Raymond Brown describes this as
the most daring challenge anyone has dared to make [1] , and thus indeed it seems,
reflecting the anxiety Paul feels in the light of the evident
factionalism in the Corinthian church. Having established the
first Christian community in Corinth circa 50-51, Paul is responding
in 1 Corinthians (ca. 54, from Ephesus; 1Cor 16:8) to a letter
from this congregation requiring clarification about certain
matters of interpretation. Much of this letter then responds
to these specific issues in the context of how to be faithful
to the Lord whilst living in the present age [2] . The urgency
of his plea in 1 Cor 1:10 for reconciliation and unity comes
out of a deep desire not to lose the fruit of his apostolic labours
in planting and establishing the church at Corinth. In
seeking to rectify this, Paul finds himself defending his commission
as an apostle and taking on the didactic and authoritative tone
of one who is a 'father' in the faith.
Paul's injunction to "Imitate me", invites a consideration of Rene Girard's anthropological understanding of human beings as characterised by "mimesis" or "mutual imitation" leading to recurring cycles of cathartic violence. We will explore how Paul's gospel, centred on the Christ of the cross, subverts this cycle with the power of the love displayed therein. Understanding Paul's injunction to "Imitate me" in this context will require following him beyond the logic of rhetorical persuasion into his personal encounter with Jesus Christ, whom he himself was "imitating".
Rene Girard, French cultural anthropologist, posits that human beings acquire their sense of self or being by "mimesis" or "mutual imitation" [3] . This mimetic desire is ontological in that we learn to desire what others desire and we identify with others who are what we would like to become. When a sufficient number of people feel blocked in their desires to achieve the power, prestige or property which their model possesses, the ensuing rivalry results in a 'scandal'. Models become rivals and thence stumbling blocks. Resultant pent up frustration leads to the isolation and destruction of a weak, marginalised victim, whom the community can sacrifice with impunity. The victim is either ritually killed or expelled as a scapegoat inaugurating a catharsis of release from disorder [4] . Ironically, the once-maligned victim, now becomes the channel for peace and prosperity, hence a 'god', in a process Girard calls "double transference" [5] . This is the classic structure of myth.
How is Paul's invitation to imitation
of himself significant in this mimetic pattern of rivalry?
Paul had received his apostolic commission by revelation, ‘a
call to go out into the world, to proclaim the word, to act and
to suffer, to a life of uninterrupted activity as the Lord’s
messenger’
[6] .
In grounding his call, he draws firstly from the imagery of a
family, describing himself as the 'father' of the Corinthians
in the faith, and the Corinthians as his offspring, just as Timothy
was his "beloved and faithful son in the Lord" (1 Cor
4:17). That this was not mere arrogance is attested by
Paul's numerous self-deprecating statements about his past antipathy
to the church and his struggles with the 'flesh' life (Rom 7);
that is was not self-aggrandisement is evident in his denunciation
of any big-noting amongst the Corinthians as to which apostle
they might be affiliated with: "Who then is Paul,
and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed,
as the Lord gave to each one?" (1 Cor 3:5).
He describes himself as the least of all apostles (1Cor 15:9a),
and the chief of sinners, especially in persecuting the followers
of the Way, the church of Christ, (1Cor 15:9b). Nevertheless,
in his own recount of his Damascus revelation, he claims to have
become a "new creation" (cf 1 Cor 15:9 with 2 Cor 5:17),
liberated and forgiven for his past hostility to Christ and the
church, negating any futile attempt to discredit his credentials.
However, he claims nothing more than to be a minister of the
gospel, a fellow worker with Apollos, (1 Cor 3: 5-10), whose
work must stand or fall before God alone (1 Cor 4:4).
Unfortunately, competing households, having been baptised by
different authority figures, Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, strove
for doctrinal dominance and concomitant influence [7] . Thus he admonishes
the Corinthian church, riven by factional divisions, not to attach
themselves to a factional head, but to " be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement"
(1 Cor 1:10). His climactic appeal is, "Therefore
I urge you, imitate me" (1Cor 4:16) as you would a father.
