1 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
BSB
ASV
I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me.
KJV
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
COMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 2.21.12-14 (253)
Paul is saying to the Corinthians: "Be humble as I am humble, suffer as I suffer. It is by your sufferings, not by your gifts, that you will be rated."
Wherefore, I beseech you,.... Though he might have used the power and authority of a father, yet he chose rather to entreat and beseech them; saying, be ye followers of me; for who should children follow, but their parents? The Vulgate Latin, adds, "as I am of Christ"; so Chrysostom in his time read it; and Beza says he found it so written in one Greek exemplar; and so it is in one of Stephens's; it seems to have crept in from 1Co 11:
Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me - It should rather be translated, Be ye imitators of me; μιμηται, from which we have our word mimic, which, though now used only in a bad or ludicrous sense, simply signifies an imitator of another person, whether in speech, manner, habit, or otherwise. As children should imitate their parents in preference to all others, he calls on them to imitate him, as he claims them for his children.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
1 Corinthians 11:1You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
leads to
Join one another in following my example, brothers, and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you welcomed the message with the joy of the Holy Spirit, in spite of your great suffering.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
Then you will not be sluggish, but will imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Through
2 Thessalonians 3:9Not that we lack this right, but we wanted to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate.
leads to
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not undisciplined among you,
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Through
Philippians 4:9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
leads to
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live,…
Therefore, brothers, strive to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble,