Jesus: Our Example

My penmanship skills seem to have plateaued sometime when I was in elementary school; my wife often compares my handwriting to that of our 9-year-old. In spite of this, like many people who have learned how to write in today’s world, I learned how to write from a perfect example. You see, I learned by filling out page after page of line exercises where I would be given a line of perfectly formed letters in the alphabet to copy. I was tasked with forming my letters by replicating the perfect letters provided.

Since Solomon revealed, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), it shouldn’t surprise us that modern teachers aren’t the first to employ this method of teaching writing. The Greeks of Jesus’ day referred to a hupogrammos, literally, a writing copy. It is formed by the words hupo, under or beneath, and gramma, writing or letters. You can see in this word picture the very process by which I learned writing, namely, by copying letters above, below, or even on top of ones that were already written.

Hupogrammos is found in only one place in the New Testament. Rather fittingly, it is found in reference to Jesus. It is typically translated as “example”: “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Literally, Jesus is our writing copy: a perfect example of how the letters of our life should be formed that God intends for us to reproduce.

If you’ll forgive me for taking a stab at a Greek pun here, sometimes, we can be guilty of viewing Jesus as though he is huper writing and not hupo writing. The Greek preposition huper means “above,” “over,” or “beyond” and comes into the English language as the word hyper. Sometimes we see Jesus as being so far beyond us that copying Him seems impossible.

It is very true that Jesus is perfect, not only “without sin” but also “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and,” indeed, “higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 4:15; 7:26). It is equally true that we are not, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). For us, perfection remains something that we must forever “press on” toward and never something that we can count ourselves “to have apprehended” (Philippians 3:12-14). Our proverbial handwriting will always look poor in comparison to Jesus’.

Having said that, it is important not to dismiss our copying exercise as an impossible task. As we examine Jesus’ example closely, we realize that His perfect writing was accomplished even as He submitted Himself to all the limitations of humanity. The Hebrews author said of Jesus and His relationship to us, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same […] in all things He had to be made like His brethren” (Hebrews 2:14, 17). Jesus is not Superman, or, ahem, huper man; He is actually described as “a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7).

Rather than be overawed at the perfection of Jesus’ writing or believing our spiritual writing, like our literal penmanship perhaps, might be destined to plateau in imperfection, we should continue to work on examining His example and correcting our efforts, one step at a time. If we look closely, we will see that there is no choice in Jesus’ life that we simply could not make. Granted, some of those choices Jesus made were incredibly difficult; Peter’s own specific instruction in the context of calling Jesus our example, to “do good and suffer” and “take it patiently,” comes to mind (1 Peter 2:20). Still, as disciples, literally, pupils, learners, or students, of Jesus, we must continue to form the letters “until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). Thankfully, Jesus did not just leave an example; as our “merciful and faithful High priest […] He is able to aid those who are tempted,” and, yes, even those who fail (Hebrews 2:17, 18).

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org