Exegesis of Philippians 2:5-11
Step I – Initial Acquaintance
Comparison of English Texts: (Phil 2:5 NRSV) Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, (Phil 2:5 NIV) Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
(Phil 2:5 NEB) Let your bearing towards one another arise out of your life in Christ Jesus.
(Phil 2:6 NRSV) who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, (Phil 2:6 NIV) Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, (Phil 2:6 NEB) For the divine nature was his from the first; yet he did not think to snatch at equality with God,
(Phil 2:7 NRSV) but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, (Phil 2:7 NIV) but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Phil 2:7 NEB) but made himself nothing, assuming the nature of a slave.
(Phil 2:5-11 The Message) Think of yourselves in the way that Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless life, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death – and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth – even those long dead and buried – will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
Rough Translation: The key to interpreting this text is found in verse 5. The verb is missing from the second part of the sentence. The missing verb is phroneo. It is translated as think or have in mind or think the thoughts of. Did Paul intend for us to add the verb ourselves to the second part of the sentence to make sense of it? Literally it should be translated Think this in you which also in Christ Jesus. Or Have the same mind in you which also Christ Jesus. What verb we add makes a big difference in how the text is understood. If you if you add the verb was it has specific implications: Think this in you which was also in Christ Jesus. This is how it is interpreted in NIV and NSRV. This makes it an ethical exhortation. You must have the same mind that is in Christ Jesus. It is the ethical call to imitate Christ. What follows then is the description of that mind or attitude that was in Christ to be imitated. But there are others who argue that it should be translated differently. Have this attitude among yourselves which you also have in Jesus Christ. “The choice, then, is between a command to have the attitude that was in Christ Jesus and a command to have an attitude that belongs to those who are in him.” (1) It is important to translate it Among yourselves as opposed to the literal in you. Among yourselves implies that it should be practiced within the community and not just an internal thing. Paul is not referring to what Christ thinks as much as how Christ relates to others. Frankly, I do not have the knowledge to make a good decision on this issue. However, given the context of the hymn in the broader letter I would interpret it as a call to be like Christ. Two other words in the text are important for consideration. Vs 6 morphe – visible form. Harpagmos – something to be exploited or grasped. There has been a lot of debate about what this means in the text. It is probably best translated as something to be exploited – meaning that Jesus possessed equality with God but chose not to take advantage of it. Verse 7 – Kenoo – emptied himself – made himself nothing. This is meant to be an exact opposite of the position he had with God.
Step II - Disposition
Genre – How the text says what it says: The text has the appearance of an ancient hymn of the church or a creed. A great deal has been written on whether or not it was a great hymn or creed that Paul was quoting that would have been familiar the Philippians. If it was a hymn or creed it is not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament. Although there are many different examples of such hymns in the New Testament. It could be that it was a hymn that was only familiar to the Philippians. On the other hand it may be that it is the creation of Paul. What difference any of this debate makes is not clear. What is important is that it has become somewhat of a hymn or creed in the present Church. It is a beautifully poetic statement about the incarnation of Christ. It can be divided into three sections. Section one v. 5 – the introduction. Section two vs. 6-8 – the humility/emptying of Christ. Here Jesus is the one acting. Section three vs. 9-11 – the exaltation of Christ. Here God is the primary mover. The uses of opposites is at work in the text. Form of God – Servant/Slave. Humbled to point death – Exalted to be above all. Paul uses opposites to make his point about the way Christ chose to use his divinity. The point he is making is that the way to God is through humility and service to one another as opposed to using your position in God to get a higher place on the ladder.
Personal Interaction: This text has been a favorite of mine. It describes the gospel in a nutshell. Jesus was the Christ. But he did not take advantage of it. Instead he took on the form of a slave. For this reason God exalted him. The big question revolves around preaching the text. How do we preach this text on Palm Sunday. How do we preach this text instead of the traditional gospel text? In past sermons I have preached this text as a call to servant hood and humility. In the context of Palm Sunday it seems to be more about the divinity of Christ and how he used it than our behavior. How do you preach use this text to proclaiming the incarnation of Christ and his passion on Palm Sunday? The task will be to move away from the purpose Paul had in calling people to serve one another toward the proclamation of Jesus as the Christ who suffered and died. This seems to be very relevant for Palm Sunday.
