“The purpose of reading the Scriptures is to acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit, to grow in our relationship to God, to commune with God, to open ourselves to the presence of God, to improve our moral behavior, and to imitate Christ and the saints…“The disciple is not above his teacher” [Luke 6:40]. Even if some make such progress, as to attain to a virtue that rivals that of their teachers, they will range themselves no higher than their level and be their imitators. Paul shall again support us. He says, “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ” [1Co 11:1].” (Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, St. Cyril of Alexandria)
“We can do either the works of the devil, showing us to be his “children,” or the works of God, showing us to be His children instead. It is a common thread throughout the Scriptures that being someone’s son or offspring means doing his works, imitating him, participating in his life. So we have a choice between participating in the life of God or in the pseudo-life of the demons.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
“Paul’s understanding of the Christian life is, then, that it means being conformed to Christ’s likeness. At its simplest, it can be described as allowing Christ to live in one. In Galatians 2:19-20 he writes: ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.‘ That means that those who come into contact with Paul should see and experience what Christ himself is like. It is a bold claim!...How are they to know what Christ is like? By listening to the gospel and by looking at those in whose lives God is revealing his Son, because he lives in them. In demanding that his converts imitate him, then, Paul is asking them, not to look at himself but at Christ, who is in him.” (Morna Hooker)
“Let no one return injury for injury. It is indeed more honorable to imitate God by fleeing silently in the face of insult than to prevail by answering back. But the proud speak against this in their hearts: ‘It is disgraceful for you to be silent when receiving an insult, for you will not be thought of as showing patience, but acknowledging the accusation.’ But this comes from the fact that we attach our thoughts to lowest things, and that when we seek glory on earth we do not take care to please Him Who behold us form Heaven…Humility is the only virtue that no devil can imitate. If pride made demons out of angels, there is no doubt that humility could make angels out of demons.” (St. Gregory the Great, St. John Climacus)
“Everything has its place including both compassion and judgment…Christ came to judge the world in order to save it, rather than coming to save it in order to judge it. Even in judgment Christ is love, mercy and compassionate. And while we live in relationship to this mysterious balance between God’s love and judgement, we also are to live imitating Christ and thus practicing mercy and compassion towards those around us, doing unto others as we would have them do to us.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“In the original Greek, the word translated as imitators is mimitei, a cognate of the English word “mimic.” We are intended to imitate our Father, who formed us from the dust as living souls and blew His spirit of life into us (Gn 2:7). To mimic God is to control our inner life and to direct our bodies as He wills.” (OCPM 12/26/2015)
“...there are no practicing Christians, but only Christians who, in varying degrees, try to practice it and fail in varying degrees and then start again. A perfect practice of Christianity would, of course, consist in a perfect imitation of the life of Christ..." (C. S. Lewis)
“We are not only imitators of God’s nature, but are actually participants in it…By imitating Christ…we will help each other on our journey toward the Kingdom of God.” (Thomas Blackaby, Rev. Fr. David Eynon)
“Prove yourself a god to the unfortunate by imitating the mercy of God. There is nothing so godly in human beings as to do good works." (St. Gregory the Theologian)
“…everyone tends to become whatever he habitually thinks on. We imitate that on which we meditate. The subject of our attention draws us into itself.” (Richard McCombs)