WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO IMITATE PAUL AS HE IMITATES CHRIST?
By Ezekiel Kimosop
INTRODUCTION
This question is significant for every member of a Christian community. It is also important to observe that Paul wasn't referring to what he was about to teach in 1 Corinthians 11. Instead, he was concluding his long exhortation that commenced in 1 Corinthians 8-10.
In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul drew out regulatory principles for Christian conduct regarding dealing with idolatry.
1 Corinthians 9 reveals Paul's sacrificial approach to ministry. He forfeited several apostolic privileges enjoyed by his contemporaries in order to serve God with a clear conscience. Others were married, Paul wasn't. Others received regular support from their churches. Paul forfeited this, not wishing to burden his congregations.
Instead, Paul chose to engage in his tentmaking skills to raise his support (see Acts 18:1-4).
His principal focus was to obtain the crown of righteousness that is reserved for the faithful in heaven. Paul was careful to watch his spiritual standing even as he served God as a missionary.
This article will focus more on the illustrations identified in 1 Corinthians 10.
The Old Testament examples that Paul described in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 are warnings to the Christian community on the dangers of spiritual rebellion, a situation where God's covenant people walk away from His paths and into open disobedience and are oblivious of God's divine standards for them.
We live in a world today where modernism and secularism have invaded our church pews and homes alike. Relativism, rather than the authority of Scripture, is the lens by which many Christians view the world. This has resulted in endless debates on what constitutes authentic Christian response to the emerging lifestyle issues.
Despite walking with God for decades through the wilderness and witnessing His power and glory in their midst, the children of Israel still rebelled against God. They learnt little from their experiences under God's leading.
At one point in their wilderness journey, the people thirsted and they confronted Moses at the wilderness of Meriba seeking water (Exodus 17:1-7). At that point, some wished that they returned to Egypt, the place of slavery from which God rescued them!
They were guilty of unbelief, a grevious transgression in the eyes of God. God was sorely displeased with their murmuring and vowed to wipe them from the face of the Earth! Were it not for the faithfulness of Moses and his plea to God, things would perhaps have been different.
Paul outlines a number of evils identified with this rebellious community in the passage of 1 Corinthians 10. Scripture considers them as examples of our spiritual donts, a set of warning signs for Christians.
We shall briefly examine these transgressions below:
1) Evil Lust. Some among the children of Israel rebelled against God and murmured against Him. They didn't honor God and God destroyed them. Why? They lusted after evil things (1 Corinthians 10:1-6).
2) Idolatry - When Moses took long in the mountain, the children of Israel demanded from Aaron that he makes for them a golden calf and they settled down to worship it. The incident is recorded in Exodus 32. This was in violation of God's express command in Exodus 20:3-6 which says "You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."
3) Sexual immorality. Some among them committed sexual immorality. This transgression is listed in 1 Corinthians 10:8. Twenty three thousand of them were struck dead in a single day under God's holy wrath!
Our society nowadays treats sexual immorality as a lifestyle issue. It is not a big deal to them. In some countries, the age of consent has been lowered to as low as 16 years. However, a Christian community must uphold the authority of Scripture in shaping their worldview.
4) Tempting or mocking God. The Bible reveals that some among the people tempted God. By this they put the LORD God to the test by taking His name in vain in violation of the commandment recorded in Exodus 20:7 that says "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."
During His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus reminded Satan that it was a sinful thing to tempt or test God (Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:12).
5) They murmured against God. We learn about this violation in 1 Corinthians 10:10. Again the consequences in each of these transgressions were dire; God mercilessly destroyed the people who were party to these violations.
The concluding statement in 1 Corinthians 10:11 is instructive. Scripture proclaims " Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."
Whatever happened to God's covenant people in the Old Testament can happen to us today if we are not careful to walk with God with diligence.
In 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, Paul warns the Corinthians to flee from idolatry. In 1st century Europe, idolatry was so rampant that some the Christian communities had considerable difficulty breaking from this pagan culture.
Paul draws practical examples touching on idolatry. One of the controversial grey areas in Corinth was knowingly eating food offered to idols. This amounted to open participation in the pagan rituals for which the meat was intended.
Paul warns believers to stay away from anything that defiled their Christian conscience and witness. He appeals for spiritual wisdom in handing situations that border on idolatry so that the believer does not hurt others who are weak in faith or bring disrepute to the body of Christ.
In our modern society, idolatry comes with subtlety. It may have nothing to do with shrines and idols as some would imagine. It has everything to do with any item of focus that draws away our love and devotion for God.
CONCLUSION
When we no longer have time and commitment to the things of God, idolatry inescapably creeps in. Satan gleefully finds a cleavage through which he drives our attention away from God and His word. We soon lose our spiritual compass and fall into spiritual ruin.
This is what befell the Church of Pergamos in Revelation 2:12-17. They looked the other way as idolatry creeped into their congregations! It took the rebuke of the Master Himself to get them to change their ways.
Paul's concluding statement in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33 is the basis for his closing exhortation in 1 Corinthians 11:1 concerning imitating the example of Christ.
He states "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved."
We can only set and leave a godly example to others of we on our part are motivated by two primary concerns: seeking to please God and being our brother's keeper.
We please God when we are passionate about proclaiming His glory among men and in caring for our Christian community, especially the weak and vulnerable among us.
In following the example of Christ, we are careful to place the things of God above our own and to learn from Christ's humility, patience and forbearance even in the face of persecution and suffering for His convictions.
Yes, we should only emulate or immitate others if on their part they demonstrate the very principles that Scripture outlines for authentic Christian living.
On the converse, we should keep away from people who purport to speak the mind of God while misrepresenting the principles outlined in Scripture. These are false teachers. Some could be the proverbial wolves in sheepskin.
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2021
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