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Is WWJD unbiblical?

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2 Corinthians 4:6-11 (NASB)
6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Have you heard the question, "What would Jesus do?"? (WWJD?) Probably, I'm guessing. You can buy all sorts of merch bearing the WWJD? question: Posters, mugs, t-shirts, bracelets, and on, and on. Christians are often eager consumers. Have you ever wondered whether or not this question is the right question to ask? It seems a properly biblical question since the apostle Paul wrote about "imitating Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1) In context, Paul was discussing the following:

1 Corinthians 10:31-33 (NASB)
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.


When Paul wrote, "Be imitators of me, just as I am also of Christ," he was talking specifically about not purposefully giving offense to a new believer in things about which they were sensitive - in the case of those to whom was Paul was writing: meat offered to idols. So, Paul was saying, "Do as I am doing in emulation of the example of Jesus and don't offend your weaker brethren. Instead, do all things to God's glory. This is my example to you that you ought to follow." Does Paul's injunction here characterize the entire fundamental nature of living as a Christian? Does being a disciple of Jesus just reduce down to WWJD?

Well, Paul also wrote to the Ephesians about being "imitators of God."

Ephesians 4:32 - 5:1-2(NASB)
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.


In this instance, Paul was urging the believers in Ephesus to be "tender-hearted and forgiving" because God had, through Christ, been so toward them. But, again, was Paul indicating that the Christian life was, in essence, mere imitation? Does being a Christian amount to just asking "WWJD?" and then doing one's best to produce a copy of the answer in one's living?

I think the answer is a resounding "NO!" Living on the level of imitation is actually a very spiritually-juvenile form of Christian living. Why? Because we are not, as Christians, always to be looking over at Jesus and doing what we think he would do. No, instead, Christians are called to manifest the life of Christ in their mortal bodies, not produce their best copies of the conduct of Christ. What's the difference? It's the difference between a counterfeit and its original, between a digital image of a human being and an actual one, between pretending to be and truly being.

Imagine sitting in an oil-painting class with Rembrandt, copying his painting as best you can. When the class is over, how do you think you're effort would stack up against the real thing? How much like Rembrandt's masterful painting do you think yours would be? I suspect most of us would be humiliated by such a comparison, knowing our painting would be nowhere close to the incredible mastery of Rembrandt's artwork.

What of the copy we attempt to make of Christ's perfect living? His conduct was without flaw in thought, word and deed. What is such living actually like in its full scope? If we're honest, we must admit that none of us have any idea. No one but God truly knows what it is to be perfect. How, then, can we ever properly imitate Jesus except in the most ugly, rudimentary way? We're like halfwit, super-distracted, nearly-blind children trying to produce a Rembrandt painting. It's impossible; anything we manage to manufacture is going to be a catastrophe, reflecting nothing of Rembrandt, only our own shortcomings and limitations. We do not understand perfection even if we admire it and we certainly can't imitate it, in-and-of-ourselves.

This is, at least in part, why God's word never enjoins Christians to see themselves primarily as mere imitators of Jesus. In discrete instances, Scripture says to imitate God, but the fundamental essence of Christian living isn't copying Jesus but manifesting his life. Paul wrote of Christ being the believer's life (Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4), the source of all that they are as new creatures in him. Christ said the same thing about himself (John 14:6; John 5:39-40). John, too, wrote of Christ:

John 1:4 (NASB)
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.


1 John 5:11-12 (NASB)
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.


Christ is our Life, both physically and spiritually, not merely our example. He is the Vine, we are the branches, into which the life-giving sap that Christ is constantly flows, enlarging us and enabling us to "bear fruit." (John 15:4-5) This flow of the life of Christ is accomplished through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), who imparts to every believer new, spiritual life (Titus 3:5-8; 1 John 4:13; John 14:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), transforming them such that the character of Christ, the Fruit of the Spirit, is produced. This life is never ours to create through imitation; it is our "spiritual birthright" as redeemed, adopted children of God, located in, and issuing from, the Spirit of Christ who has made us his "temple."

The life of a believer, then, is not one of mere imitation, of asking WWJD?, but, rather, of death and replacement. For it is only as the life of the "old man" is counted crucified with Christ by faith, and in constant submission to the control of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:13-22; Romans 8:14; Romans 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6) the believer is changed and filled with the life of Christ that they will ever succeed in properly manifesting his life in their daily living.

Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Romans 6:6-8 (NASB)
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

Galatians 5:24 (NASB)
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Colossians 3:2-3 (NASB)
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.


So, forget "WWJD?". Set your sights higher; walk with God at a far deeper level; let Jesus be more than your example; let him be your very Life.
 
