Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Parallel translations
- WEB Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
- BSB Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved 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 ought also to love one another.
- 1 Pet 1:15–16But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
- Eph 4:32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
- Matt 5:48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
- Luke 6:35–36But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
- Col 3:12Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
- Lev 11:45For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
- 1 Jn 3:1–2Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
- John 1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
- Matt 5:45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
- Jer 31:20Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
- Hos 1:10Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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.