Ephesians 5:1 and 2:
5:1Therefore you must become imitators of God as loved1 children, .2and you must walk in love1 according as also Christ loved1 us and gave himself over on behalf of us, (the) offering and sacrifice to God into an odor of good-odor;
Paul writes: following-on logically from what I have just written, you holy-people must presently become imitators (mimics or followers) of God as loved1 children. You are God's children whom He has given birth to by placing holy spirit in you. He is your Father spiritually, and you are loved by Him with His kind of love, and so you ought to imitate Him, do what He does, say what He says.
The word "love1" or the verb "to love1" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor, or towards anyone else. God tells His children today (all who have the spirit of Christ within us) how to Godly-love by means of His previously-revealed written Word and also via our holy spirit-life whereby we receive information from Him regarding how to love in different specific situations. It is the carrying out of God's commandments, His Word, which is the correct usage or way to manifest God's kind of love according to His will (refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3). It is not the same as the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual kind of love.
Paul continues: also, you must walk (figuratively referring to your behavior, you must conduct yourselves as you live your lives) within the sphere of action of Godly-love according as also Christ manifested Godly-love towards us, all of us. And Christ gave himself along (handed-over or delivered himself beside or alongside, into the power of another) on our behalf. He was the offering (that-which is carried or brought towards God as an oblation without blood, it is not necessarily killed) and he was the sacrifice (the offering which was killed shedding his blood in the place of the people because of their sin against God) to God. Jesus Christ brought himself towards God on our behalf to do God's purpose. He was the offering and sacrifice to God into (with a view to, directed to, resulting in) an odor (smell) of good-odor (this smell was good, well, the kind of sweet odor accompanying an acceptable sacrifice, sweet fragrance, it smelled good to God).
[Reference: Genesis 4:3-5, 7:20-22; Romans 4:25, 8:32; I Corinthians 5:7; II Corinthians 2:14-16; Galatians 2:20; Hebrews chapter 9, 10:1-21.]
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