Example
Scripture treats moral conduct as patterned conduct. People learn behavior by watching it, copy what they watch, and pass the pattern on. The Bible therefore admonishes against bad examples, commends good ones, sets Yahweh's holiness and Christ's life as the supreme pattern, and points to the apostle Paul as a working model of life shaped by Christ.
Admonitions Against Bad Example
The Pentateuch repeatedly tells Israel not to copy the surrounding nations. Yahweh warns the people, "you⁺ will not walk in the customs of the nation, which I am casting out before you⁺: for they did all these things, and therefore [my Speech] abhorred them" (Lev 20:23), and again, "you will not learn to follow the disgusting behaviors of those nations" (Deut 18:9). The wisdom literature carries the same logic into private friendships: "Make no friendship with a man who is given to anger; And with a wrathful man you will not go: Or else you will learn his ways, And get a snare to your soul" (Prov 22:24-25).
The prophets press the warning against the imitation of one's own ancestors. Through Ezekiel, Yahweh recalls saying to the wilderness sons, "Don't walk⁺ in the statutes of your⁺ fathers, neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols" (Ezek 20:18). Hezekiah's circular letter says the same: "don't be⁺ like your⁺ fathers, and like your⁺ brothers, who trespassed against Yahweh, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you⁺ see" (2 Chr 30:7). Isaiah is personally restrained: "Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and he turned me away [so as] not to walk in the way of this people" (Isa 8:11). Jeremiah's indictment is that Judah has out-done its predecessors — "you⁺ have done evil more than your⁺ fathers; for, look, you⁺ walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart" (Jer 16:12) — and the next chapter pictures the sons remembering their parents' altars and Asherim by the green trees on the high hills (Jer 17:1-2). Hosea announces a reciprocal contagion between leaders and people, "like people, like priest" (Hos 4:9), then warns Judah specifically not to follow Israel's whoring (Hos 4:15) lest she stumble with her (Hos 5:5). Zechariah's opening oracle returns to the same point with the postexilic generation: "Don't be⁺ as your⁺ fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Return⁺ now from your⁺ evil ways" (Zec 1:4).
The New Testament reaches back to this same wilderness corpus and reads it as written for moral patterning. "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted" (1 Cor 10:6). The book of Hebrews uses the same vocabulary: "Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience" (Heb 4:11), and warns against any "root of bitterness springing up" that would defile many (Heb 12:15). Peter's second letter sounds the same alarm: "beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, you⁺ fall from your⁺ own steadfastness" (2 Pet 3:17).
The apostolic letters press the warning into ordinary church life. Paul tells the Corinthians to "take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours⁺ become a stumbling block to the weak," because a brother watching another eat in an idol's temple may be emboldened to do the same and so perish (1 Cor 8:9-13). The Ephesians are charged that they "no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind" (Eph 4:17). And John's third letter puts it in two halves: "Beloved, don't imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God: he who does evil has not seen God" (3 John 1:11).
Good Example
Set against the warning is a parallel commendation of good models. Nehemiah remembers his governorship as a deliberate exhibit: he refused the governor's bread, restored fields and silver, refused usury, and ate at his own table — closing, "Remember to me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people" (Neh 5:8-19). The psalmist's resolve is private: "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way... I will walk inside my house with a perfect heart" (Ps 101:2).
Whole congregations can become exemplars. Of the Thessalonians Paul writes, "you⁺ became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit; so that you⁺ became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia" (1 Thess 1:6-8). The same charge falls on individual ministers and elders. Timothy is told, "be an example to those who believe, in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity" (1 Tim 4:12); Titus, "in all things showing yourself an example of good works; in your doctrine [showing] uncorruptness, gravity, sound speech, that can't be condemned" (Tit 2:7-8); the elders of 1 Peter, "neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you⁺, but making yourselves examples to the flock" (1 Pet 5:3). The author of Hebrews charges the readers to "remember those who had the rule over you⁺, men who spoke to you⁺ the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith" (Heb 13:7).
