SKENE 8 (c): 'tupos' ii

Of the remaining instances of ‘tupos’, five are similar in meaning to ‘hupodeigma’, and can simply be translated ‘example’. While ‘hupodeigma’ is a metaphor derived from architecture, a ‘draft’ or ‘outline’, to which the finished structure should conform, ‘tupos’ is the language of sculpture, and, more specifically, of die-casting, the mould which determines the form of the finished artefact. The five texts that follow introduce us to another word-cluster – though this one we will not pursue any further. In four of these verses ‘tupos’ is linked with the verb ‘genesthai’ (this is the aorist infinitive form, from which are derived ‘genesis’ and ‘genetic’), meaning ‘to become’; and in three of them we find the noun ‘mimetes’, or its associated verb, meaning ‘an imitator’ (cf. English ‘mimic’). For a Christian to be an example to others, he or she must become one: it is a long process of sanctification, not a sudden ‘conversion’. And this process in turn involves ‘imitating’ the example of others, and principally, of course, the example of Jesus himself. Paul tells the Philippians (3.17): “Become fellow-imitators” (‘summimetai’, a compound form) “of me, and observe those whose manner of life is modelled on us” – or “follows our example” , ‘tupos’). What Paul tells the Philippians to do, the Thessalonians have already done: “You became imitators of me and the Lord Jesus --- so that you yourselves became an example (‘tupos’) to all the believers in Macedonia and Asia” (1 Thess 1.6-7). In his second letter to them, it is his own example that he talks about: “For you yourselves know how you should imitate us --- we worked night and day so as not to be a burden to you, not because we do not have the right [to be supported by you], but so that we should give ourselves to you as an example (‘tupos’) for you to imitate” (3. 8-9). More briefly, he tells Timothy to “become an example to the faithful”, and then specifies the qualities he should exemplify (1 Tim 4.12); and in similar words Peter tells the elders in the churches to which he is writing to “become examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5.3). For all Christians, becoming Christlike is a lifelong process. We should all constantly, daily, be modelling and moulding our behaviour on the example of Christ and of godly Christian leaders. But it is also a two-way process: as we imitate the lifestyles of those we look up to, we ourselves become models, or examples, for others to imitate – a responsibility which should be an extra incentive to holiness. Sanctification should not be just a solo spiritual exercise, but a corporate process, a chain-reaction within the body of Christ.