1 Corinthians 11:1

Scripture: 1 Cor. 11:1 Be imitators of me, just as I am also of Christ. 

Teaching: This is one of those often quoted verses, as it is Paul’s exhortation to follow his lead in seeking after Christ, sort of a “when in doubt, do what I do” sort of rule of thumb. But we must remember that the context of this verse is still Paul speaking on Christian liberty. So, Paul is mostly speaking on self-restraint here, as he said a few verses ago, “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.” In this is the reality that some things are a hindrance both to us and to others in following after Christ. But as we restrain ourselves for the love and benefit of others, we become more and more like Christ, as he gave himself entirely for us. Like Christ, Paul did not desire for any to perish but for all to come to Him. So with as his purpose, Paul did not accept any behavior of his own to impede others coming to Christ. As he said in 1 Corinthians 9, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”

Takeaway: How does one, practically, be like Christ? That is a tougher question to answer than it may seem. We can identify many characteristics of Christ to emulate, many things to do that He did, but we have one thing that he did not: sin. We will never be perfectly like Christ until we are made new in the Kingdom, with a new sinless body. So try as we might to be more and more like Christ in this life, there are certain realties in play that we must be cognizant of. It is incredibly helpful to see someone like Paul as a practical example of how to be more like Christ while still being susceptible to and corrupted by sin. We read of Paul’s transformation and the lengths he went to reach the lost in Acts. We read Paul agonizing over his own fleshly desires versus spiritual desires in Romans 7. We read his eternal perspective that undergirds the pastoral arguments of his letters. These things did not come from him but from God! But in all this, we know Paul was still a man who struggled to be more like Christ, just as we do today. Thus, we can read this verse in 1 Corinthians 11, consider what we know of Paul, and in that, have a real example of what it looks like to imitate Christ. We all benefit from certain men and women in our lives who inspire us to live more like Christ because of the way they do. We should praise God for what He has done in and through them to give practical examples of the power and character of Christ for us to imitate as we draw closer to Christ himself. The term “Christian” came about as a derogative term meaning “little Christ,” but Christ-followers of the early days of the Church took as their own because it truly described what they wanted to be. They knew they could not be Christ, but they could become more like Christ, to be a “little Christ” by the power of Christ working in them.