So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Eph 4:11-13
The whole point of the cross is we are to be Gods friends. servants of love
and need, those who love and desire to do thing rightly.
And Jesus's promise is that we will be one with Him, as much as we are one
with each other, and one with the Father.
Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
John 17:11
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:22-23
I suspect, limey, these verses do not mean to me what they do to you.
Jesus is saying we are one with Him, and Paul is saying the same thing,
to conform to Christs example.
What I hear from you suggestion of Gen 3:5 is this is satans deception.
I wonder which bible you are reading to draw this conclusion about Jesus
and the cross. Your ambition is to be like who? A lost sinner rather than
Christ.
Here is Paul saying whose example we should follow
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
1 Cor 11:1
Now please tell me you do see what Paul is encouraging us to do?
Whose example are you following?
Most of the verses you have brought up are speaking of being one with Christ.
I am one with Christ through the finished work of the cross. Not because I am like Christ, but because He is in me and I in Him.
You will become mature when you obtain the full measure of Christ.
When you fully understand what the cross meant and what Jesus did for you.
Honestly Peter from some of what you say, I think you only partially trust what He did. You think the rest is up to you and what you can do to help it along. But it isn't.
Your concerns about what scriptures I read are interesting.
The Genesis 3:5 I referenced is Satan's lie to Adam, that stated if he didn't believe God, that he could be like God, Adam then decided this was a good idea and decided not to believe God. You know the rest. (I'm paraphrasing)
It seems to me you believe the same lie, because you want to be like God, and you don't fully trust the finished work of the cross.
My ambition (if that's what you want to call it) is to be me, who God created, with Him living in me (which He now does), He created me for that purpose, so that I could have a relationship with Him, and reflect that into the world, so others might want it too.
I want to be me, the true me, learning how to know my God. I wasn't created to be like Jesus. That's insane!! Why you trying to be something you will NEVER be!!!
As far as your last big highlight.
Paul is asking them to imitate him, as he imitates Christ.
What does that mean? He is not asking you to imitate Christ, he is asking you to imitate him (Paul).
Maybe you need to dig a little deeper to understand what Paul is saying, because that verse just stands by itself at the beginning of the chapter, or you could go back to 1 Corinthians 10: 23-33, you'll get an answer there I think.