Other questions should be asked of the text. 1) What does it mean to say that Jesus was in the form of God? Is this something akin to what is said in the beginning of John’s Gospel or in Colossians 1:15 where Paul says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. I am also curious about the Greek work morphe. 2) Does the English word morph come from this word? What does it mean to say that God morphed into human form? 3) How do we exploit our relationship with God? Seems like something that we do. We use ourt relationship with God to get ourselves some kind of position. 4) What does it mean to be emptied of self? Everyone today is trying to get filled. Seems to stand in contrast to the feed me mentality that exists in the church. What is it like to be empty and to minister from our emptiness? When people come to me with deep questions about their faith and life do I give them answers or do I speak from my own emptiness. I see a possible relationship to prayer here. Prayer is becoming more about doing nothing and being empty than about talking and doing something. It seems to me there is a direct relationship here to the temptation in the wilderness. Jesus had the opportunity to exploit his position but he did not. Seems to me this addresses a church culture where the Gospel is reduced to self-promotion. What does that look like in our own relationship to God? 5) What do I do with verses 9-11? How has Jesus been exalted? When will every knee bow? 6) How can anyone really imitate Christ? He descends from heaven and takes on human form and suffers. Does not seem possible at all.
Organization: Most of the answers to these questions will be discovered in the summary of salient features and the hermeneutical bridge.
Immediate context: The immediate context influences how the text should be interpreted. It follows an exhortation by Paul to put the interests of others above your own. He calls on them to be united in love and purpose. The way that it is done is by being a servant to one another. The Christ hymn then is meant to show what this looks like. We must be like Christ who was in the form of God but choose to put the needs of others first. Those who do such will be lifted up with Christ. Following the Christ hymn is an exhortation to shine as stars and to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
Organization of composition: The Christ hymn comes to us in a letter that Paul was writing to the church at Philippi. It follows he opening address by Paul in 1:1-11; the description of Paul’s imprisonment and his attitude toward it in 1:12-26. It makes sense that it comes at this point in the text following Paul’s description of his situation. In some ways it is how Paul understands his imprisonment. Like Christ his is taking on the form of a servant event though God has called him. Paul even goes as far to say that his time in jail will advance the cause of the Gospel. Paul is even happy to be suffering as Christ himself suffered. This text is the theological axis on which this whole epistle turns.
Issues of Authorship: Paul was writing from a prison cell. He was trying to make it clear that we will suffer for our call to Christ. To do so is to follow in the footsteps of Christ and to advance the cause of the Gospel. He uses the Christ hymn then to do three things. 1) He wants to make it clear that they must heed the call to serve Christ with their lives in similar fashion. It’s not about the benefits of being a Christian. It is about the joy that comes to those who take up their cross for Christ. Paul’s letter is saturated with joy and hope despite his conditions. 2) There appears to have been some dissension within the church. People were not getting along. It is not detailed in the letter. However, you get that feeling from the beginning of chapter 2. 3) Paul is attempting to unpack the mystery of the incarnation.
Step IV – Context
Primitive Christianity: There are several other examples of hymns found in the New Testament. 1 Cor 13, Rom 3:24-26, Rom 6:1-11, Rom 8:31-39, Rom 11:33-36, Col 1:15-20, Eph 1:3-14, Eph 1:20-23, Eph 2:14-18, Eph 5:14, Titus 3:4-7, I Tim 3:16, II Tim 2:11-13, Heb 1:3, I Peter 1:3-5, I Peter 1:18-25, I Peter 2:21-25, I Peter 3:18-22. (2) The lectionary connects this text to the Palm Sunday Texts. It is easy to see why. Jesus was welcomed as a King. But as the Messiah he took on the form of a servant. The expectations of the crowd did not match how he understood his role. There is another relationship in this text to the temptation of Jesus. The temptation in the wilderness was to use his divinity for personal gain. Paul therefore shows that Jesus was able to resist this temptation. There is still another relationship between this text and Jesus call to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. In every way this hymns seems to capture what it means to love God and neighbor or to pick up our cross to follow Christ. It also appears that when we talk about the form of God that John 1:1 and Colossians 1:15. The town of Philippi was the first place Paul began on church on the European Continent in Greece. The story is told in Acts chapter 16.
Old Testament and Judaism: Some indicate that Paul has drawn on the suffering servant songs of DeuteroIsaiah 52:13-15: 53. However, I do not think there is a strong connection here at all. Also some connection has been linked to the personified wisdom of postexilic Judaism. (3) It appears to me there is more of a connection with the Greek world – God becoming man and so on.