2 Corinthians 4:6-11 (NASB)
6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Have you heard the question, "What would Jesus do?"? (WWJD?) Probably, I'm guessing. You can buy all sorts of merch bearing the WWJD? question: Posters, mugs, t-shirts, bracelets, and on, and on. Christians are often eager consumers. Have you ever wondered whether or not this question is the right question to ask? It seems a properly biblical question since the apostle Paul wrote about "imitating Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1) In context, Paul was discussing the following:

1 Corinthians 10:31-33 (NASB)
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.


When Paul wrote, "Be imitators of me, just as I am also of Christ," he was talking specifically about not purposefully giving offense to a new believer in things about which they were sensitive - in the case of those to whom was Paul was writing: meat offered to idols. So, Paul was saying, "Do as I am doing in emulation of the example of Jesus and don't offend your weaker brethren. Instead, do all things to God's glory. This is my example to you that you ought to follow." Does Paul's injunction here characterize the entire fundamental nature of living as a Christian? Does being a disciple of Jesus just reduce down to WWJD?

Well, Paul also wrote to the Ephesians about being "imitators of God."

Ephesians 4:32 - 5:1-2(NASB)
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;
2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.


In this instance, Paul was urging the believers in Ephesus to be "tender-hearted and forgiving" because God had, through Christ, been so toward them. But, again, was Paul indicating that the Christian life was, in essence, mere imitation? Does being a Christian amount to just asking "WWJD?" and then doing one's best to produce a copy of the answer in one's living?

I think the answer is a resounding "NO!" Living on the level of imitation is actually a very spiritually-juvenile form of Christian living. Why? Because we are not, as Christians, always to be looking over at Jesus and doing what we think he would do. No, instead, Christians are called to manifest the life of Christ in their mortal bodies, not produce their best copies of the conduct of Christ. What's the difference? It's the difference between a counterfeit and its original, between a digital image of a human being and an actual one, between pretending to be and truly being.

Imagine sitting in an oil-painting class with Rembrandt, copying his painting as best you can. When the class is over, how do you think you're effort would stack up against the real thing? How much like Rembrandt's masterful painting do you think yours would be? I suspect most of us would be humiliated by such a comparison, knowing our painting would be nowhere close to the incredible mastery of Rembrandt's artwork.

What of the copy we attempt to make of Christ's perfect living? His conduct was without flaw in thought, word and deed. What is such living actually like in its full scope? If we're honest, we must admit that none of us have any idea. No one but God truly knows what it is to be perfect. How, then, can we ever properly imitate Jesus except in the most ugly, rudimentary way? We're like halfwit, super-distracted, nearly-blind children trying to produce a Rembrandt painting. It's impossible; anything we manage to manufacture is going to be a catastrophe, reflecting nothing of Rembrandt, only our own shortcomings and limitations. We do not understand perfection even if we admire it and we certainly can't imitate it, in-and-of-ourselves.

This is, at least in part, why God's word never enjoins Christians to see themselves primarily as mere imitators of Jesus. In discrete instances, Scripture says to imitate God, but the fundamental essence of Christian living isn't copying Jesus but manifesting his life. Paul wrote of Christ being the believer's life (Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4), the source of all that they are as new creatures in him. Christ said the same thing about himself (John 14:6; John 5:39-40). John, too, wrote of Christ:

John 1:4 (NASB)
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.


1 John 5:11-12 (NASB)
11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.


Christ is our Life, both physically and spiritually, not merely our example. He is the Vine, we are the branches, into which the life-giving sap that Christ is constantly flows, enlarging us and enabling us to "bear fruit." (John 15:4-5) This flow of the life of Christ is accomplished through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), who imparts to every believer new, spiritual life (Titus 3:5-8; 1 John 4:13; John 14:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), transforming them such that the character of Christ, the Fruit of the Spirit, is produced. This life is never ours to create through imitation; it is our "spiritual birthright" as redeemed, adopted children of God, located in, and issuing from, the Spirit of Christ who has made us his "temple."

The life of a believer, then, is not one of mere imitation, of asking WWJD?, but, rather, of death and replacement. For it is only as the life of the "old man" is counted crucified with Christ by faith, and in constant submission to the control of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:13-22; Romans 8:14; Romans 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6) the believer is changed and filled with the life of Christ that they will ever succeed in properly manifesting his life in their daily living.

Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Romans 6:6-8 (NASB)
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

Galatians 5:24 (NASB)
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Colossians 3:2-3 (NASB)
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.


So, forget "WWJD?". Set your sights higher; walk with God at a far deeper level; let Jesus be more than your example; let him be your very Life.
The "merch" didn't say to copy Jesus, It asked us to consider how Jesus would react in any given situation.
We really should "walk as He walked". (1 John 2:6)
 
I dunno 🤷‍♂️

Never went for Christian products…music movies merchandise. Not that I’m morally superior or anything but…

I lived in or near poverty for a good while and that stuff costs money while prayer is free. Real life experiences etc.

Having said that the WWJD trend seems to have faded at least here in Bible Belt USA so..,

That’s another problem with marketing Jesus…

Consumers are fickle tastes change etc.
 
I dunno 🤷‍♂️

Never went for Christian products…music movies merchandise. Not that I’m morally superior or anything but…

I lived in or near poverty for a good while and that stuff costs money while prayer is free. Real life experiences etc.

