The Christmas season is here. We find ourselves once again celebrating Christ's coming to earth. God Himself taking on human flesh, dwelling among us. Emmanuel, God with us. We will talk about this in Philippians 2:1-11.
Paul has just told the Philippians to let their manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). They are commanded to stand firm and to suffer for the name of Christ. This is the reason we find the word "Therefore" or "So" in Philippians 2:1. This passage is about humility, but humility is not the goal. The goal is for our manner of life to be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Paul shows that humility is a key part of our lives being lived in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
We as believers are called to be united by our humility (Philippians 2:1-4), to imitate Christ's humility (Philippians 2:5-8), to understand that God exalts humility (Philippians 2:9-11). So, let us take a look at this passage. We will see that the incarnation of Christ is a humiliation to emulate.
We as believers are to be united by our humility (Philippians 2:1-4). Paul had undergone many hardships and trials for the cause of Christ and the good of the Church. But Paul is not alone in this. There are many hardships to the heart of a pastor. People sometimes fall into disobedience, they leave the Church, oftentimes never to return. This brings great heartache to a pastor, but much like Paul in this passage he finds great joy in his people being united (Philippians 2:1-2).
Notice that it is not a false unity that is desired here, but a true unity. This is not a unity that is simply ignoring differences, this is true unity. Paul says here that they be of the "same mind", that is that they are joined together in thoughts. They think the same way. This happens as an entire group of people are joined together thinking as Scripture directs. Their hearts and minds are being transformed by the Word of God and because of this they are thinking the same thoughts. They have "the same love". Paul's desire is that the Church would be joined together in mutual affection. And that they would be "in full accord". Paul's desire is not for a fake unity, it is true unity where they find themselves to be completely united in Christ. If this were to happen Paul's joy would be made complete.
For this to occur we will be humble, for it is out of humble actions that these occur. Paul here commands that we not do anything from rivalry or conceit (Philippians 2:3). Rivalry is a desire to put one's self forward. It was often used in the world of politics. We can see this in our own political system today as political candidates will talk bad about each other and about how good they are. This is the sense that the word is used. Conceit is about our self-esteem. It is doing something to exalt one's self.
Think with me to today's political campaigns. The tactic oftentimes used by candidates is a smear campaign. This is where candidates will talk bad about other candidates and then mention that they are a lot better than these other candidates. Oftentimes the allegations brought forward are true, oftentimes they are not. But what they are doing is acting out of rivalry and conceit. They are exalting one's self as they degrade the people around them. It is blowing everyone else's candle out so that their's will burn a little brighter. This is not the way believer's are commanded to act.
Instead we should be humble and count others more significant than ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4). We are to think little of ourselves and our rights. We are to think little about ourselves while thinking of others as significant.
Think to the last time you were fighting with someone. Was it not because one of you or both of you felt that you had rights and privileges that were owed to you that someone had taken away or diminished in some fashion? Was it because of someone's desire to exalt their self, or make you look bad? Was it because you desired to exalt your self and make someone else look bad?
We are not to act in this manner. We are to count others as more important than ourselves. Instead of acting this way, we are to imitate Christ.
We as believers are to imitate Christ's humility (Philippians 2:5-8). Paul begins by stating that we are to have the same attitude that Christ had (Philippians 2:5). Looking at Philippians 2:5-8 we find that Christ underwent quite a humiliation in His life that we are to emulate.
Being God, Christ existed as God, equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:6). Christ existed before the creation of anything with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. All three of them present as one deity. This is the doctrine that we call the Trinity. God is one, but made up of three persons. Christ has always been one of those three persons. He existed as God the Son. But even though this is the case He would live in great humility.
Being God, Christ did not count this equality something to hold on to (Philippians 2:6). The word here is ἁρπαγμός. It means grasped, seized, or retained. The King James Version translated it robbery. Even though Christ was equal with God He did not think of this equality as something to hold on to, to retain. This is an incredible act of humility in and of itself. Think with me momentarily about what this means. Even though Christ was Himself God, His attitude was not to hold on to what was rightfully His. His attitude was the opposite of this. Though He was rightfully God, He did not hold onto that which was rightfully His: majesty, being worshiped, among other things.
