THE HUMILIATION OF CHRIST

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I. WHAT DOES THE HUMILIATION OF CHRIST MEAN?

A. Philippians 2:5–7 (ESV) — 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

B. This purpose of the Father for the Son had two stages. The first stage was humiliation. The eternal Son let go of his glory and through incarnation became a poor man and a religious outsider. Finally, by means of a show trial and unscrupulous manipulation of Pilate’s moral weakness, he became a condemned criminal dying a dreadful death as mankind’s sin-bearer (Phil. 2:6–8; 2 Cor. 8:9; Gal. 3:13; 4:4–5).[1]

D. John 1:1 (ESV) — 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

E. “Form” here means the true and exact nature of something, possessing all the characteristics and qualities of something.[2]

G. He did not count equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage.[3]

II. WHAT DID HE DO?

B. Philippians 2:7 (NIV) — 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

C. Paul is not saying that Christ became less than God or “gave up” some divine attributes; he is not even commenting directly on the question of whether Jesus was fully omnipotent or omniscient during his time on earth. Nor is he saying that Christ ever gave up being “in the form of God.” Rather, Paul is stressing that Christ, who had all the privileges that were rightly his as king of the universe, gave them up to become an ordinary Jewish baby bound for the cross. Christ “made himself nothing” [4]

[1] Packer, J. I. (1993). Concise theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (p. 119). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House. [2] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2283). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. [3] Merkle, B. L., Meyer, J. C., Wilson, A. I., Chapman, D. W., & Burk, D. (2018). Ephesians–Philemon. (I. M. Duguid, J. M. Hamilton Jr., & J. Sklar, Eds.) (Vol. XI, p. 152). Wheaton, IL: Crossway. [4] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2283). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.