Example

An example, in biblical usage, is a person or pattern of conduct set before others so that they may imitate it or learn from it — and in the New Testament the example above all others is Jesus himself. The text says that Jesus defined his own mission as service rather than being served, giving his life "as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28), and the Gospel pronounces blessing on disciples who know these things and do them (John 13:17). The same pattern is applied to specific areas of conduct: Christ's self-emptying is the pattern for generosity, "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9), and for love, "walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us" (Ephesians 5:2). Hebrews directs believers to keep "looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame" (Hebrews 12:2).

Established lexical fact: the New Testament uses a small family of Greek nouns for this idea, including *hypodeigma* ("a shown pattern") and *hypotypōsis* ("an outline, a sketch to be copied"), the latter used in 1 Timothy 1:16, where Paul says he obtained mercy so that Christ might display his patience "for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life." The text says examples in Scripture are therefore not merely illustrations but precedents with authority: Paul's own case is offered as the model for everyone who comes after him.

The scriptural pattern is not only moral but cruciform. The example set before believers includes endurance of suffering and shame (Hebrews 12:2), bearing sin "in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24), and returning to "the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls" (1 Peter 2:25); James points to "the perseverance of Job" and the Lord's compassion and mercy as the outcome (James 5:11). Conduct shaped by that pattern is also spoken of as visible to outsiders, so that good works may lead others to glorify God (1 Peter 2:12), and the promise held out to those who follow the pattern is sharing Christ's throne, "as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne" (Revelation 3:21).

Christian traditions differ on how the example of Christ relates to his saving work. Traditions shaped by the *imitatio Christi* — medieval and Catholic devotional writing, Anabaptist discipleship, and much Eastern Orthodox teaching on Christ as the prototype of renewed humanity — place the emphasis on following the pattern he set. Reformation traditions argue that Christ's obedience and death are accomplished on the believer's behalf and received by faith, so that imitation is the fruit of grace rather than its basis, and they warn against reducing Christ to a moral exemplar. Some readings stress the note of suffering in these texts (1 Peter 2:24–25; Hebrews 12:2), others the note of victory (Revelation 3:21). These emphases are usually held together rather than chosen between, but the accent differs, and the difference is a real one within historic Christian teaching.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.