Being God, Christ actually "made Himself nothing". The word for this phrase is κενόω, it means to empty. So, even though Christ was rightfully God He emptied Himself. This does not mean that He was not God while on earth, but it is closer to meaning His deity was veiled. His being God was hidden for His time on earth. We would also say that His majesty for this time period was emptied. He emptied Himself of His majesty. He was still God, we see this in the miracles that He does here on earth, but we also see that He was human as he was tired, sleepy, hungry, etc.
Being God, Christ took the "form of a servant", being in the likeness of men. This is really quite interesting because though He did not grasp or seize at retaining the glories of Heaven, He took the form of a servant. What He did seize was His humiliation in becoming a man. What a show of humility that we are to emulate! That Christ would forego what was rightfully His in Heaven to take for Himself becoming a man is a thought that is hard to imagine. And that He would go even further is even more incomprehensible.
Being God, Christ humbled Himself by making Himself killable (Philippians 2:8). I do not think that "killable" is really a word, but I will use it here anyway. It seems to work. When Christ was in glory there was no way He could ever be killed. He had to make Himself mortal man in order to undergo the punishment that was to come. The chasm that exists between creator and creation at this point is so unfathomable making it difficult to even think through this. Christ humbled Himself making Himself able to die, so that He could take upon Himself the punishment for our sins.
Being God, Christ humbled Himself by dying the most humiliating of deaths, death on the cross (Philippians 2:8). The cross was not a dignified death by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it was on the complete opposite of the spectrum. The cross was reserved for the worst. It was the most degrading death that had been devised and was so degrading that it was not to be used on Roman citizens. Don't forget that before the cross Jesus was beaten, mocked, spit upon, and flogged. As He was on the cross He continued to be mocked as He hung naked on the most degrading of torturous instruments of death.
There really are no illustrations that can aptly cover what Christ did in coming to earth. The chasm that Christ crossed from being worshiped in Heaven to coming to earth is far greater than we can ever imagine. Then we see that not only did He come here but He also submitted Himself to the cruelty and degradation of the cross. These are thoughts that boggle the mind. Yet, at the same time, He is our example of humility. Christ, our eternal creator, came to us, lived on earth, made Himself able to die, and died the most lowly of deaths.
Now we must ask ourselves, what is holding us back from acting in a humble manner toward one another? What is it that we think is so great that we have to hold on to? Is it greater than what Jesus had as He was worshiped in Heaven? Do we think that our friends will think we are stupid? Do we think that it will cost us something greater than being worshiped in Heaven?
Christ is our example, but in Christ we also see God's exaltation of humility (Philippians 2:9-11) Christ is here set before us as an example of God's treatment of the humble. To understand this a little better look at Matthew 20:25-28. Here we see one of the great paradoxes of Christianity. In this present age the one who is great will later be a servant, and in this present age the one who will be exalted will later be a servant. And we see this played out in the exaltation of Christ.
Philippians 2:9 begins with the word "therefore", or "so". This is from the word “ἵνα” in the Greek. It begins a cause and effect statement. So we should understand this as "because of Christ's humiliation God has highly exalted Him". This exaltation does not concern the Son's eternal nature, He was God before He came to earth, He continued to be God, and He will always be God. This is about the God-man Jesus Christ. You see Jesus exists at this present moment still as the God-man. When He ascended He did not lose His being human, He will always be that way. Jesus Christ, the God-man, is now highly exalted due to the humiliation that He bore on this earth. And because of this God has exalted Him and we see that everyone everywhere will bow to Him (Philippians 2:9-10). All will bow to Christ and confess Him as Lord. This includes believers, atheists, those who worship other "gods" presently, angels, demons, Satan, and anyone else. They will all bow their knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All "to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:11).
Here is where we are to go and what we are to do. We are to live humbly with one another, not thinking more highly of ourselves than others. We are to have the same thinking about our own rights and privileges that Christ did, who left the glories of being worshiped in Heaven, veiled His deity, emptied Himself of His majesty, came to earth making Himself killable, and dying on a cross for our sins. This is our example of humility.
We should also not lose sight of the great paradox in Christianity. The humble are exalted, the last shall be first. We are not humble to bring ourselves less joy, but more.
R. Dwain Minor
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