1 Corinthians 11:1-2 Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.… The apostle — I. Directs our attention to CHRIST AS THE GREAT MODEL OF THE CHRISTIAN. It is a marked characteristic of Christianity that all the truths are presented in no vague, intangible form, but as embodied in one living model. Note — 1. The fitness of Christ to be our model pattern. We needed one Divine and yet human. One all Divine would have been inimitable; one all human must have fallen below the necessities of the case. So Christ came, "God manifest in the flesh." His divinity fitted Him to reveal God's will, and uniting His Deity with humanity, He lived, laboured, suffered, and died as a Man, to present a visible picture which shall be the model of study and imitation for all time. 2. The perfection of this model. Perfect God and perfect man, He forms a perfect study for the believer. His love to God was supreme; the exercise of His will was ever in perfect harmony with the Divine will. In the hour of His temptation, He emerges from the furnace unscathed; and in the profoundest depth of agony there is the deepest submission to God. 3. Its surpassing loveliness. Look at His unearthly life — living in the world, and yet above the world. Look at His humility — the incarnate God though He was, yet stooping to wash His disciples' feet. Look at Him as a Man of prayer — walking in the closest communion with His Father. II. Delineates THE CHARACTER OF A TRUE BELIEVER AS MOULDED UPON THAT OF JESUS. A follower of Christ. 1. Is a partaker of its spiritual nature. An unsanctified heart, an unrenewed soul, cannot be said to be cast into this mould. It becomes, then, a question of the deepest moment, "Am I born again of the Spirit?" 2. Has his hope of acceptance, as a lost sinner, entirely in Christ. He has renounced his own righteousness, and has received as his only justification "the righteousness of God which is by faith in Christ Jesus." 3. Sits as a humble learner at the feet of Christ. 4. Follows Christ only. We may follow ministers and not Christ, Churches, and not the Head of the Church. 5. Is crucified with Christ: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." (O. Winslow, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. |
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