 5:2?
It refers to the Old Testament sacrificial system, where a fragrant aroma described an offering that was accepted by God. Bible Study Tools notes Paul is placing Christ’s voluntary self-sacrifice within that framework, indicating his death was wholly acceptable and pleasing to God, fulfilling what the animal offerings pointed toward.
What is the connection between Ephesians 5:1 and Ephesians 5:2?
Verse 1 calls believers to imitate God as beloved children; verse 2 specifies how by pointing to Christ. Crosswalk notes they work as a unit: the identity of being God’s child provides the motive, and Christ’s self-giving love provides the standard of imitation.
How do you practically walk in love every day, according to Ephesians 5:2?
Matthew Road Baptist Church notes walking in love requires the right measure, love that absorbs personal cost for another’s good, and the right motive, love offered as worship to God. In practice, it means consistently choosing the other person’s good over your own convenience.
Sources and Commentary
O’Brien, Peter T. The Letter to the Ephesians. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 1999.
Stott, John R. W. The Message of Ephesians. The Bible Speaks Today. IVP Academic, 1979.
What Does It Mean to Walk in Love? GotQuestions.org.
What Does Ephesians 5:2 Mean? BibleRef.com.
Ephesians 5:2 Commentary. Bible Study Tools.
Walking in Love. Matthew Road Baptist Church Blog.
Ephesians 5:2 and Walking in Love. Crosswalk.
Walking in Love: Ephesians 5:1–7. Saraland Christians Blog.
Ephesians 5 and the Imitation of Christ. The Gospel Coalition.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians. New International Commentary. Eerdmans, 1984.
