Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
Parallel translations
- WEB I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.
- BSB Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
- NKJV Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
- NASB Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me.
- NLT So I urge you to imitate me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul urges the Corinthians to imitate him. It matters because mature believers offer their own Christlike conduct as a pattern to follow.
Overview
As their spiritual father, Paul calls his children to imitate his way of life—elsewhere clarified as imitating him only as he imitates Christ (11:1). In a culture of personality factions, he redirects them not to a hero but to the cross-shaped, humble, self-giving pattern he has just described. Discipleship rightly involves following godly examples that lead us to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Cor 11:1Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
- Phil 3:17Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
- 2 Th 3:9Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
- 1 Th 1:6And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
- Heb 13:7Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
- Phil 4:9Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
- John 10:4–5And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
- 1 Pet 5:3Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 4:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.