Date: 7/20/18
Lesson #12
Title: Follow the Example of Christ's Humility
Scripture: (Philippians 2:5-11, NIV)
5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature{1] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature{2] of a servant, being made in human likeness.8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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1. In very nature, or “in the form of,” can be used to describe outward appearance; shape; “that which truly characterizes a given reality.
2. Very nature, or “the form.”
Introduction
The act of incarnation in which God became man, the humble circumstances and sufferings of Christ in life, and the supreme act of dying on the cross established Jesus Christ as the greatest illustration of one completely unselfish and entirely devoted to others.
A careful examination of this passage will reveal that Christ retained His complete deity, but restricted its manifestation and did not use His divine powers for His own benefit.
Lesson
5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Before considering Christ’s “mindset,” we need to understand what Paul means by his directive, “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” Does it mean we automatically think like Jesus because we are united to Him by faith? Or does it mean that Jesus displayed a certain “mindset” that we must adopt in our “relationships with one another?” It is true that our union with Christ brings tremendous spiritual benefit. But this particular passage emphasizes that Christ is our perfect pattern. He is the image to whom we must be conformed (Romans 8:29{3]). We must think like Him.
By “mindset” he means literally that we should think within ourselves, or in our hearts, just as Christ did when he became incarnate. In brief, we should think Christ’s thoughts. Christ, in spite of His divine attributes, His eternal glory, and His rightful claim to worship and obedience, willingly put aside the insignia of divinity and put on the robes of humanity.
Paul now gives emphasis to his call for humility by describing Christ as the supreme example of self-sacrificing love. He would have us to be like Jesus in everything we do, for He showed Himself to have self-sacrificing love in the innermost core of His being, when He became poor. He that was rich became poor in order that we by His poverty might be made rich. If we are to follow Christ, we must, every one of us, not in pride but in humility, not in lowness but in lowliness, not degrade ourselves but forget ourselves, and seek every man not his own things but those of others. Our self-denial is thus not for our own sake, but for the sake of others. And therefore, Christ does not call us to mere self-denial, but specifically to self-sacrifice. Self-denial for its own sake is in its very nature harsh. It concentrates all our attention on self-knowledge, self-control—and can therefore eventually result in nothing other than the very greatest of selfishness. It is not to this that Christ’s example calls us. He did not cultivate self, even His divine self: He did not dwell on His own importance. He was led by His love for others into the world, to forget Himself in the needs of others, to sacrifice Himself once for all upon a rough wooden Cross. Self-sacrifice brought Christ into the world. And self-sacrifice will lead us, His followers, not away from but into the midst of men. It should be noted that the appeal here is to the church as a community and not merely to isolated individuals. There is such a thing as the sanctification of the congregation as well as of the individual believer.
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[3} (Romans 8:29) “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
6Who, being in very nature{1] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
Who, being in very nature{1] God,
This clause refers to Christ’s pre-existing state and points to indefinite continuance of His being. The term “nature”{1] designates external manifestation, but it is more than mere appearance or a disguise; it may include things such as shape, gender, a bodily form and the essence of a thing or person. Theologically, the word refers to the inner, essential and abiding nature of a person or thing. And here the meaning is that Jesus Christ has the same nature as God. Jesus Christ, the Father and Holy Spirit are the three persons of the God-head (Holy Trinity) and Jesus being originally, natively, essentially God in the full possession of all that is distinctive of God in His majesty and glory; the dignity of perfect Deity.
This is brought out in such passages as Romans 8:29{3], 2 Corinthians 3:18, and Galatians 4:19, where the “form” or being “conformed” refers, not to the outer but the inner nature. Being in the “nature” of God states, then, that externally, in eternity past, He had manifested what He really is—the eternal God. The word translated “being” means prior existence. Although it is a different word than the verb to be which would directly affirm eternal existence, theologically it is tantamount to affirming His eternal existence. The point here is merely that before He became a man He had the “nature” (form) of God—Christ’s inner character and divine attributes; the essence of His character is the very nature of God. The writer of Hebrews said that the son of God is “the brightness of his (Father’s) Glory, and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3). Paul further confirms this truth by declaring that Christ is perfectly equal with the Father.
