What Does It Mean When Paul Says, "follow Me as I Follow Christ," and How Does That Relate to Following Jesus Directly?
1) Direct Answer
Paul’s words mean: imitate a true, Word‑led life only as it mirrors Jesus Christ. We follow no man as an absolute. Christ is the Head. When a servant of God stays with the Word and the Spirit of Christ, following that example is following Jesus. If he departs from the Word, we do not follow.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The condition is clear—only as he follows Christ.
- Paul says, “Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). So the life to imitate is Christ’s life expressed through a yielded vessel.
- “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample” (Philippians 3:17). The pattern is a Word‑walk, not personality.
- Christ is the Head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). We never trade the Head for a man.
- God set ministers for perfecting the saints (Ephesians 4:11‑13). True ministry points us to Christ, not to themselves.
- We “ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). If any voice clashes with Scripture, we stay with God’s Word.
- “Though we, or an angel… preach any other gospel… let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). No message outranks the Bible.
- “My sheep hear my voice… and they follow me” (John 10:27). We follow Jesus directly by recognizing His Voice in His Word.
- “Try the spirits” (1 John 4:1) and “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Everything is tested by Scripture.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- One Head, one Lord—Jesus Christ. He speaks by His Word and Spirit. He also uses servants as signposts. You follow the signpost only because it points to the destination. If it points off the road, you don’t follow the sign—you stay with the road.
- The Spirit and the Word agree. If a minister magnifies the Word and leads you into obedience to Christ, you’re following Jesus through that example. If he adds to or takes from the Word, you stop right there and hold to the Bible.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice: it’s not following a man; it’s following Christ in the man—as long as it is Christ. Stay with the Word. Christ remains the absolute, and every true servant merely points to Him.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Leadership
65-1207 §104
What do you look like? What are you following? What have we done? You must choose your leader. Choose today. You choose life or death. Your choice will determine your eternal destination, what you choose. Remember, Jesus said, "Follow me." And you're invited tonight to do so. And to follow Him to eternal life, you must come on His terms (that's right), the Word. Not upon the creed, not upon the public opinion, not upon what anybody else thinks about it, but on what God said about it. You say, "Well, Brother Branham...
The believer's position in Christ
55-0116A §31
Oh, you might believe it, you might accept it, you might say, "Yes, I believe the Bible's right. I go to church, too." But have you ever died to yourself and be born again? Leaving all the outside off and brought through the blood into this fellowship and set in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What God can do! How the revelation of God can move through an audience like that, when we've all been partakers of this same fellowship, see. Now, that's who Paul's addressing this letter to. (And just a moment or two longe...
God's Provided Way
59-0415A §56
The people make fun, and they call them a bunch of idiots. Paul said, "In the way that's called heresy..." That's crazy. See, heresy is some ... heresy, "crazy, idiotic." Well, we are called that because the supernatural is so much different from the carnal things of this world, till it makes people think they're crazy. They said... Why, Paul said to Agrippa, said, "I'm not mad." Mad means "crazy." "I'm not crazy, you think I am. But in the way that's called heresy, I worship the God of our fathers." That's the way...
Christ is the mystery of God revealed
63-0728 §82
And the other night... If you didn't get the tape that I preached here one night on "A Prisoner of Jesus Christ"---Paul A Prisoner... See? When God gets you to be His prisoner, then you can't do nothing but what the Spirit says do. Paul, with all of his great intellects---he was taught by Gamaliel to be a great priest or rabbi someday. And He had high ambitions. He was intellectually a great man---great authority, great man in the nation. But, he had to sacrifice every bit of it (see?) to become part of the Word, t...
Present stage of my ministry
62-0908 §51
Now, how that man must have felt, a man with so many millionaire friends, and one coat. A man that had power to smite a man blind, and let a man run him out of town. Never done a thing about it, got up and went out. Prayed for the sick and had left his friend sick. And Demas left him. All the rest of them left him. All of them left him. Paul said, "All men left me." Every one of them left him. I say this. When a man stands true to the Word, not just in one meeting, but in every meeting, when a man stands true to th...