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.
The Spoken Word is the original seed
62-0318 §341
You can only serve God as you do and believe the servants that God sends. You can only serve God on earth (see) as God's servants that's sent on earth by divine inspiration interprets the Word to you. You believe that? You want to put down some Scriptures for it? I Corinthians 14:16. Paul said, "You follow me as I follow Christ." Also, 11:1; Luke 10:16. See what He said; what Jesus said there. Luke 10:16. Believe we're right close to it here. Let's see what it says one time here. Luke 10:16, while they're writing t...
Church Order
63-1226 §4
Now, I'm not trying to usurp authority or something like that, but, you see, a man or anything with two heads to it, it doesn't know how to go. God never did have two heads to His church, He never did, it's one head. He always dealt in every generation as we've studied through the Scriptures, there's always one individual that He deals with. Because you get two men, you got two opinions. It's got to come to one final absolute, and my absolute is the Word, the Bible. And as a pastor here of the church, my absolute i...
Oneness
62-0211 §118
Why do you come from Georgia, from across the country, from Ohio, from Kansas, everywhere for a little meeting? I think the tape's off now, so I can say this. See? Why you coming like this? What makes you do it? What is it? I see people here from Arkansas, from hundreds of miles away. Last night, coming plumb in from Kansas City, a little Polish brother standing back there, come, led, said, "Brother Branham, since I first heard of you back yonder in Canada many years ago, the things that you'd seen and done, I've c...
Questions and Answers, Part 3
64-0830M §49
Now! But I would... If people say, "Well then, Brother Branham, you don't believe we ought to speak with tongues?" See? Then you get exactly backwards what I've just said. Sure, I believe you should speak with tongues. And some of you people ... See? But you get these, and I get these, like back here this fifteen hundred miles (you see?), being here at the tabernacle. Just, if you don't understand it, then ask me. See? Write it back to me if you don't understand. Just say what I say here, see. And now ... and you ....
Come, follow Me
63-0601 §15
You're going to follow somebody. Now, you just ... you can remember that---you're going to follow somebody. And the way you follow the person, be sure that ... who this person's following, see. We ... Paul one time said, "Be followers of me as I am of Christ." In other words, "Just as I follow Christ, you follow me." And now, at this turning point, this stage of life where we all come... And many times you've heard me holler "Ricky," or "Ricketta," and things. It's the age. It's the age that we're living in; it rea...