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
This focuses upon the humiliation{4] which was involved in Christ’s preincarnate decision not to cling to His divine “indisputable glory, the majesty of His revelation, the greatness and splendor of His manner of being.” As Paul reminded the Corinthians of this great act of leaving heaven behind to encourage their generosity (2 Corinthians 8:9{5]), so he administers an implicit rebuke to the quarreling Philippians by showing them that Christ did not insist upon His rights but in love willingly waved them so that he might save the lost (vv 7, 8).
In the incarnation, however, Christ by becoming man “did not consider equality with God something to be used for his own advantage”; that is, He did not hold the outer manifestation of His deity as a treasure that had to be grasped and retained. Christ in His incarnation did not concern Himself with retaining the outer manifestations of deity which He had prior to His birth. Hence, verse 6 can be translated, “Who, being in the form of God, completely manifesting His divine nature, did not consider the display of His attributes demonstrating that He is equal with God, something to be held onto as a rich prize.” In becoming man, Christ therefore, divested Himself of the outward appearance of deity while retaining all the attributes that belonged to God.
So what is the disposition of deity? Even in His eternal state, the Son of God expressed humility in the way he thought. He didn’t hold on to His equality with God the Father like one who selfishly clings to a treasure unwilling to let it go. He didn’t hoard things; he gave them away. He “thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” In other words, equality with God does not consist of grasping but of giving away. His disposition is that of a giver.
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4. “Humiliation” is a word that could be applied to Jesus Christ, first in His incarnation, next in His passion, and then, perhaps, His entire earthly existence. I don’t believe we can have any idea of what it was like for Him to leave heaven, come to earth, live as a man experiencing everything we do, and then to be crucified and buried.
5. (2 Corinthians 8:9) “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature2 of a servant, being made in human likeness.
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature2 of a servant,
Rather than appearing in the form (or “nature”) of God, Christ emptied Himself “by taking the very nature2 of a servant” (bond slave is better). The apostle did not say that He emptied Himself of His essential equality with God, or of His divine attributes, as is falsely inferred by the proponents of the modern “kenotic”{5] theory. The phrase “he made himself nothing” (or “He emptied Himself”) is used here metaphorically to underline the contrast between the preincarnate glory and the incarnate humiliation, “to show that Christ utterly renounced and laid aside the majesty which he possessed in His original state.” The most satisfactory definition is found in the succeeding details which describe the incidents of Christ’s humanity. Christ’s consciousness of deity was not suspended during His earthly life. “Emptied” (“made himself nothing”) therefore means that Christ veiled his glory when he “stripped himself of the insignia of majesty”. But ironically, Christ emptied Himself “by taking the very nature2 of a servant.” “He took “the very nature2 of a servant” (the form of a servant) while He retained “the very nature” (form) of God! It is exactly that which makes our salvation possible and achieves it. Yet though Christ remained essentially one with the Father (John 10:30), the stark reality of His servanthood necessarily involves complete subordination to the Father’s will, so that He refused every temptation to make independent use of His divine powers during the period of His humiliation{4] (John 14:10, 28). This “taking the very nature of a servant” also made Christ subject to the law of God in both its active and passive demands (Galatians 4:4, 5{6]). He came to fulfill all its precepts as our representative, and to exhaust its penalty as our sin-bearing substitute. To have taken the form of a servant in reference to any human will or authority would have contradicted His dignity and mission. It was to God the Father that He assumed this relation and it was to the will of the Father that He surrendered Himself in the fullness of subjection and obligation. (John 6:38; 17:4).
Paul presents a second aspect of Christ’s mindset through His humble incarnation. The humility of God the Son did not remain in glory. Jesus “made himself nothing” (made himself of no reputation). His character, in conjunction with His Father’s will, compelled Him to empty Himself—to come to earth and be born as a man. This statement refers to Jesus’ surrender of the following privileges and rights in becoming a man:
• The holy atmosphere of heaven
• The display of His eternal glory
• The wealth and privileges of His deity and power
He set all these rites aside to become the Redeemer and Mediator between God and man. In this self-emptying, Jesus took on the “nature” (form or essence of a slave). He retained “the nature of God” but added to it “the very nature of a servant.”
Some have attempted to argue from this that Christ gave up His deity or some of His divine attributes. What is meant, however, must be defined by the explanation which accompanies this statement, namely, that Christ did not empty Himself of his deity, but only of its outward manifestation and its use for His own benefit.
being made in human likeness.
