Paul as an Example

It seems strange at first to hear the apostle say, “Be ye followers of me.” He was the humblest of men, prostrate in the dust of humility, hiding always behind the cross, and even at the close of life classing himself among sinners, of whom he says, “I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). He does not hesitate to confess, “I am the least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9); and “less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8). Here, in his own words, penned under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are characteristics of his life well worth imitating by the power of the same Spirit.

* He knew himself. “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). He knew that the mind of the flesh, including his own mind, “is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). He never got over the memory of the time, although he knew he was forgiven, when he “was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious” (1 Tim. 1:13); and he reckons himself among those of whom he writes, “We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).

* He knew Christ. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; that I may know Him” (Phil. 3:7-10).

* He lived by Christ. “I [have been] crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). So much is this the truth that he speaks of “Christ, our life” (Col. 3:4); and he is “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10).

* He lived for Christ. “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). “Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8). “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

* He preached Christ. “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:5). “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). “. . . that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). “What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Phil. 1:18).

* He gloried in Christ. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world . . . From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Gal. 6:14, 17). “He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14). “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).

* He proclaimed the gospel of Christ. “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:3-4). “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16).

* He preached the Word. “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). In his farewell message to his son Timothy, he says, “Preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2); not something about the Word, not something suggested by the Word, but “Preach the Word.”

* He spoke in the power of the Holy Ghost. “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5).

* He loved the souls of men. “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:1-3). “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Rom. 10:1).

* He was a praying man. “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you . . . For this cause we also since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you” (Col. 1:3, 9). “Wherefore also we pray always for you” (2 Thess. 1:11). “God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers” (Rom. 1:9). “Making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:16). “Making mention of thee always in my prayers” (Philemon 4).

* He did not seek to please men. “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). “As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts” (1 Thess. 2:4). “For even Christ pleased not Himself” (Rom. 15:2-3). “Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him” (2 Cor. 5:9).

* He knew that he would be with his Lord if death awaited him. “We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23). “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8).

* He looked for the coming of his Lord. “Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). “The Lord is at hand” (Phil. 4:5). “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation” (Heb. 9:28).

It is this man who tells us, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” It is the last clause of the statement which explains its meaning, for it is only as he followed Christ that he claimed to be an example. But such an example, through grace, is surely worthy of consideration and imitation.

James H. Brookes of St. Louis, Missouri editor of the magazine, The Truth, was the father of the fundamentalist movement and the mentor of C. I. Scofield.

Uplook Magazine, February 1992
Written by James H. Brookes
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