Hellenistic world: Raymond Brown indicates that the hymn could have a Gnostic background such as the Gnostic reflections of the Primal Man; the Poimandres tractate in the Hermetic literature. (4) In regard to this I have no idea about any of this nor the time to research it. If I did I’m not sure what difference it would make with regard to the preaching of the text. It sounds like one of those things that would cause listener’s eyes to glaze over.
Step V – Distillation
Summary of Salient Features: This text is a Christ hymn. Apart from the text it functions as a creed expressing the heart of Incarnational theology. God became a man. The Man did not exploit his position. Instead he emptied himself out on the cross. As a consequence God exalted him. In the end every knee will bow and every tongue confess the crucified one and raised one is the Christ. In the context of the letter it is a call to Christians to find unity in mind and purpose by having the same mind and attitude as that of Christ. We should not uses our relationship with God to gain standing or advantage but to serve one another as Christ has served us.
Hermeneutical Bridge: A friend of mine went through a terrible divorce. He was the senior pastor of a large suburban congregation. He was considered one of the young rising stars in the denomination. But the divorce exacted a heavy emotional toll. He eventually had to resign his position as senior pastor. For months he went from odd job to odd job just trying to make ends meet. Now he is serving a tiny congregation in a rural community. The last time I saw I asked him how he was doing. He laughed and said with a huge grin on his face. “I’m a poster child for downward mobility.”
In this economy there are many people who can identify with my friend. There are a lot of people living with disappointment in the United States these days. People who went to college, assured by others that this was the way to attain status and a good job, find themselves without work in their field, and “overqualified” for more menial positions. There are men and women who have had good, high paying jobs for nearly a quarter of a century who are having to be retrained for jobs that are now available, and are discriminated against because, despite having all that experience, they are considered “too old” to hire.
What we read in Philippians is an ancient Hymn of the Church celebrating the downward mobility of Jesus. In the hymn Jesus is presented in our text as a poster child of downward mobility. It begins by stating an important Christian Doctrine.
1) Who was in his very nature God – in the very form of God.
a. Example: apples. Apples come in many shapes and sizes and colors. But in there very essence they are apples.
b. Same thing text says about Jesus. He may not look like God and may just look like every other human being. But in his very essence he is God.
c. Described therefore as being equal to God in verse 6.
d. John 1:1 & Colossians 1:15 could be used here.
2) Who did not consider it something to be grasped – or exploited. Image: The Temptation in the wilderness. Flies in the face of a culture that has made Christianity way to advance yourself and have success.
3) Who emptied himself – made himself nothing. Image: Feeding of the 5000. Image: Cup at the Table. Image: Spear in his side: out pours blood and water.
4) Taking on the very nature of a servant – same word morphe used here. In his very nature a servant. He became a human being. Now this is downward mobility.
5) Found in human likeness he humbled himself – became obedient to death – even death on a cross – died like a common criminal – or a terrorist.
6) The amazing thing is he chose this for himself. It was not forced on him. John 10:17-18.
7) The result is then that God exalted him. A reference to the resurrection of Jesus. An affirmation that the servant life is the life God desires.
8) The text asks two things of us.
a. Proclamation of Jesus as Lord. Like the Woman at the well. The Blind Man. The Lazarus stories all lead to confession of Jesus as Lord.
b. The call for Christians to Downward mobility.
1. Good example might be the example of Henri Nouwen who left his teaching post to care for a mentally retarded man.
2. Another example might be cooking hotdogs with six Hispanic women in a little village without electricity.
9) Promise: Those who empty themselves will be filled. Don’t have to worry about filling yourself. Just do what God says and he will fill you.
Step VI - Contemporary Address
Description of Audience: This text will be preached on Palm Sunday. There will be lots of excitement and pageantry. The challenge will be to make this text relevant to the events of the Sunday service. This text comes at the beginning of Holy Week and the address should set the tone for the week ahead.
Intended Goals for the Address: 1) Set the tone for Holy Week. 2) Relate the text to the events of Palm Sunday. 3) Explore through the text the mystery of the Incarnation. 4) Discuss what it meant for Jesus to be in the form of God. 5) Discuss what it meant for him to empty himself. 6) Proclaim that God has exalted him above every name. 7) Call people to their knees to confess him as savior and Lord. The following outline might work. 8) Call the congregation to downward mobility. The work of Jesus is not the work of personal advancement. It is the work of servant hood. Taking on the form of a servant.
1) Jesus was in the form of God. The image of the invisible God.
