THE DISCERNMENT SERIES

The Proper Exegesis of Philippians 2:6-8

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Unless you are a pastor, theologian or former Bible Student, you may wonder what “exegesis” means. The goal of Biblical exegesis is to explore the meaning of the Biblical text which then leads to discovering its significance or relevance. Another word associated with this term is Hermeneutics which is the science of interpretation of the Scriptures and deals with the principles of Biblical exegesis. If I’ve lost you, here’s another explanation. Hermeneutics and exegesis are simply the practices of accurately discerning the meaning of scripture based on study and research which leads to determining how the scripture can be applied to living a life dedicated to God. We know that the Bible has been used to justify all sorts of evil and false teaching at times. This is because the persons interpreting the Bible for their own purposes or the purposes of the Evil One ignore godly rules and guidelines for interpreting scripture. We also know that Christians at times can unknowingly misinterpret scripture to justify their beliefs or actions. This leads to errors in determining what the scriptures are really saying which affects how it is applied to the lives of followers of Christ. My purpose in mentioning this is the fact that many Christians misinterpret portions of Philippians 2 which can cause “wrong-thinking” about what it is saying and this affects how they apply Philippians 2 to their lives. So let’s look at this chapter in Philippians and seek to understand its accurate meaning. It begins with an opening instruction to followers of Christ in verses 1 through 6.

 

Philippians 2:1-6

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:”

 

The first six verses instruct us to have unity in our faith because of our experience as followers of Christ. We are encouraged as Christians to be unified and like-minded because we have love for one another and are unified by the Holy Spirit for the common purposes of God. This is made possible because we have been united with Christ by our acceptance of Him as Lord and Savior and because we have received the Holy Spirit as a gift to seal us as a follower of Christ. Paul instructs all believers here not to behave with selfish ambition or fleshly conceit, but rather to be humble and consider other Christians as more important than themselves. Christians deal with selfish motives at times because they still battle the flesh and Paul is instructing Christians to win this battle by having the same attitude as Christ the Lord. Paul is giving us a holy and godly example to follow in the person of Jesus Christ. Now in verses 6 through 8 he illustrates how Jesus demonstrated His humble model of behavior.

 

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

 

Verse 6 states that Jesus was in His very nature God. The phrase, “being in the form of God” is critical here. The Greek word “huparcho” for “being” denotes that which a person is in their very nature or essence. This nature or essence cannot be altered or changed. It is what they are and always will be. This nature is unalterable and cannot be removed or modified. Now the word “nature” or “form” in verse 6 is best interpreted by looking at the original Greek word used here. This Greek word is “morphe” and it has to do with a deep inner essential abiding nature of something that never changes. It is not the “external” form. This phrase is saying that Christ was and is God completely and absolutely and He will always be God. This has always been an important basic doctrine of the Christian faith, the established and substantiated belief in the deity of Jesus Christ, and it is a cornerstone upon which His universal church is based. Now at the end of verse 6 it says, Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” What does that mean? In Heaven the angel Satan who was a created being attempted to grasp equality with God for himself. But he could not because this was not his essence or nature. This verse tells us that Jesus didn’t attempt to grasp a God nature because He was already equal to God. There was nothing for Him to seek. There was nothing for Him to grasp, because He was already God. This is a classic statement affirming that Jesus was and always will be God in His inner nature. So much so that He didn’t seek it and He never feared He’d lose it. He’s God. This is a basic doctrine of Christianity.

 

Verse 7 continues by saying, “but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

 

Jesus Christ did not have to worry about losing His deity or divinity because this was at the very core of His being. Jesus has always been and always will be God. But while being completely and absolutely God, He chose to lower Himself by taking upon Himself the nature of a servant in human likeness. When verse 7 says, “but made himself nothing” or as some translations say “emptied himself” it does not mean He emptied Himself of His deity, His Godly essence, for this could never be removed or cease to exist. The word here for “empty” is “kenosis” in the Greek. In Christian theology, “Kenosis” is the ‘self-emptying’ of one’s own will and becoming entirely receptive to God’s divine will. The verb “kenosis” means to pour out everything until it’s all gone. He poured out Himself. He emptied Himself. He divested Himself. He did not empty or pour out His deity. He emptied Himself of “self-will” and submitted Himself to God. When the verse says, “taking the very nature of a servant” it means He became a perfect humble servant of God through this “pouring out” or “emptying.” When it says He was “made in human likeness” it refers to His human form. The Greek word here for “likeness” or “form” in this verse is “schema.” “Schema” means the outward, the passing away, the changing or the external. The Greek verb for “being made” is “gignesthai” and describes a state which is not permanent. It describes a changing phase which is very real, but passes. The human form of Jesus was temporary. So Jesus did not abandon His deity when He emptied Himself and made Himself nothing. He simply became a servant, a true human being. But He did give up privileges of His God nature. What did He give up?