Past saints and recent martyrs alike are held up. James names the prophets and Job: "Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord" — for "you⁺ have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful" (Jas 5:10-11). Hebrews 11 begins with "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous" (Heb 11:4). Peter holds up "the holy women also, who hoped in God... as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord" (1 Pet 3:5-6). And in the longer pericope around Christ's example, Peter exhorts believers to a seemly behavior among the Gentiles, that "they may by your⁺ good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Pet 2:11-12, with the wider passage 1 Pet 2:11-25).
Yahweh as the Pattern
Behind every commended good and every condemned evil stands the character of God himself. The holiness code grounds Israel's moral life in mimesis of Yahweh: "I am Yahweh your⁺ God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be⁺ holy; for I am holy" (Lev 11:44), and again, "You⁺ will be holy; for I, Yahweh your⁺ God, am holy [in my Speech]" (Lev 19:2). Jesus restates the same logic in mercy: "Be⁺ merciful, even as your⁺ Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36). And Paul applies it to a specific social relation: masters are to drop threatening because "he who is both their Master and yours⁺ is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him" (Eph 6:9).
Christ as the Pattern
The fullest pattern in the New Testament is Christ himself. He gives the disciples a worked example by washing their feet: "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your⁺ feet, you⁺ also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you⁺ an example, that you⁺ also should do as I have done to you⁺" (John 13:14-15). The new commandment names him as the standard of love: "even as I have loved you⁺, that you⁺ also love one another" (John 13:34). The same self-effacement is the pattern of greatness — "the Son of Man also did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his soul a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45) — and the Last Supper repeats it: "I am among you⁺ as he who serves" (Luke 22:27).
Paul turns the pattern into a doctrinal centerpiece. The Romans are told to "please his fellow man for that which is good, to edifying. For Christ also didn't please himself" (Rom 15:2-3), so that with one accord they may glorify "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 15:5-6) and "receive to yourselves one another, even as Christ also received you⁺" (Rom 15:7). The Corinthians are pointed to the grace of Christ "that, though he was rich, yet for your⁺ sakes he became poor, that you⁺ through his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor 8:9), and Paul appeals to the Corinthians "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Cor 10:1). To the Ephesians: "Be⁺ therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ also loved us, and delivered himself up for us" (Eph 5:1-2). The Philippians receive the carmen Christi as a worked exhibit of the same mind: "Have this mind in you⁺, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, did not consider making full use of his equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave... he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] to death" (Php 2:5-8). The Colossians are to forgive "even as the Lord forgave you⁺" (Col 3:13).
Hebrews tells its readers to "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, [even] Jesus" (Heb 3:1), and again, "looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame... For consider him who has endured such opposing of sinners against himself, that you⁺ do not wax weary" (Heb 12:2-3). Peter brings the example into the suffering of slaves: "For hereunto were you⁺ called: because Christ also suffered for you⁺, leaving you⁺ an example, that you⁺ should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (1 Pet 2:21-22), repeated when he teaches that "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous" (1 Pet 3:18) and so the believer is to "arm yourselves also with the same mind" (1 Pet 4:1). John reduces the test of abiding to a walking-pattern: "he who says he stays in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked" (1 John 2:6); and the test of love to a self-giving pattern: "Hereby we know love, because he laid down his soul for us: and we ought to lay down our souls for the brothers" (1 John 3:16). The pattern reaches into the consummation, where the conqueror sits with Christ "as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne" (Rev 3:21).
Paul as a Pattern
Paul does not hesitate to add himself, modestly, as a follow-on example because he is following Christ. "Be⁺ imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1); "I urge you⁺ therefore, be⁺ imitators of me" (1 Cor 4:16); "Brothers, be⁺ imitators together of me, and observe those who so walk even as you⁺ have us for an example" (Php 3:17); "The things which you⁺ both learned and received and heard and saw in me, participate in these things" (Php 4:9). His celibate life is offered as a model for the unmarried and widowed (1 Cor 7:7-8). His labor is offered as a model against idleness — "we did not behave ourselves disorderly among you⁺... not because we don't have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you⁺, that you⁺ should imitate us" (2 Thess 3:7-9). Even the manner of his teaching is held up: "Hold the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 1:13). And his own conversion is read backward as a public exhibit of converting mercy: "for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his long-suffering, for an example of those who should thereafter believe on him to eternal life" (1 Tim 1:16).