The Great Chain of Imitation Text: 1 Corinthians 11:1
Introduction: The Age of the Autonomous Self
We live in a peculiar time. Our age is one that worships at the altar of the autonomous self. The high priests of our culture preach a gospel of "authenticity," which, when you boil it down, means that your highest duty is to be true to your own feelings, your own desires, and your own internal, self-generated truth. The idea of imitation, of patterning your life after someone else, is seen as a form of weakness, a betrayal of your unique identity. To imitate is to be a fraud, a copy, a poser. The great sin is not rebellion against God, but inauthenticity to self.
Into this therapeutic funhouse of mirrors, the Apostle Paul speaks a word that is as jarring and counter-cultural as it gets. He does not say, "Look within." He does not say, "Find your own truth." He says, with the full weight of his apostolic authority, "Be imitators of me." This is not a suggestion. It is a command. And it is a command that our generation is uniquely conditioned to despise. It sounds arrogant, egotistical, and frankly, a little creepy. Who does this Paul think he is, setting himself up as the pattern for other people's lives?
But Paul is not a modern man. He is not interested in flattering our democratic sensibilities or affirming our therapeutic journeys of self-discovery. He is building a church. And a church is not a collection of isolated individuals, each pursuing their own spiritual path. A church is a body, a family, a covenant community. And in any functioning community, especially one at war with the principalities and powers, discipleship happens through imitation. Knowledge is not just transferred through abstract data points; it is embodied. It is lived. It is passed down from one faithful life to another.
This single verse, which many scholars believe rightly belongs as the conclusion to chapter 10, is a linchpin. It summarizes Paul's entire approach to Christian liberty and ethics, and it sets the stage for the instructions on headship and worship that follow. It is the crucial link in a great chain of command, a great chain of glory, a great chain of imitation that begins with God the Father and extends down to every believer in the pew. If we don't understand this principle of godly imitation, we will understand nothing of how Christian culture is built.
The Text
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
(1 Corinthians 11:1 LSB)
The Audacious Command (v. 1a)
The first part of the verse is the command itself, and we must feel its full weight.
"Be imitators of me..." (1 Corinthians 11:1a)
Paul says this more than once in his letters. In 1 Corinthians 4:16, he says, "Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me." In Philippians 3:17, he says, "Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern." This is not a slip of the tongue; it is a central plank of his pastoral strategy. The Christian life is not learned from a manual alone. It is caught, not just taught. It is learned by watching someone who is further down the road than you are.
This is profoundly anti-gnostic. Gnosticism, both ancient and modern, prizes secret, disembodied knowledge. But Christianity is an incarnational religion. The Word became flesh. Truth is not just a set of propositions; it is a person, Jesus Christ. And that truth is lived out in the flesh-and-blood lives of His people. Paul is not telling the Corinthians to imitate his abstract ideas. He is telling them to imitate his life, his actions, his priorities, his sacrifices. In the preceding chapter, he has just laid out how he navigates the tricky business of Christian liberty, not asking "what is lawful for me?" but rather "what builds up my brother?" He makes himself a servant to all, setting aside his rights for the sake of the gospel. And after laying out this entire ethical framework, he concludes, "Do that. Do what I do."
This is the biblical model of mentorship. It is how God has always designed for His covenant to be transmitted. Moses mentored Joshua. Elijah mentored Elisha. Jesus mentored the twelve. And Paul mentored Timothy, Titus, and entire churches. This is particularly crucial for men. A young man does not learn to be a godly man, a husband, a father, by reading books alone. He learns it by watching older, godly men. He sees how they speak to their wives, how they discipline their children, how they conduct their business, how they face adversity. Biblical manhood is not an abstraction; it is a craft, learned under a master craftsman.
Of course, this places a tremendous responsibility on those who are to be imitated. If you are a father, a pastor, an elder, or simply an older Christian, people are watching you. You are a pattern for someone. The only question is whether you are a good one or a bad one. To refuse to be a model is not an option. You are modeling something every day. Paul's command here is a call to maturity. It is a call to live a life worthy of imitation.
