Imitation of Christ

When Paul describes himself as an imitator of Christ and calls others to be imitators of him and thus of Christ (I Cor 11:1), he is speaking, not about an option, but about a nonnegotiable mandate in which one does not deny but rather exercises one's true identity as an apostle (and one's true apostolic freedom), or, more generally one's identity (and true freedom) as a “Christian.” Imitatio Christi (or, better, conformatio Christi) is nonnegotiable because those whose freedom is defined by being in Christ must be conformed to Christ, as Phil 2:5 suggests by linking 2:1-4 to 2:6-11.—Inhabiting the Cruciform God, p. 23

<idle musing>
I like that, conformatio Christi. And, we definitely can not be in Christ unless we are being transformed and conformed to Christ. I'm really liking this book...
</idle musing>