Having said that the WWJD trend seems to have faded at least here in Bible Belt USA so..,

That’s another problem with marketing Jesus…

Consumers are fickle tastes change etc.
I guess rock music kind of opened my eyes to the difference in people. Some bands morph into Christianity. We enter as Jews, gentiles, and become part of the one new man.

eddif
 
The "merch" didn't say to copy Jesus, It asked us to consider how Jesus would react in any given situation.
We really should "walk as He walked". (1 John 2:6)

Yes, we should. But in expression of the Life of Christ, not trying in our own power merely to copy Jesus.

Those I know personally who are fans of the "WWJD?" thing ask the question as a way of focusing on what they must do, too. Copying Jesus is very much their goal.
 
What is the practical difference between imitating and manifesting?

The idea, btw, of copying a Rembrandt painting is to learn skills necessary to do that kind of work. It isn’t to be Rembrandt.

Great question. As I've observed folk operating on the "WWJD?" level, its evident that they have a conception of their walk with God that maintains a distinct separation between Creator and creature. Rather than being intimately united with Christ, as close as thought to him, occupied by the Holy Spirit as his temple, these believers have the idea that they follow Jesus, observing his steps and following the pattern of them. Perhaps you've seen an instance where dance steps are laid out on a floor and someone is using them to learn to dance. This is, in essence, how many believers think of the Christian life. They study the "steps" of Jesus laid out in Scripture and then attempt as best they can to mimic them.

The truth of the believer's relationship to Christ rests on their union with him. Like oxygen in the blood, the Life of Christ has infused the born-again person's being, fundamentally altering them, making them a "new creature in Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:17) A saved person hasn't just begun to watch Jesus and consider his "steps" but has "put on Christ" (Romans 13:14), becoming a "branch" in the "Vine," filled with the "sap" that he is. It isn't, then, in the believer's own power, in the strength of their will, and depth of their faith, and ability to comprehend God's truth that spiritual success resides, but in "abiding" (continuing, remaining, resting) in the Person of Christ.

Who knows better how to live as a "new creature in Christ," the child of God or the Holy Spirit? In whom is the power and wisdom sufficient to truly obey God? Who knows the "steps" of Christ inside-and-out? Who knows best how to bring the child of God into the fullest communion with God that is possible this side of the grave? Most Christians would say "the Holy Spirit" without a moment's thought. And they'd be entirely correct. But they don't live in accord with their answer. While they acknowledge that the Spirit is the Source of their spiritual life, by fleshly self-effort they are constantly exerting themselves in being a "branch in the Vine," producing spiritual "fruit" for God rather than letting Him produce His fruit in them.

There are always two basic "tells," two indicators, that a person is merely mimicking Jesus in their own self-effort:

1.) Exhaustion.

The infinite, divine power of the Holy Spirit can never be depleted; but our human reservoirs of strength are consumed very quickly. When the Spirit is empowering change in the believer, they go from strength to strength. When the believer is doing for God, from their own human resources laboring to be like Christ, they end up, sooner or later, worn out by the effort, falling often into sin.

2.) Ignorance.

As the Spirit works in the believer, s/he obtains an ever-enlarging experience of God, of His power, and leading, and transformation of him/her. But when a believer is operating from their own strength and understanding, just copying Christ as best they can, they obtain only a better knowledge of themselves (though, they often tell themselves their effort was God at work in them).

Only God can make us truly godly. Like begets like: a cat begets a cat, a dog begets a dog, a duck begets a duck, and we beget only more of ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit can bear the "fruit" of himself in us. But he will not so long as we are bursting a blood vessel trying to do for God in our own power what only He can do. Our "job" is to receive from God the Life of Christ, by faith remain in the Life we've received, and then as the Spirit works in us, reflect his work in the content of our living. This is a very different, far more biblical, way of living as a Christian than simply copying Jesus as best we can.
 
I have no idea why this thread has been moved to the "Lounge" but this is NOT the appropriate place for it. If the "Devotional" subforum was not the right place, certainly the Bible study/Growth subforum is a better place than here.
 
Yes, we should. But in expression of the Life of Christ, not trying in our own power merely to copy Jesus.

Those I know personally who are fans of the "WWJD?" thing ask the question as a way of focusing on what they must do, too. Copying Jesus is very much their goal.
A better word than "copy" is "emulate".
It puts "copy" in a better light. :rolleyes
 
I have no idea why this thread has been moved to the "Lounge" but this is NOT the appropriate place for it. If the "Devotional" subforum was not the right place, certainly the Bible study/Growth subforum is a better place than here.
Wild guess why.
You started off with plenty of scripture.
But the theme(?) headed what would Jesus do direction.
That direction I and others started a conversation without a lot of scripture?

That may make it more lounge type oriented.

These comments are not intended to criticize, but just try and answer your question.

Your thread.

eddif
 
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