5:2a
and walk in love: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as walk in love refers to the loving quality of our daily actions. All our actions should be controlled by our love for others.
In many languages it is not natural to say and walk in love. It may also be unnatural to say:
be full of love (Living Bible)
-or-
be controlled by love (Good News Translation)
Instead, you may want to translate love as a verb and say:
love one another
-or-
Love people
See love, meaning 2 in the Glossary for more information. For other references to “walk,” see notes on 2:2a, 2:10c, 4:1b.
5:2b
just as: The phrase just as here means “in the same way as.”
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
following the example of (New Living Translation (2004))
Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us: The two past tense verbs, loved and gave Himself up refer to what Christ did in the past.
Here is another way to translate this sentence:
Christ showed his love for us by dying for us
You may want to translate the verb “love” using the present tense to avoid suggesting that he loved us only in the past. For example:
he loves us
gave Himself up for us: The phrase gave Himself up for us refers to Christ willingly dying on the cross for us. Some other ways this phrase may be translated include:
offered his life for us (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
gave his life for us (Good News Translation)
-or-
he died to help/save us
5:2c
as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God: The phrase as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God is a metaphor. Priests burned sacrifices to God, and the smell of the smoke was fragrant/sweet and pleased God. In the same way, Christ gave himself as a sacrifice to die to redeem mankind, and what he did pleased God.
It may be clearer for your translation to translate this metaphor as a simile. For example:
it was like a fragrant offering to God which pleased him
fragrant: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fragrant is literally “sweet-smelling.” It also implies that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was pleasing to God. One model to follow here is the Good News Translation that has translated fragrant with both meanings:
as a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice that pleases God (Good News Translation)
sacrificial offering: The words offering and sacrificial are similar in meaning and in this verse can be treated as a doublet. This means that you can translate both words by one term in your language. For example:
He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. (New Living Translation (2004))
General Comment on 5:2a–c
In some languages, it may be natural to change the order of 5:2a–c. For example:
5:2b Just as Christ loved us and gave his body 5:2c as a nice smelling offering to God for us, 5:2a so you are to love people.
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