How did Christ appear when he took human form? Many artists have tried to capture the face of Jesus but the truth is, no one really knows what He looked like. Personally, I don’t care for pictures which show Him looking sort of feminine. I believe He was a real man among men, but Paul uses the word “likeness” to show that in assuming our humanity (sin being the exception; Romans 8:3) He did not cease to be Himself—the eternal Son of God. So though Christ entered upon a genuinely human existence at a definite point in time, his prior existence “in the form of God” means that the secret of His person cannot be grasped by those who think of Him in merely human terms (Matthew 16:16{7]). Christ could not have achieved His earthly purpose if He had manifested the beaming Glory which He had from eternity past. He needed to appear as a man, even if he still were God.
5. “Kenosis” in Christian theology (Greek; lit. the act of emptying) is the self-emptying of Jesus’ own will and Him becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will. The Philippians passage urges believers to imitate Christ's self-emptying. In this interpretation, Paul was not primarily putting forth a theory about God in this passage; rather he was using God's humility exhibited in the incarnation event as a call for Christians to be similarly subservient to others.
6. (Galatians 4:4-5) But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
7. (Matthew 16:16) Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
And being found in appearance as a man,
This is almost the same as the previous clause. Having become man, Christ was recognized as such by those who saw Him in the days of His flesh, for He wore the clothes and acted like men of His generation. The word “appearance” refers to His external features, so that here the contrast “is between what He is in Himself, and what He appeared in the eyes of men”. The majority did not see beyond the outward guise, and this failure to perceive His divine dignity meant that his whole earthly walk was one long via dolorosa which lead inevitably to the cross (Isaiah 53:2, 3).
In Romans 12:2 the Christian is instructed not to fashion himself after the world, but to be “transformed,” changed in his inner nature and experience. But he had a genuine humanity, manifested in Him being in the form of a servant, like other men except that He was not a sinner, and in outer appearance or fashion He looked like a man and acted like a man. And the fact is that while Christ was a man on earth, he still was a man after His resurrection and is still a man in heaven. While on earth He was God and looked like a man, in heaven, while he will retain His humanity, He will resume the appearance of God and his prerogatives of deity. Although His humanity was to continue forever, Christ’s outer form was to be changed when he resumed his place in glory.
In verse 8 Paul relates a third aspect of Jesus’ humble mindset. Christ is our example of humility because He is giving, not grasping. He is our example because He emptied Himself of deserved privilege. And He is our example because He obeyed His Father fully. Jesus Christ completed His humble descent as a man by submitting Himself to the crux of His Father’s will—dying on a cross.
By coming to earth as a man, Jesus Christ unveiled His humility for all the world to see. Had He stooped to become a king, He still would have been the humblest man who ever lived. Instead, He took the lowest position in every choice of life. No one judged Him to be divine by His appearance, and He grew and developed just like any other child. In His lifestyle, He chose the path of poverty and suffering. In His ministry, He reached out to the poor and to society’s outcasts. However, we see the ultimate manifestation of His humility in His complete obedience to His Father’s will when He died on the cross for the sins of the world. He lowered Himself as far as possible when “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” To the Roman mind, crucifixion was the vilest death imaginable. A crucified Messiah didn’t meet the approval of many Jews either. They assumed Jesus was accursed (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). But that shame paled in comparison with the agony of bearing “the inequity of us all” and being forsaken by His Father (Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 27:46).
he humbled himself{8] by becoming obedient to death—
First, the pre-incarnate Christ emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant (v. 7). Then having become man, “he humbled himself{8] by becoming obedient” even up to the point of death. The description covers Christ’s entire life upon earth, and shows that His undeviating subjection to the Father’s will led him to accept a life of humiliation which culminated in His death. This extreme height reached by His obedience was, however, just the extreme depth of the humiliation, and thereby at the same time its end.
Ordinary men have been humiliated and have died violent, painful deaths, but never did one die as Christ died. He had it in His power to come down from the cross and destroy His enemies, and yet He willingly died not only suffering the unspeakable agony, but the torture of soul of a holy person bearing the sins of the whole world and for the first time experiencing separation from God the Father. No human body has ever entered into the experience of Christ, the obedient Servant, who coming from the infinite height of glory went to the infinite depth of hell.
even death on a cross!
