The apostle had spoken of the truth pertaining to the prize, and of the instruction of

those who desired to be perfect, as being revealed to such by God. He links with this

high and holy revelation the responsibility of each one to walk in line with his

attainments. He now proceeds to call their attention to the pattern that had been given

them, saying, "Brethren, become joint imitators of me". In the opening up of the secret

which was made known to Paul, we find the Gentiles made joint heirs, a joint body, and

joint partakers of the promise (Eph. 3: 6). This joint participation in inheritance, body

and promise was not of their own choosing or volition, it was entirely of grace. Those

who were thus blessed were blessed without regard to their own personal characters or

desires; the joint imitators of the apostle were such by virtue of that grace-given desire to

press toward the prize.

On several occasions the apostle speaks of himself as a pattern for us to follow, and

unless we appreciate the condescension of our God in this matter, we shall miss much

When we are exhorted to follow the example of Christ, we may feel tempted by

reason of our own conscious corruption and failure to feel that the attempt must ever

prove fruitless, because He, the Son of God, was so peerless and so perfect. God has met

our need in this matter; He has taken a man who so hated the name of the Lord that he

went the length of threatening and slaughter, and so dealt with him that he became God's

own interpretation of what He means when He tells us to follow or imitate Christ. He

says, in effect, here is no peerless and perfect Saviour, but a saved sinner, a man of like

infirmity with yourselves; look at the way he followed his Lord, and take his example as

my illustration of what I mean when I call upon you to walk in the steps of the Lord Jesus

Before passing on to consider the passage which will enable us to appreciate the

apostle as the pattern for the Church, we would draw attention to the fact that here in

Philippians we find the word "joint imitators", and not simply "imitators" as in all the

other passages; this is peculiarly characteristic of the epistles of the mystery. This prize

is to be won by members of one body, and however individual the progress and

responsibility may be, there was to be a unity pervading the endeavour. This can be

gathered by noticing the repeated emphasis on "minding the same thing", being of "one

mind", being of "equal soul" that is found in the epistle. The "joint imitators" are called

upon in 1: 27 to be "joint strivers" for the faith of the gospel; the contexts of these two

words have some things in common. Both are closely connected with the teaching

concerning "citizenship", translated in each case by the word "conversation", both have

to do with something that goes beyond salvation and speaks of suffering for Christ. The

joint imitator is, moreover, very closely related to two other expressions in the third