The Essential Qualification (v. 1b)
Now, if the verse ended after the first clause, it would be the height of arrogance. But it does not. The second clause is the crucial qualification that makes the first clause possible, and necessary.
"...just as I also am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1b LSB)
Paul is not the source of the pattern. He is a reflection of it. He is not the light; he is a mirror reflecting the Light. His authority to be imitated is a derived authority. He is pointing to himself only as a means of pointing to Christ. It is as if he is saying, "You can't see Christ in the flesh right now, but you can see me. And I am bending all my efforts to conform my life to His. So watch me, and you will get a living, breathing, walking-around picture of what it looks like to follow Jesus."
This is the great chain of imitation. We are to imitate our leaders as they imitate Christ. And Christ, in turn, imitates His Father. Jesus says, "the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19). This is a hierarchy of glory and submission that is built into the fabric of the universe, reflecting the very life of the Trinity. The Father is the ultimate source, the Son is the perfect image, and the Spirit is the one who conforms us to that image.
Paul's command, then, is not arrogant. It is profoundly humble. It is an admission that his life is not his own. He is under authority. He is a man on a mission, and the mission is to be like Jesus. This also gives us the standard by which we are to evaluate those we imitate. We are to follow our leaders only insofar as they follow Christ. If a pastor, or a father, or a mentor, departs from the pattern of Christ revealed in Scripture, our loyalty is to the original, not the copy. The written Word of God is the ultimate blueprint. Paul is not setting up his own authority as equal to Scripture; rather, he is living a life that is demonstrably submitted to Scripture, and calling others to do the same.
This is why doctrine is so important. If we do not know what Christ is actually like, as revealed in the Bible, we will not be able to tell if our leaders are imitating Him. We will be susceptible to following mere charisma, or power, or personality. But if we are grounded in the Word, we can recognize a true reflection of Christ when we see it. And we can also recognize a distortion.
Putting It All Together
So what does this mean for us, here in the twenty-first century? It means we must reject the cult of the autonomous self and recover the biblical practice of discipleship through imitation.
First, it means that every Christian has a duty to be both an imitator and one who is imitable. If you are a young Christian, you need to actively seek out older, wiser saints and watch their lives. Don't just ask them what they believe. Ask them how they live. How do they pray? How do they manage their finances? How did they raise their children? Attach yourself to them. This is not a formal program; it is a way of life. And if you are an older Christian, you have a duty to live a transparent, faithful life that is worthy of being watched. You need to open your life, open your home, and let the younger generation see what faithfulness looks like over the long haul, with all the scars and wrinkles that come with it.
Second, this is the foundation for true Christian community. Our churches should be filled with these relationships of imitation. The church is not a lecture hall where we come to passively receive information. It is a workshop where we are actively shaped into the image of Christ. This happens as we live life together, sharpening one another as iron sharpens iron. It happens when an older woman teaches a younger woman how to love her husband and children, not by giving her a book, but by showing her. It happens when an older man takes a younger man under his wing and shows him how to work hard and lead with integrity.
Finally, this verse reminds us that the ultimate goal of the Christian life is not self-fulfillment, but Christ-likeness. We are being conformed to the image of the Son. The entire project of salvation, from election to glorification, is about this. And God uses means. He uses His Word, He uses the sacraments, and He uses His people. He puts us in a great chain of imitation, so that the life of Christ might be formed in us, and through us, be displayed to a watching world. Paul's command is not a burden; it is a gift. It is the gift of a tangible, visible, flesh-and-blood example. It rescues us from the loneliness of individualism and places us in a living tradition, a great cloud of witnesses, all running the same race, all fixing their eyes on the same prize: Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
So find a godly man or woman, and imitate them. And live in such a way that you can, with humility and confidence, say to someone younger in the faith, "Follow me, as I follow Christ." That is how the kingdom is built.