Now apply that same principle to Jesus’ obedience to the Old Covenant. Must Christians do literally everything Jesus did? No, for most Christians are not Jewish. Non-Jews were never part of the Old Covenant. They have never been obliged to keep Jewish customs as given by Moses. The apostle Paul was a Jew. Yet even he plainly stated that he was not under the law (Galatians 3:20-25).
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. (I Corinthians 9:20-21)
When did Paul behave like his fellow-Jews? When he was trying to win Jews to Christ. When was Paul like Gentiles? When he was trying to win Gentiles. He adapted according to the evangelistic need of a given situation. Yet, while Paul’s mission strategies might change, two things remained constant:
1) Paul was “not under the law” of Moses. (In this respect, Paul was not like Jesus, for Jesus was under the law, according to Galatians 4:4-5.)
2) Paul was “under Christ’s law.” (In other words, Paul was a member and minister of the New Covenant that Christ brought into effect by His death.)
This same Paul—who was not under the law and didn’t even act in Jewish ways while among Gentiles—was still bold to say, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul knew the meaning of Jesus’ example. Paul was mature in being Christ-like. Yet none of that suggested a return to the Old Covenant.
Being Christ-like does not mean a return to the Old Covenant.