5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became 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 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Dig Deeper
Throughout my years of teaching and studying history, I noticed a very clear pattern amongst great and powerful leaders regardless of the time period they lived in or what nation they ruled. Most of those leaders constantly exaggerated their greatness, grabbed for more power, and constantly exalted themselves in reputation and title. This is true whether you look at the rulers of ancient Babylon or Egypt, who were constantly claiming to be gods or at the very least, sons of gods. This was true of great world leaders like Alexander the Great who constantly exalted himself and fed into the belief that he was the son of a god. This was especially true in Paul’s time with the Roman Emperors who gave themselves grand titles and were already beginning to claim deity. The way of the world seems to be that great leaders are powerful, impressive, and magnificent, and they exalt themselves and increase their power in order to cement their status as rulers.
In fact, one of the things that set Abraham Lincoln apart from so many other rulers throughout the history of the world was that he seemed to reject all of the pretense, the pomp, and self-exaltation. If anything, he constantly engaged in self-deprecation and constantly humbled himself. Although, he was far from perfect, he was notable for his humility. So, it should come as no surprise that he read the Bible constantly growing up and he greatly admired and tried to emulate Jesus Christ. The problem that many people have to this day with accepting Jesus for who the Bible says he is, is that he doesn’t measure up to the world’s standard of a great leader. If he really was so great, they claim, why aren’t their more records; why didn’t he make a bigger splash; why didn’t more people follow him; why wasn’t he more impressive? Paul addresses that directly in one of the most expressive and beautiful passages about Jesus in all of scripture. In it, he will describe what true power, glory, and authority really look like. What was just as shocking in Paul’s day as it is in ours, is that the picture he paints is a shocking departure from the world’s idea of those very concepts of power, glory, and authority.
When we truly consider the human view of power and authority we see the subversive shock of what Paul is saying here. It has been man’s destiny and pattern since the time of Adam and Eve to snatch for power, authority, and status that does not belong to us. All the Pharaohs, Alexander the Greats, and Roman Emperors are exposed as frauds by Paul’s words. What they are exercising, grasping for, and exploiting is not true power and authority but the human caricature and perversion of it.
In the previous passage, Paul called the Philippians to love one another with a seemingly unattainable unity and a determination to put the interests of one another ahead of their own. His ultimate reason is because they have entered into the life of Christ. But what does that mean in practical terms? The life of Christ is not something that can be quantified or captured by a list of commands or rules. Perhaps the best way to explain the mind of Christ to which Paul wants them to attain is to actually look at the mind set of Christ himself. He does so in this beautiful passage that some surmise to be an early Christian hymn, but is just as likely written by Paul as an integral part of his overall argument in this letter.
The NEB translation of verse 5 really brings out Paul’s point clearly, "Let your bearing towards one another arise out of your life in Jesus Christ." Paul’s desire is that the way Christians think should be like-minded (v. 2) because we are all in Christ. That doesn’t mean Paul is calling for uniformity where everyone thinks and acts exactly the same in every situation. Paul calls for the unity of the mind of Christ which entails the desire to do God’s will, love one another, put the interests of others above self, etc. When this is done, the body of Christ will have the same mind as Christ.
In verse 6, Paul begins to describe the mind and nature of Christ that he is calling the Philippians to emulate. Rather than the power-grabbing, self-exalting nature of most human leaders, Jesus was God in his very nature (a word that could also appropriately be translated "form" or "essence") did not consider equality with God or his status as God as something to be exploited or taken advantage of (the word translated "grasped" is now understood by most scholars to have been an idiom which meant to use a situation to your advantage). This stands in stark contrast to Caesar and other pretenders to the throne who exploit and take advantage of every situation they possibly can.
That was the mind set of Christ, but an attitude remains abstract and theoretical until it is accompanied by action. Paul wanted the Philippians to have the same mind as Christ, but to also have the same actions. The specific action that he has called them to is to put the interests of others above their own interests. He will now discuss how Christ did exactly that as a model for them. Rather than exalting himself and exploiting his divinity, Jesus made himself nothing, a term which means making himself of no account. He didn’t come to earth and demand to be treated as God, but rather took the very nature of a servant (literally a slave), being made in human likeness, and was found in appearance as a man. Paul is not arguing that Jesus gave up his divinity, quite the opposite. His point is that he revealed the form of God in the form of a slave and human likeness. The slave in Paul’s day did not have the most basic human rights. Jesus refused to exploit the privilege of deity. He did not come to be served, but to serve (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45).
Christians should constantly be ready to humble ourselves because Christ had every reason to lift himself up and demand to be served, but instead he subjected himself to the ultimate form of humility by dying on a cross. Crucifixion was such a grotesque and uncouth concept in Roman society, that the word for cross was considered an obscenity by cultured folks. Jesus lowered himself for the sake of others to become human and never comforted himself with his own deserved title or status, and then humbled himself even more when his human status and his obedience to the plan of God led him straight to the cross. Christ went from the highest position imaginable to the lowest possible circumstances. This lowly status and putting the interests of others ahead of his own was not evidence that Jesus was not divine, in fact it was the very proof that he was. Men constantly seek to gain power by exalting themselves, but truly "what is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s site" (Luke 16:15).
In verse 9, things suddenly turn from humbling and lowly status on the word "therefore". Why should the one who was so humbled be exalted to the highest place? Because on the cross, Jesus has done only what God could do. By humbling himself in such a way for others, Jesus demonstrated that he is the only one worthy of being exalted as the true God. This is Paul’s point in verses 10-11. When it is revealed that Jesus has been enthroned in heaven, the place of God’s presence, every knee will bow either willingly or reluctantly. His exaltation will be universal and complete. Verse 11 quotes from Isaiah 45:23, a passage which promises that all of humanity will bow to YHWH alone and that this glory will not be shared with anyone. Yet, the glory that YHWH will not share is now being given to Jesus, demonstrating that he is, in fact, God in his very nature. Rather than being duped by human concepts of authority, power, and divinity, we would do well to do what Paul does here: to start with Jesus and rethink our whole understanding of God and power through him. The God we serve is a God who is most recognizable when he gives up his rights and abandons his high position for the sake of the world. That’s the attitude and way of life to which we should cling because we belong to the Messiah. If we truly understand that, then the lofty ideals of verses 1-4 suddenly come into focus as necessary and attainable.
Devotional Thought
Do you live a pattern of abandoning your rights for the sake and good of others or do you tend to snatch and revel in any opportunity to further your own interests? What patterns of worldly thinking about status and rights have you accepted that you need to constantly rethink in light of the example of Christ?
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