Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
Parallel translations
- WEB Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
- KJV Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
- NKJV Thereforebe imitators of God as dear children.
- NASB Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
- NLT Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As beloved children, believers are to imitate their heavenly Father. Family likeness to God is the calling of his children.
Overview
This verse caps the appeal to forgive (4:32) and opens a new section. Because believers are God's dearly loved children, they are to imitate his character, especially his forgiving love. Children naturally resemble their father; so those born of God are to reflect his holy, loving nature.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Jn 4:11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
- 1 Pet 1:15–16But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
- Eph 4:32Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Matt 5:48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
- Luke 6:35–36But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
- Col 3:12Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
- Lev 11:45For I am the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
- 1 Jn 3:1–2Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
- John 1:12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- Matt 5:45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
- Jer 31:20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.
- Hos 1:10Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 5:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.