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The Apostle Paul's Epistle
to the Philippians |
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Chapter 2
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5Have this attitude in yourselves which was also
in Messiah Jesus,
This verse, of course, connects us back to
Paul's previous exhortations in this epistle:
namely, his call to selflessness and humility.
The ultimate personification of humility and
self-sacrificing love is the person of Jesus the
Messiah. The reference here is to the Messiah
Jesus, whom Paul described as man in 1 Timothy
2:5. The exhortation here in Philippians 2:5 is
to have the same attitude or mindset as the
historical man Jesus. Of course, this passage
(verses 5-11) is commonly used to teach about
the eternal pre-existence of Jesus; but, as
James D.G. Dunn rightly said regarding this
passage, “Christ’s pre-existent state and status
and then of his incarnation is, in almost every
case, a presupposition rather than a conclusion,
a presupposition which again and again proves
decisive in determining how disputed terms
within the Philippian hymn should be
understood.” (James D.G. Dunn, Christology in
the Making, Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Co, Grand
Rapids, 1996, pg. 114) Of course,
presuppositions are almost impossible to
overcome, so our quest will be to find an
alternative presupposition in mind as we
interpret this passage.
6who, although He existed in the
form of God, did not regard equality with God a
thing to be grasped,
Generally, it is thought that the
following passage (verses 6-11), authored by
Paul or someone else within the believing
community, was a hymn that was sung or recited
by the believers. Firstly, it is stated that the
subject (identified in verse 5 as the historical
man Jesus) existed in the form of God. The
strong allusion is to Adam who was made in the
image of God, with image ("eikon")
and form ("morphe") being near synonyms in the
Greek. Both Adam and Jesus are direct creations
of God and are both called son of God in the
Bible (cf. Luke
1:35;
3:38). In what way was Jesus in the form of God?
Firstly, the meaning of the phrase "form of God"
is clarified in the very next line when it is
said that Jesus did not regard equality with God
a thing to be grasped. Being in some sense equal
with God is to be in the form of God. Much like
Adam was given authority and dominion over the
earth (Genesis 1:26) and was in a sense equal
with God, the equality with God that Jesus
possessed was one of authority, an authority
that was delegated to him by God. Jesus had the
God-given right to forgive sins, heal the sick,
raise the dead, control the elements and bring
salvation to his people. The consistent teaching
of the Apostles was that Jesus is God's
representative to humanity and humanity's
representative to God (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus
is the image of the invisible God, the exact
representation of God's nature and the word of
God made flesh (cf. Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3
and John 1:14). In fact, when you've seen Jesus,
you've seen the Father and this is because Jesus
displays God to us with regard to being truly
human (cf. John 14:9). This equality with God
was not something Jesus had to grasp at. In
other words, Jesus, the virginally-conceived,
sinless and anointed representative of God, did
not need to clutch or seize on to this equality
with God but instead, as we'll see, retained it
through obedience. This, again, is an allusion
and also a contrast to Adam, since Adam did
grasp at his equality with God by eating from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
disobeying God. Adam was not content to simply
obey God but gave in to the temptation to be
like God, even though if he persisted in
obedience he would have been able to eat from
the tree of life and gain immortality.
7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of
men.
Instead of grasping or clutching on to his
equality with God, Jesus emptied himself, which
should be understood as a degradation of
position. In obedience to God his Father, Jesus
took on the form of a slave. The phrase "form of
a slave" is further explained by the phrase
"likeness of men." Despite Satan's attempts,
Jesus refused to fall into the temptation of
taking advantage of his position as God's
representative and instead experienced life as a
part of fallen humanity. Jesus, though he had
not sinned, was subject to all of the pitfalls
of sinful humanity including pain, hunger,
sorrow and temptation. Again, there is an
allusion and a contrast to Adam, since Adam's
degradation from being in the form of God to
being in the form of a slave was a result of his
sinful choice but Jesus' descent was a result of
his obedient choice, in order to save his people
from their sin. The contrast between Adam and
the Messiah is not unique to this hymn, since we
find it often in Paul's epistles (cf. Romans 5,
1 Corinthians 15).
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8Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross.
The phrase "being found in appearance as a man"
is really a reiteration and explanation of the
phrases "form of a slave" and "the likeness of
men." The word translated here as "appearance"
is a Greek word from the root "schema" and this
is a reference to an outward appearance. In
other words, Jesus was truly in the form of God
but because of his obedient choice to be
humanity's mediator in salvation, he appeared to
be a man just like everyone else. Again, this
means that Jesus did not experience life as he
deserved but instead experienced life as though
he were a fallen man. Since he had not sinned,
he did not deserve to experience a fallen human
life but he humbled himself for our sake. Jesus
considered others more important and became
obedient even to the point of experiencing the
worst death imaginable, death on a cross.
Humbling himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death was what was foretold of him in
the Tanakh (see especially Isaiah 53). Indeed,
it was his duty as Messiah to humble himself to
the point of death and Jesus was faithful to the
very end.
9For this reason also, God highly exalted Him,
and bestowed on Him the name which is above
every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus EVERY
KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, 11and that every
tongue will confess that Jesus Messiah is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
As a result of Jesus choosing to humble himself
in obedience, even to death, God highly exalted
him and gave him the name which is above every
name. The phrase "highly exalted" is a
translation of the Greek word "huperupsoo,"
and could be translated "hyper-exalted" or
"super-exalted." The exaltation, firstly, was
that God raised Jesus from the dead. Not only
that, Jesus was then taken to the heavens and
was given the name which is above every name.
The "name" that he was given was no less than
the name of God Himself. We find numerous
examples of the literal name and attributes of
God applied to Jesus. For example, we find in
Zechariah 14:4 that HaShem's feet will touch
down on the
Mount of Olives and yet this is most likely a reference to the
return of Jesus the Messiah to this earth! We
should, however, understand “name” not in the
sense of the letters and sounds used to
reference a person but the reputation and
authority that a person possesses. To receive
the name that is above every name is another way
of saying what Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, that
he had been given all authority in heaven and on
earth. We should not gloss over what God has
done for Jesus. Jesus is our super-exalted human
superior and he is functioning as God over his
people! This is God's response to Jesus'
obedience and this informs why Paul has included
this hymn in this epistle. When you humble
yourself, God will exalt you (cf. Matthew
23:12). It goes on to say that at, or possibly
in, the name of Jesus every knee will bow. The
description “in heaven and on earth and under
the earth” is just another way of referencing
the entire creation. That every knee will bow is
a strong allusion to Isaiah 45, particularly
verse 23. In Isaiah 45, it is only God who
receives full devotion, so how is it that Paul
declared that every knee will bow to Jesus? This
is clarified in verse 11, here in Philippians 2,
in that every tongue will confess that Jesus the
Messiah is Lord, to the glory of the only true
God, the Father (cf. John 17:3). That Jesus is
Lord to God's glory is a strong allusion to
Psalm 110:1, which has HaShem speaking to
David's Lord, telling him to sit at His right
hand until He makes all of his enemies a
footstool for his feet. So, any worship or
devotion given to Jesus is not out of order,
since the position Jesus enjoys was given to him
by God. God has authorized that His Son
function in this way, allowing for people to
worship him as Lord to God's own glory. |
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