Ronald Tyler explains Paul's exhortation in terms of a second image drawn from Hellenistic pedagogy [8] . In teaching the letters of the alphabet, early childhood teachers lightly drew the outline of the letters, asking the child to trace over these many times until competent to do so alone. Quoting examples from Seneca and Quintilian, Tyler shows how writing masters urged students not to write above or below the lines but to copy over them very carefully. This is Tyler's reading of the contentious verse 6a of chapter 4, in which Paul urges the Corinthians "not to go beyond what is written". In the context of resolving disputations about which is the most important faction, that of Apollos or Paul, Paul urges them to think in much less childish fashion, and to learn, by careful imitation or copying, the way a child does, how to live according to the way of the cross.
It is interesting to compare the pedagogical imagery Jesus uses in Luke 6: 40: "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher". The implication here is that the quality of the teacher will determine the quality of the pupil. The Jewish rabbi, as the single most important influence on a student's life, expected that the student imitate him. Growth was/is a 'given' in a normal developmental path, and imitation the path towards maturity. Jesus Himself 'grew' in wisdom, stature and favour with God (Luke 2:52), and as a Son begotten of the Father, He 'learned' obedience through suffering, (Heb 5:8). Thus, in the spiritual and anthropological sense, He imitated His Father God, and so Himself modelled how a Son or disciple is to grow according to the divine pattern. We could also read Paul's exhortation to imitate him in the context of the family bond between father and son, with the idea that the father would not necessarily dominate the son, but that the son would grow to be like the father.
In similar fashion, believers are also to be predestined to "adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will," (Ephes 1:5). Imitation of Christ therefore, would be entirely normal and normative in order to come to "a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," (Ephes 4:13). Given that the salvific purpose of faith in Christ is to be " conformed to the image of His Son", (Rom 8:29), modelling and imitation are foundational to individual and corporate growth. As N.T.Wright states, Paul's gospel focused on the lordship of Jesus Christ as head of the family of Abraham and characterised by faith in Him [9] . Paul enjoins his followers then, to imitate his imitation of Christ, and in so doing, re-imposes his authority over the church a father. He is at pains to remind the Corinthians that the church is one household with himself as its father [10] .
In Girard's anthropological terms, just as children learn by imitating parents or mentors, so Paul applies this same deep structuring principle to himself as he single-mindedly imitates Christ, having been supernaturally confronted with His unconditional, forgiving love on the Damascus road. Paul's subsequent faith response and identification with the cross of Christ was so complete that he could say "I die daily," and "For me, to live is Christ" (Phil 1:21). Paul understood that his gospel would cut across the natural cycles of mimetic rivalry. He knew that if the Corinthians were to break down competitive walls they would need to develop new patterns of allegiance based on love. In applying the truth of the gospel to the social complexities of the Graeco-Roman world, Paul strove for the unity of the church at all costs.
An interesting contrast to Tyler's
explanation, is L.L.Welborn's suggestion that this verse is using
the metaphor of a written legal document to which disputing parties
must adhere and live within its boundaries. [11] Either reading is
plausible depending on whether one thinks that pedagogy is uppermost
in Paul's mind when he says "Imitate me", or Paul's
desire to see an end to the discord tearing the church apart.
It is obvious that both issues are important to Paul. The
unity of the body of believers as the "temple of God"
(3:17) is paramount as is seen also in chapter 6 when Paul rails
against legal disputes within the church (6: 1-6). So also
is holiness in mind, body and spirit, as they now belong to God
who bought them at a price (6:19-20). Pedagogy does seem
uppermost in his mind however, when he follows his injunction
with the statement that for that reason he has sent Timothy to
remind them of his "ways in Christ" (4:17). These
ways are based of course on the way of the cross which he has
just clearly expounded, in 1 Cor 1:18 - 2:6. Paul desires
that they grow into the maturity of the power and wisdom of Christ,
rather than remain in the shallows of human reasoning with its
envy and pride. The crux of the cross is that it is the
power of God. It confronts one with the self-sacrificial agape
love of God. No longer can the price paid for the righteousness
of God be ignored in the ritual slaughter of a scapegoat [12] . It was only in the
scandal of the Christ of the cross that the Corinthians would
experience the freedom from destructive 'mimetic' rivalries which
would tear their community apart. Only through identification
with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's innocent
victim, could they escape the inexorable desire to strive to
outdo one another. Only the centrality of the cross, the
"foolishness" of God's identification with the innocent
victim, His Son, could overturn a society's values based on power,
prestige and possessions. Only through identification
with the death and resurrection of Jesus could they hope to appropriate
the agape love which would empower them to live selflessly in
community. The power of God was attained only through participation
in Christ, "who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness,
and sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor 1: 30).