 

First He gave up or abandoned His sovereign position of glory. He veiled His glory in human flesh. He chose not to express His full glory while existing as a man on the earth. He emptied Himself and made Himself nothing, yet He continued to be God. He didn’t lose any of His divine attributes, He simply choose not to use them. He gave up the privilege of using them as a simple man. He did not give up His deity because He could not cease to be eternally God. In John 17:5 we see Jesus praying before His crucifixion to receive back the full glory He had before emptying Himself. This verse states, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

 

Secondly, He gave up His honor. Isaiah 53 says, “He was despised. He was rejected.” He was not honored by mankind and some men and women even hated Him vehemently. While many of His followers loved Him and His teaching, very few stood by His side during His trial and crucifixion.

 

Thirdly, He gave up His riches. Second Corinthians 8:9 says, “He who was rich for our sakes became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich.” Jesus was rich in many ways as God, but He limited Himself and emptied Himself so that He could walk in life as we walk.

 

Fourthly, He gave up His favorable relationship with the Father at the moment of time when He died on the cross and said, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46) All during His life on the earth and during His ministry years, He was very close to His Father for He did only what the Father instructed. But at the cross, when He bore our sins this relationship was momentarily interrupted. I can’t imagine what it must have felt life for Jesus Christ who had existed forever with the Father and the Spirit to have this relationship interrupted. This must have been one of the most painful things to endure in addition to the punishment for the sins that He bore.

 

Fifthly, Jesus also gave up His independent exercise of authority. He said, “I will do only that which the Father shows Me. My meat is to do the Father’s will. What the Father says I will do. What I see the Father do I will do.” (John 4:34, John 5:19) While in Heaven Jesus was always in complete agreement with the Father and the Spirit as they communed with each other. On the earth He emptied Himself of any exercise of authority of His own. He only did what the Father instructed and willed. This shows true godly humility.

 

Verse 8 continues with this thought when it says, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!”

 

Now the word for “appearance” here in verse 8 is the word “schema.” He was being found in the “appearance” (fashion) as a man. But “fashion” or “appearance” is the temporary physical, the external. Jesus was fully man in every sense of the word but He still possessed His divine “form” or in the Greek “morphe,” the unchanging, the eternal essence of His being God. Being fully human in appearance and function, Jesus grew tired, needed to sleep and eat, had normal bodily functions and cried real tears. This is why the end of verse 8 is so dramatic. Jesus who was God humbled Himself to become man even to the point of being obedient to death. But this was no normal death. It was death on the cross. Crucifixion was one of the most gruesome, cruel and tortuous deaths ever devised by mankind. Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God during His time on earth and now resides in Heaven with a glorified body as we will have one day.

 

Some people wrongly think that Philippians 2 in these verses is telling us that Jesus gave up His deity and divinity while He was a man on the earth. They believe that when Philippians states that He humbled Himself and emptied Himself He gave up His essential nature of being God and was simply a mere man who obeyed God in a perfect manner. This is heresy and is associated with other false teachings that were being taught early in the history of the first century church. There were false teachers in the early centuries of Christianity known as Gnostics that thought it impossible that God could exist in the form of man and dreamed up all sorts of possible theologies that denied that Jesus was both man and God while on the earth. Such teachings deny the basic Christian doctrine of Jesus retaining His essential nature of being God while at the same time being fully human. The books of John, Jude and others are good examples of efforts of the Holy Spirit to inspire and anoint godly men to refute these false beliefs and protect followers of Christ from false doctrine through the writing of Holy Scripture. Numerous verses illustrate that many times Jesus referred to His divine nature while He was ministering to others. Here are a few.

 

John 8:58-59, “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” The Jews were angry at Jesus for they knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. He was claiming, as a man, to be God and this to them was blasphemy. Jesus’ words tell us here that He knew He was God and that He proclaimed His deity before men during His earthly ministry.

 

John 1:1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Here John is stating that the Word (Jesus Christ) has always existed and has always been God. This has always been an established fact in Christianity, verified by God’s Word and witnessed to by the apostles.

 

Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Here Paul tells us that Jesus Christ God’s Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the EXACT representation of the “being” of God. Jesus Christ the Son of God was in His essence always God even though manifesting Himself as fully man.

 

Colossians 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Here Paul again verifies the doctrine of Jesus Christ’s divinity because He was the “image of the invisible God.” The phrase “the firstborn over all creation” points to His being the agent by which all things were created, NOT that He was a created being as some false teachers would profess. This is verified by other words later in the verse that say, “all things were created by Him and for Him…and in Him all things hold together.”

 

So Philippians 2, properly interpreted, establishes the fact that Jesus was fully God and fully man, yet He gave up His divine privileges so that He could live as a humble servant doing whatever His Father commanded. In this process He became a perfect sacrifice for our sins. What a godly example for us to follow! What a Lord! What a Savior! What a man! What a God!

 

“There is evidence for the deity of Jesus — good, strong, historical, cumulative evidence; evidence to which an honest person can subscribe without committing intellectual suicide.”

John Stott

 

“…the title “Son of God” when applied to Christ in Scripture always speaks of His essential deity and absolute equality with God,…”

John MacArthur

 

“He is, in person, the Son of God, the only-begotten Son of God, and as such he must have the same nature.”

Matthew Henry

 

“The Apostle Paul states Jesus Christ to be of the same essence with the Father,”

Adam Clark

 

“That Christ, as a Mediator, as the Son of God in human nature, exactly represents what God is, being the very image of him who is invisible.”

John Calvin