1 Coríntios 11

1 Coríntios 11:1

Ellicott notes that "Any shade of offence that such words (Imitate me) could, by any chance, have given is at once removed by the clause which follows. ‘even is I also am of Christ;’ the comparative kai serving to bring out the fact that he himself was an imitator, as he advised them to be,—an imitator of the highest of all examples. William Baker on 1Cor 11:1 - Paul offers his final bit of advice to help the Corinthians guide their own decisions in the future. They can gauge their lives by how Paul has conducted himself. This they could understand, not only by having observed him when he lived among them for 18 months but by hearing his teaching both while he was there and in this letter. Paul was not so egotistical, however, to think that even though he was a chosen apostle of Christ, that somehow his life was not without flaws. Thus, he accents that his life is but an imitation of the one in whom Christians invest their hope. Paul is not so much thinking of modeling Jesus’ life and ministry. Rather, drawing on what he said in 1Cor 4:8–13, he sees his own suffering and endurance of physical hardship for the sake of others as parallel to Christ’s torturous and humiliating death on a Roman cross for the sake of the world (Garland 2003:503; Thiselton 2000:796). This kind of self-sacrifice is precisely what Paul had been presenting as the behavioral paradigm for the Corinthians since he took up the issue of meat offered to idols in 1Cor 8:1. (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Volume 15: 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians) Robert Hughes compares 1Cor 4:16 and 1Cor 11:1 writing that in the former passage "the call was to imitation of Paul as the proper view of leadership. Here the call was to imitation of Paul’s glorification of God and furtherance of the gospel by self-limitation of freedom in order to become a servant of all." (First Corinthians, Everyman’s Bible Commentary) Paul Benware on "THE MATTER OF DOUBTFUL THINGS (1Cor 8:1–11:1) - A “doubtful thing” is something (often having to do with an activity or one’s adornment) about which the Bible has no specific commands and concerning which sincere Christians differ. At Corinth, one such doubtful thing had to do with eating meat that previously had been sacrificed to idols. Although Paul does not take sides on the issue, he does give some principles to apply to such situations. (See Romans 14 as well.) First, Paul says, believers are to make decisions on the basis of knowledge. There ought to be a biblical basis for the choice made. Second, they are to act on the basis of love. They should be willing to suppress their liberties for the sake of weaker Christians. Paul modeled this truth in his own life, giving up his own personal rights in order to benefit other believers. (Survey of the New Testament Revised) Verbrugge notes that Paul "is not content simply to live his life as an example for the Corinthians to emulate; he actually instructs them to (lit.) become “imitators” (mimētēs, GK 3629) of him. He used this same word and concept in 4:16 (see comments there). Here, however, Paul goes on to stress that he himself is an imitator—of Christ and of his lifestyle. That must always be the overriding goal in our lives—not to use some other human being as our model but to use the perfect, sinless Christ. It is not too much to say that Paul is here instructing the Corinthians to imitate him only insofar as he imitates Christ. (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 11: Romans–Galatians Revised Edition, Zondervan) A T