*The author begins this chapter by telling the readers to be imitators of god. I find this an odd thing to tell anyone. After all, this is the god that supposedly destroyed every living thing in a great flood. This is a god who told his people to take over a land that was not theirs and kill any resistors. This is a god who created a legal system that punished infractions with death. This is a god who condoned enslavement of people who were not his people. This is a god who told priests to indiscriminately slaughter their closest friend and relatives. (Exodus 32)
*Next, the readers are told to live a life of love, "just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to god." Lets unpack that metaphor for a minute. It is equating Christ's death to the traditional sacrifice of atonement which god ordered in the levitical law. There a lamb was slaughtered and various things done to its carcass and blood, then portions were burned/cooked, and then eaten by the priests and/or people who brought the sacrifice. The burning meat was said to be emit a pleasing fragrance to god. The god who doesn't actually have sense organs to smell with. All this bloody business, including christ's death, was required because of god's insistence on a standard of morality that was impossible for humans to achieve, even though his omnipotence had forseen it.
*The next paragraph tells what is improper for god's holy people. This includes sexual immorality, impurity (exactly what is that?), greed, obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking. It seems to me that these things can vary in their personal and societal impact, some being merely innocuous to downright harmful. Nevertheless we are then told that no immoral, greedy, or impure person has an inheritance in the kingdom of god. (What is the kingdom of god?) In fact, they are labelled as idolaters and disobedient. God's wrath will come on them. Believers should have nothing to do with them. Aha! Here we do not have a case of love the sinner hate the sin. The sinner and his sin are inseparable. What happened to "live a life of love" from verse 2?
*Next, the readers are told to live as children of light, not darkness. They are to find out what pleases the lord and having nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. The fruit of light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth. However, we are not told what those are in concrete terms. We are also not told what the light refers to. We are to live as wise, not unwise. Again, how? By not being foolish and understanding what the lord's will is. How? By not getting drunk. Instead we are to be filled with the spirit. Is this an ancient pun? Apparently being filled with that spirit makes you sing and recite scripture. (Remember that the only scripture at that time was what we now call the Old Testament.) They are also to spend a lot of time giving thanks to god for everything.
*Next time we take a look at submission. Oh, joy.
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