It was in a personal encounter with and revelation of Jesus Christ that Paul experienced this limitless agape love. Now Paul could base his confidence on the fact that he is in Christ and Christ is in him. His drive is now fuelled by the awesome revelation of the unconditional love of Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12, 15, 16). Every action is in response to that dynamic. This revelation has been the pivot on which his life has turned, the explanation for his radical role reversal. Just as Jesus encouraged His disciples to "Abide in my love", (John 15:9), Paul can say quite ingenuously, "Therefore I urge you, imitate me" (1 Cor 4:16).
Paul's writings clearly discuss this personal revelation of and from Jesus Christ Himself: "If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor 14:37). Again, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto to you… " (1 Cor 11:23). These commandments come from the Father (who is in Christ and Christ in the Father), and as such carry the patriarch's authority. Given that patriarchal authority is part of Paul's Jewish understanding of the ordered hierarchy of God's world [13] , it is in keeping with his position as "your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor 4: 15b), that he claimed the right to pass on the moral and ethical traditions of the faith to his spiritual 'offspring' just as he had received them from his Father God in Christ. New understandings about what it meant to be 'holy' had to be taught and exemplified. Paul discusses issues surrounding meat offered to idols, illicit sexual relations, marriage between Christians and non-Christians and sharing the Lord's supper with people who were being disciplined for breaches of community rule. Thus the 'purity' and 'holiness' of the group was defined in these social norms which were taught by Paul and which he reminded them to maintain by imitation [14] .
Paul was also concerned that the Corinthian Christians were puffed up on behalf of one against the other (4:6). Problems centred around factions following different apostles, doctrinal differences and the claim to esoteric knowledge. Welborn suggests that the struggle was one of power and partisanship, not of theology [15] , with the argument that the tensions between rich and poor provided the breeding ground for political and religious faction. [16] Wayne Meeks points out that because the ekklesia of the early church sprung out of household assemblies, the potential for the emergence of factions based on different households arose [17] . Paul's purpose was to create a community, a body of believers, a 'building' - founded on Christ's ministry of reconciliation - which would transcend power politics the differences of wealth and class.
In addressing the gnostic threat to this unity, Paul polemicises in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 against those who consider themselves superior in persuasive rhetoric or knowledge (1:20, 26-29). He is aware of the power of sophistry in producing discord, and to that end asserts that he "did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom" (2:1), but in words taught by the Holy Spirit (2:13). However, as Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza points out, Paul's very persuasive "deliberative discourse" is not only an apologetic for his apostleship, but also a unique authority claim for that apostleship [18] . As a father to the community he has "begotten", he has the power to command and punish.
Specifically, in 1 Corinthians
2: 6-16, Paul counters the gnostic claim to superior knowledge.
He does this I believe, by presaging what he intimates in 4:16,
namely that as he is "in" Christ and Christ in him,
he, Paul, has the "mind of Christ" (v. 16). This
term he uses interchangeably with the concepts of "the wisdom
of God in a mystery" (v.7), or the "Spirit who is from
God" (v. 12). Paul assures his readers that he has emptied
himself of any attitude of self-aggrandisement of vainglory.
In the letter to the Philippians, Paul explains the "mind"
which was in Christ Jesus, "who being in the form of God,
did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself
of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming
in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as
a man, he humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross" (2 Phil:5-8).
Thus I do not believe that this passage is the work of a gnostic
interpolator or that Paul shares any sense of gnostic belief
[19] , but that he has determined,
as he explains in 2:2, not to "know anything among you except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified". Paul could say likewise
that his ministry was one of self-abnegation. God had displayed
the apostles as "last", men "condemned to death",
"fools for Christ's sake", "the filth of the world",
the "offscouring of all things until now" (4:9-12)!!