The climax is in the word “cross,” and it must have deeply impressed those whose citizenship made them exempt from that hideous form of capital punishment which was reserved for slaves and foreigners. He humbled Himself to the accursed “death on a cross.” There were no lower depths possible, for the cross stands for the whole curse of God upon sin. It is humiliation, incomparable, unrepeated, and unrepeatable.”
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[8} He humbled himself—to lower; to make low; two humble; to humiliate; to take the lowest place
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
[The word “therefore” connects verses 6-8 and 9-11.]
This is the turning point in the great drama of redemption. In the first part of this passage attention has been focused on the self-humbling of Christ, but now God takes the initiative by advancing Christ to the place of highest honor. The exultation which Christ experienced when He went to heaven was not only the resumption of the glory which He had before the incarnation (John 17:5), but the added Glory of triumph over sin, suffering and death, and the fulfillment of God that in His death He would reconcile the world unto Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). It was in recognition of this achievement that he was given a name which is above every name, the name of Jesus.
As the reward for Christ’s obedience unto death, God highly exalted (raised to a high point of honor) Him, and graciously gave to “him the name that is above every name.” “The name that is above every name” can only be the name “Lord”, which is the word used in the Greek version of the Old Testament to render the unutterable name of God; YHWH.
Paul emphasizes not only what Jesus did but how He did it. The Son of God died for our sins on a despicable Roman cross as the suffering Servant. He won, not by pumping Himself up but by pouring Himself out. And that is why God the Father honors the Son in such a glorious fashion.
Christ selflessly chose to lower Himself. As a result, His Father gladly chose to exalt Him by giving Him a title that exceeds all other earthly titles of Kings, presidents, prime ministers, and emperors. God honored Christ with the name of Lord! No mere human has legitimately aspired to this designation, though some have tried. But no person in the history of humanity has been able to elude the sure-fire sign of frail humanity—death. Sins wages have doomed us all. But Jesus lived a righteous life. He alone conquered death through resurrection. He is in a category by Himself.
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
This expresses the purpose of the exultation. In adapting the words of Isaiah 45:23 for His purpose (Romans 14:11), Paul here transfers to Christ the universal homage which is there claimed by God. “At the name of Jesus” means “in recognition of it, or of the authority and majesty of Him who bears it . . . If beings bow in recognition of “the name of Jesus,” it is to Jesus Himself as bearing such a name, that they offer homage. What the apostle has in view is the future submission of all intelligent beings before Christ, whether by choice or by compulsion. The first are all the blessed angels and the saints in heaven; the second are all the men on earth; and the third are all the demons and the damned in hell. The three groups include all created personal beings. All shall bow in submission and make this acknowledgment or confession with either joy and bliss or dismay.”
The point he makes, or you might say the bottom line, is that the same person who suffered humiliation and crucifixion becomes, not only by means of His person but by means of His triumph, the one to whom all must bow. This leads to the conclusion that all men, whether righteous or unrighteous and all angels, whether holy or fallen, will someday be forced to confess and bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. The sad fact is, however, that that reluctant confession will be too late. Men have their opportunity to receive Christ today. As Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” We can choose to worship Him as Lord and Savior either now or later. Whoever chooses the latter needs to realize that worshipping Christ is not a matter of IF but WHEN and WITH WHAT CONSEQUENCES. After death and in the consummation of human history when Christ judges the world, it will be too late.
11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
In affirming that “Jesus Christ is Lord,” Paul is echoing the earliest creed of the Christian church (Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3). This confession of the present Lordship of Christ which is already made within the context of the churches’ worship thus anticipates the universal recognition that will follow at the parousa. “Paul has the exalted Jesus in mind and is speaking of Him.
to the glory of God the Father.
Paul fittingly concludes with a doxology expressing the ultimate purpose of Christ’s exultation (vv. 9-11). “Christ as God has the right to the adoration of the universe, but as God-man He has for His special service received a special investiture. He could not be worshipped at all, if He was not God, and He is now worshipped on this peculiar ground, because He has done and suffered as the apostle tells us. But the prime place is occupied by “God the Father,” to whom service was rendered by Christ, while the success of such service and its consequent reward by the Father are the source of Glory to Him. In the honor paid to His exalted Son, His own character is more fully seen and admired.”
