Philippians 2:5-11

As we continue our look at these tremendous verses, our attention falls away from ourselves and onto Christ.  The first four verses of chapter two dealt with our relationships to each other in the body of Christ, that is, the local church.  Paul admonished the Philippians to watch out for the needs of the other person, to work to provide for their own needs and to exercise genuine humility.  In simple terms, Paul wanted this church to get along.  If ever a message was timely for the Church of Jesus Christ in the 21^st century, it is this one:  Just get along.  This message was so important to Paul, that he now gives the supreme reason for getting along:  copying the humility of Jesus Christ.

1.  Have the mind of Christ, verse 5

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus

The KJV translates verse 5 like this:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus

What Paul is about to discuss is having the mind of Christ.  The one thing that characterized the mind of Christ was humility; He is the great example of humility.  This reminds us of Ephesians 4:1-3,

I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Again, we see the call to unity within the church linked to humility.  Even though verses 5 through 11 make up what is arguably the most significant statement of Christology in the NT, we must note that they were written to illustrate that very point.

Believers are to have the mind of Christ or the same attitude of Christ when it comes to this issue.  The fact is, human beings have a hard time with genuine humility.  We find it hard to be humble.  Some people have pride over being humble, and that cancels out the humility!  Because we don’t have the “humility gene” in our bodies, the best we can do it look to Christ as our example.  Note that while believer can’t hope to copy the exact ministry of Jesus, we can live lives that display the same attitude.

2.  The preincarnate deity, verse 6

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped

This verse does not suggest that when Christ was at the right hand of God the Father, He was hanging on to that position for fear of losing it.   In one sentence, Paul states the preincarnate status of Christ unequivocally:  He was God.  Period.  In the dateless past, Christ existed with God yet did not consider that status a prize to be held onto at all cost.

The first phrase is remarkable in its scope:  [B]eing in very nature God. The Greek word used here is morphe, which means an outward manifestation of the inner essence.   The reason why this word is so powerful is because it stands in contrast to a statement in verse 7-

[B]ut made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Here, the word used is schema, (“likeness”) which refers to an outward appearance that is temporary.  So we see an amazing thing here:  Christ’s sonship with the heavenly Father-His divinity, if like-is a permanent thing, it is an eternal thing, where as His humanity was merely temporary.

Further strengthening the eternity of the Son of God is Paul’s use of another Greek word, hyparchon, which is translated as “being,” or can also be translated as “existing.”  Paul used this word in the present tense, which denotes a continuing condition.  Christ’s divinity didn’t have a beginning, He existed with God, being in the same essence as God.  In other words, Christ possessed the very nature of God and never ceased to posses it; that is the continuing condition.  Even as a man, He possessed the very nature of God, even though temporarily He appeared as a man, which we will get to in due course.

The phrase equality with God is equally as powerful.   In the Greek it is isa theo.  The first word, isa, is actually an adverb and describes the manner of existence:  Christ existed as God.  He did not merely have the “form” or “appearance” of God, but rather, Christ existed as God.  The reason why this is so powerful an assertion is that this existence does not depend on an outward appearance or outward circumstances, it has to do with the essence of Christ.  Christ had the essence of God before He became a man, He had it after He became a man, and He retains it to this day.  Regardless of what Christ looked like or where He lived, He never ceased to be of the same essence as God.  And that is a powerful thought.  Whether as the shining Star of the Morning, the Babe in the manger, or the soon-coming King of Kings and Lord of Lord, Jesus Christ was/is and will always be God!

The next phrase, something to be grasped, harpagmon, the Greek noun, seems to have been interpreted in different ways by different Biblical scholars.  Does it refer to something that has been grasped, or something to be grasped?    Depending on how you view this phrase, you can come to at least three different conclusions that change the complexion of the whole passage:

• The preincarnate Christ was already equal with God, and He determined not to hold onto it;
• Christ had no need to grasp at equality with God because He already possessed it;
• Christ did not attempt to grasp His crowning prematurely, as Adam had tried to do, but He was willing to wait until the right time, after His work on earth had been accomplished.

As always, we need to let the context be our guide.  We know that Paul is writing about Christ’s preexistence, and we know there is a parallel passage in 2 Corinthians 8:9, which reads-

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Christ already existed in the glory of God, He already possessed the riches of heaven, so that eliminates the third option.  The second option, that He already possessed equality with God, is true, but doesn’t nearly far enough, based on what Paul says in the following verses.

3.  The incarnate deity, verses 7 and 8a

[B]ut made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself.

Paul’s two main thoughts are:  He made Himself nothing and He humbled Himself.  Let’s consider the first of these two thoughts-

• He made Himself nothing.  The Greek is ekenosen, means literally, “but himself he emptied.”  The question is, of what did Christ empty Himself?  The text doesn’t say, but it does imply that He divested Himself of something.   Think about this:  the One who was in essence God from all eternity took on the form of a servant.  The word used here, labon, “taking,” does NOT imply an exchange, but rather an addition.  In other words, Christ did not exchange His deity to become a man, Christ’s humanity was added to Him.   Christ could not give up the essence of God because that would mean that He ceased to be God and, as we have just learned, that’s not what happened.  When our Lord became a man, He took on the form of a lowly servant, thus we see the prime example of humility.  The word for likeness, homoiomati, does not mean an “exact representation” or “intrinsic essence,” like morphe does.  It means “similar to” yet with differences.  What Paul is trying to teach us is this:  While Christ became a genuine man, He was not absolutely like other men.  He was different.  For example, He did not have sin nature, as all other men do.

Christ did not empty Himself of His deity, but He emptied Himself of the prerogatives of  deity.  As Lightfoot observed, Christ did not lay aside His divine attributes, but the “insignia of majesty.”  Perhaps an illustration from Mark Twain will help us on this point.  In The Prince and the Pauper, the son of Henry VIII temporarily changed positions with a very poor lad in London.  Christ, when He came to earth as a man, laid aside the independent use of His divine attributes.  While on earth, during the Incarnation, Christ used His divine powers and displayed His glory under the direction of God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

What a magnificent example of humility!  Having the ability to do miraculous things on a routine basis, like creating food out of thin air, not needing sleep, healing every single sick person, yet stopping short of exercising that ability, waiting on permission to do so.  Imagine the immense power it took for our Lord to restrain Himself as a man.  If you can, then you can get an inkling as to what genuine humility is all about.