He did not stand on ceremony of birth or education or flaunt
any natural gift. As slave and bondservant to Christ, Paul
could confidently instruct the Corinthian church to imitate him
as he is imitating Christ.
Whilst Paul had been freely gifted with many privileges and talents, he allows no glorification in them. His confidence could never be placed in the persuasiveness of his rhetoric or eloquence of his words (1 Cor 2:13). Indeed he is at pains to point out that the schisms based on attraction and faithfulness to a particular leader are not of God (1 Cor 1:10-12). It matters not whether one follows Paul or Apollo or Cephas; they are accountable to God who alone can be the Judge. Each apostle has a ministry; but each apostle plays only a part in the growing process which only God can effect. The only prerequisite is that the foundation be Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 3:11). Nevertheless, in comparison with Apollos, although they are equal workers in the 'construction' business [20] , Paul makes it very clear that he is the only 'father' the Corinthians have in the gospel: "I planted, Apollo watered", and in the patriarchal world of the Corinthians he is therefore pre-eminent. Although there may have been some doubt as to his credentials as an apostle among the Jerusalem-based Christians [21] , Paul vindicates his apostleship by demonstrating his success in founding churches, especially in Corinth, and consequently uses his authority to encourage them to take responsibility for their own growth.
For Paul, “it is God who works in you both to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Phil 2:13). Thus Paul can confidently ask that the Corinthians imitate him as he imitates Christ because Christ lives in him as a life-giving Spirit, and that same Spirit indwells all believers. And Paul uses imagery drawn from the parent-child and teacher-student relationship to follow him into Christ through His death and resurrection. By His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ passed from a limited fleshly state into the realm of the spirit, and by faith in Christ and baptism into His death and resurrection, one can experience the mystery of union with Christ. This intimacy of God's love, the heart of all reality and applied to their particular realities, is what Paul wanted the Corinthians to imitate.
[1] Raymond E. Brown, S.S., An Introduction to The New Testament, The Anchor Reference Library, (New York: Doubleday, n.d.), 451.
[2] Victor Paul Furnish, "The Letters, The Challenges of Ministry, The Gospel," in Interpretation, 52/3, 1998, 231.
[3] Cited in Dr Drasko Dizdar, The Corinthian Correspondence, Study Guide, (Module 4), 3.
[4] Rene Girard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, (Maryknoll, N.Y: Orbis), Foreword by James G. Williams, x-xxiii.
[5] Ibid, xvi.
[6] J. Christiaan Beker, Paul The Apostle; The Triumph of God in Life and Thought, ( Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), 12.
[7] Stephen C. Barton, "Paul's Sense of Place: An anthropological Approach to Community Formation in Corinth" in New Testament Studies, 32, 1986, 238.
[8] Ronald L. Tyler, "First Corinthians 4:6 and Hellenistic Pedagogy", in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Washington: Jan 1998, 97-103.
[9] N.T.Wright, "The righteousness of God", in Mark M. Mattison, "A Summary of the New Perspective on Paul," The Paul Page, (n.d.), 6
[10] Barton, "Paul's Sense of Place," 239.
[11] L.L. Welborn, "On The Discord in Corinth: 1 Corinthians 1-4 and Ancient Politics," in JBL 106/1 (1987), 109.
[12] Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads. (New York, Crossroads, 1995), 130.
[13] Stephen C. Barton, "Paul's Sense of Place: An Anthropological Approach to Community Formation in Corinth," in New Testament Studies, 32 (1986), 231.
[14] See Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians, The Social World of the Apostle Paul, (London: Yale University Press, 1983), 94-107, for a fuller discussion of this point.
[15] Welborn, "On the Discord in Corinth," 89.
[16] Ibid, 98.
[17] Wayne A. Meeks, Op Cit., 76.
[18] Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, "Rhetorical Situation and Historical reconstruction in 1 Corinthians" in New Testament Studies, 1987, 397-398.
[19] See Welborn, Op. Cit.,104, for suggestions that this might have been the case.
[20] In 1 Cor 3: 5-15 Paul uses rural and construction imagery relating to planting and growth and laying foundations for a building.
[21] James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle, (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: 1998), 571.
