Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:1
“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV)
At first it sounds bold, maybe even a little proud. Who would tell a whole church to copy him? But read it again. Paul is not calling for followers of his own. He is saying, as long as I am following Christ and you can see Christ in me, let me be your example, just as Christ is my example. The condition is built right into the sentence. Phillips puts it plainly: copy me, as I copy Christ himself.
The Remedy adds what that example looks like — following Paul in reaching others in love. That fits the verses just before it, where Paul says he seeks not his own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved (1 Corinthians 10:33). The chapter break was added much later; this verse is really the closing line of Paul’s thought in chapter 10.
We Cannot Imitate Someone We Do Not Know
We cannot imitate or follow someone we do not know. When a person first comes to Christ, they don’t yet know Him well. So the one who pointed them to Christ becomes the example they follow, until they meet Him and develop their own relationship with Him. That is a sobering place to stand.
It is our duty, through daily time spent with Christ, to allow His character, His mind, His Glory and His Love to envelop us, fill us and saturate us, until we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). By beholding we become changed (2 Corinthians 3:18).
It Is Not Us
Each morning I need to remember that it is not me, my talents, or anything in me that draws these lost and hungry souls. No, it is the mind and heart of Christ we have become. The mind and heart of Christ in us will draw those seeking truth.
Then we are a useful tool in the hand of Christ — no longer a raw recruit, but a soldier He can place anywhere in His ranks and count on to carry out His orders as He would (2 Timothy 2:3–4), a worker in His field (Matthew 9:38), His light on a hill (Matthew 5:14). And to us He continues to be a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105), the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24) — our closest and dearest friend, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We Do Not Stand Alone
Because Christ is our example, we can say with Paul to those newly come to Him: you may follow my example, because I am following the example of Christ. And as soon as their own relationship with Christ is strong, they will begin to bloom, the Love of Christ flowing from them as they show His Love to their world. Then they become the example for someone else, and the chain goes on — each link pointing past itself to Him.
