Lecture 3 — Imitate Christ through Paul

^3:15^ Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing you are otherwise minded, this also God will reveal to you, [n. 132]

^3:16^ Nevertheless, whereunto we have come, that we be of the same mind, let us also continue in the same rule. [n. 134]

^3:17^ Be imitators of me, brethren: and observe those who so walk, as you have our model. [n. 135]

^3:18^ For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping), who are enemies of the cross of Christ: [n. 137]

^3:19^ Whose end is destruction: whose God is their belly: and whose glory is in their shame: who mind earthly things. [n. 139]

^3:20^ But our manner of life is in heaven: from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, [n. 142]

^3:21^ Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory, according to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things unto himself. [n. 145]

132. Above he showed how he was wanting in final perfection; now he urges others to have the same attitude:

first, he gives an exhortation;

second, what is necessarily expected of them, at nevertheless.

133. He says, let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded, namely, think what I think, i.e., that I am not perfect.

But if we are perfect, how can we think that we are not perfect?

I answer that some are perfect with the perfection of this life, but not with the perfection of the life of heaven, namely, when their entire intention will be actually borne toward God; but in this life they are perfect habitually when they do nothing contrary to God. He says, as many as are, because the more perfect a person is the more imperfect he considers himself to be: I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5); solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:14).

134. And if in any thing you are otherwise minded, this also God will reveal to you. Four renditions of this are found in a Gloss: the first two are more literal. One is this: I say that you should think as I do, namely, that you are imperfect; yet if you think otherwise, i.e., better of yourselves than I do of myself, this very thing has been granted to you by divine revelation: and when something loftier is revealed to you than to me, I will not contradict but will yield to your revelation. Nevertheless, I do not want you to separate from the unity of the Church because of this revelation; but in unity, let us hold whereunto we have come, that we be of the same mind. This unity consists in the unity of the truth of faith and the rectitude of good action; and both must be preserved: mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace (2 Cor 13:11). And the same holds for a good life and good actions: peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God (Gal 6:16).

Or another way: I say that if on account of ignorance or weakness you are otherwise minded than the truth holds, let us admit it humbly and do not defend it stubbornly: you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes (Matt 11:25).

Or another way: I say that we should be of the same mind, namely, that we have not yet made it our own; but if in any thing you are now otherwise minded than you will be in the future, because now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face (1 Cor 13:12), God will reveal it in the future: the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness . . . and strips the forests bare; and in his temple all cry Glory! (Ps 29:9).

Or another way: whether you understand dimly here, or clearly in the future, this also God will reveal, because faith is from God. Nevertheless, whereunto we have come . . . let us also continue in the same rule, not changed.

135. Then when he says, be imitators of me, he urges them to imitate him and others, but to avoid the wicked:

first, he makes his point;

second, he gives the reason, at for many walk.

136. He says, therefore: because I regard these things as dung, that I may gain Christ, be imitators of me in this: the sheep hear his voice (John 10:3). I am the shepherd; you are my sheep by imitating me: **be imitators of me, as I am of Christ (1 Cor 11:1), and observe, i.e., carefully consider, those who so walk, as you have our model. And you can tell from my example and doctrine: set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity (1 Tim 4:12); being examples to the flock (1 Pet 5:3).

137. Then when he says, for many walk, he gives the reason for his admonition:

first, on the part of those to be avoided;

second, of those to be followed at but our manner of life.

But lest this admonition seem to proceed from hatred:

first, he mentions his affection;

second, he describes the ones to be avoided, at enemies of the cross.

138. He says, therefore: I say that the ones to follow should be watched, because some walk otherwise, namely, from bad to worse: they walk about in darkness (Ps 82:5). Of whom I have told you often, when I was with you, and now tell you weeping, because of compassion: O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people (Jer 9:1).

139. He gives the reason for this when he says, enemies of the cross of Christ:

first, he describes them from their work;

second, from their intention, at whose God is their belly.

140. In regard to the first: first, he mentions their work; second, he shows the results of their work, at whose end is destruction.

Their work is to practice enmity against** the cross of Christ**, namely, those who say that no one can be saved without observing the ceremonies of the law, in which they nullify the power of the cross of Christ. For if justice be by the law, then Christ died in vain (Gal 2:21), that is, without advantage. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18).

And what will be the result? Certainly to us life through the cross of Christ; but to the others the opposite, because they incur death. Hence he says, whose end is destruction, i.e., eternal death. The end of all things he considers, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death (Job 18:3).

141. Then he describes their intention: first, he reveals their intention; second, the result of that intention.

He says, whose God is their belly. As if to say: they spread this doctrine, namely, that the ceremonies of the law must be observed, for their own gain and glory to satisfy their belly: for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by fair and flattering words they deceive the hearts of the simpleminded (Rom 16:18); all the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied (Eccl 6:7). Hence he says, God, because it is peculiar to God to be the first principle and the ultimate end; hence those who have something as an end have it as their God. Furthermore, they seek their own glory against what is stated in John: yet I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he will be the judge (John 8:50).

The result will be **their shame: I will change their glory into shame (Hos 4:7). This is the way things will turn out for those who mind earthly things, i.e., those whom earthly things please and who seek them. They will be ashamed because their state passes. If you live according to the flesh you will die (Rom 8:13).

The Gloss, at whose God, explains that it is proper to God to make one righteous; therefore because they placed their righteousness in food, they called their belly God. Again, it is in shame, because it has to do with shameful things, like the circumcision of private parts and the slaughtering of beasts.

142. Then he describes the ones to be imitated when he says, our manner of life is in heaven.

First, he describes the heavenly conversation in them;

second, their expectation, at from whence also we look;

third, its usefulness, at who will reform the body.

143. He says: they seek earthly things, but not we, because our conversation is in heaven, i.e., is made perfect by contemplation: we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Cor 4:18); and by affection, because we love only heavenly things; and by our actions, in which there is a representation of heaven: just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (1 Cor 15:49).

144. But why is our conversation there? Because that is the source from which we expect the most help: I lift up my eyes to the hills from whence my help comes (Ps 121:1); for where your treasure is there will your heart be also (Matt 6:21). Hence he says, from whence also we look for the Savior: blessed are the eyes that look for him (Isa 30:18); be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks (Luke 12:36).

145. This coming involves three things: first, the general resurrection; hence he says, who will reform the body of our lowness, i.e., of dejection, because it is subject to death: man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm (Job 25:6); what is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power (1 Cor 15:42). This abject body he** will reform**, i.e., reduce it to his form: he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you (Rom 8:11).

Second, the imitation of the saints; hence he says, made like to the body of his glory. The body of Christ, of course, is glorified by the glory of his divinity; and he merited this by his passion. Therefore, whoever shares in the power of the divinity by grace and imitates the passion of Christ shall be glorified: he who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne (Rev 3:21); we shall be like him (1 John 3:2); then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt 13:43).

Third, the power by which he does this: **according to the operation **of his divinity, i.e., by the power in him whereby also he is able to subdue all things unto himself: for all will be subject to Christ; some unto salvation, and some unto punishment. Toward the first he will exercise mercy, and toward the second justice: you have given dominion over the works of your hands (Ps 8:6); for God has put all things in subjection under his feet (1 Cor 15:27); whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise (John 5:19).