2) He did not exploit his relationship with God.
3) He emptied himself out as a servant to the point that he died.
4) God honored his servant hood by exalting him.
5) Our call then is to get on our knees and confess him as Lord.
6) They did this on Palm Sunday. We do this but with the cross in mind.
Footnotes
for Sermon notes:
(1)
The New Interpreters Bible: Vol. XI; Abingdon Press, 2000, p 507
(2)
Introduction to the New Testament;
Raymond
Brown, Doubleday, 1997, p 482- 501.
(3)
Ibid.
(4)
Ibid.
Contemporary Address:
A friend of mine went through a terrible divorce. He was the senior pastor of a large suburban congregation. He was considered one of the young rising stars in the denomination. But the divorce exacted a heavy emotional toll. He eventually had to resign his position as senior pastor. For months he went from odd job to odd job just trying to make ends meet. Now he is serving a tiny congregation in a rural community. Recently I called to see how he was doing. He laughed and said: “I’m a poster child for downward mobility.”
In this economy there are many people who can identify with my friend. There are a lot of people living with disappointment in the United States these days. People who went to college, assured by others that this was the way to attain status and a good job, find themselves without work in their field, and “overqualified” for more menial positions. There are men and women who have had good, high paying jobs for nearly a quarter of a century who are having to be retrained for jobs that are now available, and are discriminated against because, despite having all that experience, they are considered “too old” to hire.
What we read in Philippians is an ancient Hymn of the Church celebrating the downward mobility of Jesus. The text points out that even though Jesus was the Son of God he became nothing. It begins by stating an important Christian Doctrine.
1) Jesus was in his very nature God – or as the RSV puts it - in the very form of God.
a. Example: apples. Apples come in many shapes and sizes and colors. But in there very essence they are apples.
b. Same thing text says about Jesus. He may not look like God. He may look like an ordinary human being. But in his very essence he is God.
c. In verse 6 it says that he was equal to God.
d. 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.”
e. Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
2) But he did not take advantage of the situation.
a. If I had been in his position I would have used it for personal gain.
b. Courtside Tickets to the Final Four. I’d never wait in line at restraints. Inside tips for the stock market. Suffering forget it.
c. But it says that he did not consider it something to be grasped – or exploited. Not something to be used for his on personal advantage.
d. Flies in the face of a culture that has turned Christianity into a formula for success.
e. Biblical Illustrations: The temptation in the wilderness. The temptation was there for him to take advantage of the situation.
3) The text goes even further. It says that he emptied himself – made himself nothing.
a. Image: Cup at the Table. My Blood Poured out for you.
b. Image: Spear in his side. Out pours blood and water.
4) Taking on the very nature of a servant – same word morphe used here. In his very nature a servant. He became a human being. Now this is downward mobility.
5) Found in human likeness he humbled himself – became obedient to death – even death on a cross – died like a common criminal – or a terrorist.
6) The amazing thing is he chose this for himself.
a. Not like my friend or people struggling with this economy.
b. It was not forced on him. Not to just satisfy the blood lust of God.
c. John 10:17-18. “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
7) Jesus was the poster child for downward mobility.
a. We see it in the tragic events of Holy Week. From the shouts “Hosanna” to “crucify him.”
b. He was God but he suffered and died like a common criminal.
8) The result: God exalted him. His name put above every other name.
a. A reference to the resurrection of Jesus.
b. An affirmation that the servant life Jesus led is the life God desires.
The text asks three things of us.
1) The confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. This has been the movement of our Lenten readings. The Woman at the well. The Blind Man. The raising of Lazarus from the dead. These stories all lead to confession of Jesus as Lord. And we do not proclaim him Lord because he was high and lifted up but because he went down so low.
2) Praise Jesus with our worship and adoration.
3) The call to downward mobility. Not the kind of downward mobility that friend experienced. But the downward mobility of becoming a servant of God. The text says at the beginning. “You attitude should be that of the same as that of Jesus Christ.
Good example: Priest and Harvard Professor Henri Nouwen who left his teaching post to care for a mentally retarded man. He wrote a book about his experience with downward mobility called In The Name Of Jesus. Pages 15-17 are especially relevant to the sermon.
Christianity is not a ladder to the top. It’s a ladder to the bottom. It is not about getting you’re needs met. It is about meeting the needs of others.
There is a Promise. Here is the grace. Those who empty themselves will be filled. Don’t have to worry about filling yourself. Just do what God says and he will fill you with what you need.