Beyond Imitation

image from here.

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known"

In this verse, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul is hinting at a magnificent truth of the Gospel. Things are not perfect. But a time is coming when perfection will be reality. We glimpse that reality even now, even as we are distracted by poor imitations and cracks. The Gospel, however, takes us beyond Imitation...

There has been a resurgence in recent years - at least in my limited awareness - of Evangelical Christians rediscovering the riches of Church history, not least the writings of saints, mystics, and spiritual thinkers. I can honestly say that I think this is a brilliant thing, for the most part. One of the best known of these, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, is an originally Latin Christian dveotional book, with a variety of spiritual instruction, excercise, and thinking. Rightly a classic, there is much to learn from and commend in what it instructs, but there are also areas to have caution. One of the most powerful challenges that we in the modern church need to heed is the devotion to sacraments - not because they are especially important in themselves (though of course Baptism and The Lords Supper have importance!) - but because of the reality that they proclaim, celebrate, and commemorate. This view of the Sacraments is something I have been learning and thinking about, and formed the subject of an academic paper I wrote recently.

But at the core of a Kempis' work there is a slight flaw, a misdirection of but a few degrees that can have profound consequences.

The Christian life is not about imitating Christ.

It's not about looking like him.

It's not about trying to live like him.

The Christian life is about being united with Christ. About becoming more and more like him, but in the sense of being the version of yourself that Jesus intends, being an expression of Gods love in this world, not as an imitation of something or someone, but as the unique unity of yourself and Christ that Christ is calling us all to be. Michael Horton, in his excellent "The Gospel Commission", writes this;

"The Scriptures direct us to something far greater, deeper, and more transformative than the imitation of Christ. They speak of our actually being united to Christ: crucified, buried, and raised with him, living our our lives in the world as those who are seated with Christ"

When we understand what it really means to follow Jesus, what it means to live as a slave to Grace, to be united with Christ, we are then free from making the mistakes of either laziness or legalism. The lazy Christian thinks that because God is sovereign and has saved him, that the individual Christian does nothing in response. The legalist over-emphasises the response element of the individual, seeking to put rules and strategies in the place where the Holy Spirit should be. 

Imitating Christ is a start, and may well be helpful for some in their journey with Christ, but it is not enough. Imitation is a poor substitute for reality. And the reality of the Gospel, the reality of Grace, is that Christians are different. When Paul is writing about the Church, he doesn't separate the body of Christ into different levels of holiness. The New Testament makes it clear that everyone who is baptized into Christ, who follows him and is saved by him, has entered into a new reality. This unity with Christ means that from the outset you are justified and renewed inwardly. This is an announcement. The Gospel is still Good News.

Christ calls us, embraces us, saves us. In that moment of repentance something new begins. A new birth. A new beginning. A new creation. Not an imitation of Jesus, but a unity with Jesus. A new child of God, a co-heir with Christ, is born. A brother or sister of Christ is added to God's family. What flows from that, by the Grace and Power of the Holy Spirit, is a life that will be gradually conformed to the image of Christ being formed in the individual. The Christian life is better than legalism, better than laziness. The Christian life is about being united with Christ, and the amazing benefits and reality that this truth implies.

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