“Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5 (Weymouth)
The Christian life is not imitation. It is participation. God has not called you to imitate Christ as if you were a person detached from Him. God has called you to participate in Christ as one attached to Him. “The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17, NASV). To join ourselves to the Lord is to merge with Him. It is merging our mind, emotion, and will with the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This merging is for our mind, emotion, and will to have direct participation in His life, nature, and disposition.
Paul does not mean to imitate Christ’s disposition. He means to let or allow yourself to merge with Christ’s disposition. There is a big difference. To imitate depends on coming up with “the goods” to perform. To merge is the exact opposite. It is receiving “the goods” by direct participation in them. For example, if an actor tries to play the part of a drunk, that is imitation. However, if he actually drinks wine and feels its effects, that is direct participation. In Ephesians 5:18 Paul says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” In the same way that there is direct participation in wine, there is direct participation in Christ as the Spirit. This participation in Christ is for us to live Christ by merging with His disposition. Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ.” This is the one unique goal of all our participation in Christ — to merge with Him and live Him.