First Peter 2:21 says, “Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you a model that you should follow in His steps.” The word “model” has been spoiled by common usage. Literally, the Greek word means a writing-copy, an under-writing for students to use in tracing letters as they learn to draw them. In ancient times teachers would write letters on writing material, and those letters became a master copy. Another piece of writing material was put upon the master copy. Then the children would practice writing by tracing the letters from the master copy onto their copy. The Greek word for model is the word that denotes such a master copy used in the teaching of writing. The Lord Jesus has set His life before us as an underwriting for us to copy by tracing and following His steps.
It is not God’s intention, however, that we try to imitate Christ by our own effort. We know from experience that trying to imitate Christ does not work. We are not able to imitate Him. What we need is not imitation, but reproduction. There is a great difference between imitation and reproduction. Outwardly Christ is our model, and inwardly He is our person, living in us, being formed in us, and making His home in us. Through this process we become a reproduction of the original, a reproduction of Christ as our model.
Christ is not merely a model for us to follow outwardly. He is a writing-copy, an original to be used for making many copies. We need to become Christ’s reproduction, copies of Christ, by experiencing a process that involves the riches of the divine life. When this process is completed, we shall become a reproduction of Christ. When anyone observes the expression of the Triune God from within a believer, this indicates that such a believer has become a reproduction of Christ, the model. The manner of life that expresses the processed Triune God is a reproduction of Christ.
As a model to the believers, Christ is the original used for making a reproduction of Himself. In order to understand Christ as our model, we need experience. From experience we know that as we enjoy Christ day by day, we are undergoing the process of spiritual reproduction to make us living copies of Christ.
To become the reproduction of Christ is very different from trying to imitate Him. To illustrate, a man may set an example for a monkey to stand upright, and the monkey stands up, imitating the man. Then the man walks, and the monkey imitates him by walking on two feet. But after the imitation is finished, the man leaves, and the monkey goes back to walking on all fours. At least to a certain extent, those teachers who instruct believers to imitate Christ are like a man training a monkey to imitate a human being. Trying to imitate Christ in such a way simply does not work. Therefore, I do not encourage you to imitate Christ. Instead, I would point you to His riches. I would point you to Him as the One living in us, being formed in us, and making His home in us so that we may undergo the process of becoming the reproduction of Christ as our model.
To us as believers Christ is the Author and Perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith.” The Greek word rendered “Author” may also be translated Originator, Inaugurator, Leader, Pioneer, Forerunner. Christ is the Author of faith; He is the Originator, the Inaugurator, the source and cause of faith.
We need Christ as the Author of faith, because, according to our natural man, we do not have any believing ability. The believing element is absent from our natural being. Naturally, we have only the unbelieving ability, not the ability to believe. Hence, the faith we have through which we have been saved is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8; 2 Pet. 1:1). When we look away unto Jesus, He, as the life-giving Spirit, dispenses Himself into us as the believing element. Then spontaneously the believing ability arises in our being, and we have the faith to believe in Him.
If we would have faith, we must look away unto Jesus, the source of faith. When we look away from all other things unto Him, He radiates Himself into us, charging us with Himself. As a result, spontaneously we have faith, a faith that originates not with us but with Him. Faith is actually Christ Himself believing for us in a very subjective way. He transfuses us with Himself, working Himself into us, until He, the very person, becomes the believing element within us. Thus, it is not we who believe; it is He who believes within us. In this way, He makes us a believing being. Apparently it is our believing; actually it is Christ’s believing. This is genuine faith.
Once Christ has originated this faith within us, He will never let it go. Rather, He will complete, finish, and perfect it. Therefore, He is also the Perfecter of faith. The Greek word translated “Perfecter” in Hebrews 12:2 may also be rendered Finisher or Completer. Christ is the Finisher, the Completer, of faith. By looking unto Him continually, we shall have Him finish and complete the faith that He has originated by dispensing Himself as the believing element into us. It is crucial that, as believers, we look away from all things unto the Lord Jesus. When we look away unto Him, we give Him the opportunity to work Himself into every inward part of our being until we are saturated with Him. The more we are saturated with Him, the easier it is for us to believe. Because Christ as the believing element has been transfused into us and worked into us, we believe in the Lord automatically, without any effort or strife. This is the way to have faith. As believers, we all need to experience faith in such a subjective way by looking away unto Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
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