1Cor 11:1 - Following the Right Person

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.


This looks like one of those instances where the chapter division is out of whack. It seems like this statement is simply the summary of the thought that Paul was developing in the last chapter, doing all to the glory of God and trying to please all by not seeking his own advantage and for the purpose of not putting any unnecessary obstacles in the way of the gospel. In this, Paul desires people to imitate him as he strives to imitate Christ.

Paul is not the example - Christ is. We are to imitate Paul’s striving and his sensitivity to the gospel for Christ’s sake, but Paul would be the last person to propagate the idea that he was something worth following in his own right. Christ is the perfect example and we are all but pale reflections of Him, even when we get things right.

Thomas A Kempis wrote a little book, which I read and enjoyed, called "The Imitation of Christ." Yet I have always been uncomfortable at any hint of the modern resurgence of the idea that we can conform ourselves to the image of Christ as a matter of simply striving to achieve some sort of human self-improvement. Such an attitude does, I believe, misunderstand the real meaning of grace. To go down that road would be to fall into the Romish error of making grace something that is piecemeal, renewable and in constant need of being topped up through various sacraments and ordinances. It seems to lean too heavily on the need for human ability at the expense of simple faith in the power and will of God to accomplish in us the good work that He started.

John Owen penned this idea that touches upon the same thought:

"To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect."

What he meant by this was that all that the Christian is and has finds its source in God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. The Christian does not look to himself for anything. When he progresses, when he accomplishes, when he strives, when he believes, when he obeys - all that is worthy and worthwhile that is manifested in his being is in and to and from the Lord Jesus Christ alone. This is God’s way of producing in us a conscious and willing submission to Him as the God Who is above all - the God from Whom all created things exist and are upheld, both now and for eternity.

For even in eternity we shall still be eternally upheld by God. Our righteousness and place in His realm will always be, and will always be acknowledged to be, on account of Him - and not in any way whatsoever on our own account. In fact, this is joy - to be eternally trusting in the God Who is eternally trustworthy to keep us eternally.