but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Here are some things to consider:
The word translated “but” is used in a contrastive sense. It tells us that in sharp contrast to the way that Christ might have chosen, He “emptied himself” So, we have “because he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage, instead, he emptied himself." This magnificent phrase has no parallel in all of Greek literature. Never is there this concept, never is there this idea of someone emptying themselves. The emphatic position of the word “himself” and the form of the verb “emptied” suggest that this act of emptying was voluntary on the part of the pre-existing Christ.
So, let's now ask the obvious question, "what does the word 'emptied”' mean?"
There are two ways to understand this word.
1. Literal sense- to empty, make empty.
2. Metaphorically- to make of no effect
Here is a bit of information that will help us determine which sense we should take here. The word is used only 5 times in the New Testament, and all instances use the word metaphorically:
1. Rm. 4:14- For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
2. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
3. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready.
4. But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
5. Philippians 2:7
Since four out of the five uses are metaphorical, and sense all of these usages are from Paul, it is seems that he would be using the metaphorical sense here in this passage.
Let's now look at the phrase that follows.
The meaning can be defined more precisely by the two participle phrases that follow, “taking the form of a slave” and “being found in human form”. These participles are what is called "modal" and are meant to describe the manner in which Christ emptied Himself.
“form of a slave”- The word morphe is use the same way here as it is in vs. 6. It is not speaking of the mere outward appearance only, but speaks of Christ adopting the nature and characteristics of a slave. This phrase which speaks of the manner in which Christ emptied Himself has been interpreted in a vast variety of ways. Here are 3 of the most prominent interpretation.
1. Jesus gave up the “form of God” (aka Kenotic View)- At the incarnation, Christ emptied Himself of the “relative’ attributes of deity: omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence; but retained the “essential” attributes: love, holiness, and righteousness. This view fails because it is dangerous to divide God’s attributes into such categories, and there is no basis for such speculation in the text. Modern scholars who support this view have abandoned this verse in support of their theory and simply use it as an illustration. The reason for abandoning the Philippians passage as a support for the doctrine is due to a lot of technical reasons that I won't get into. Basically, what it comes down to is that according to the Greek language, this view doesn't hold up.
2. He Played the Part of “the Servant of the Lord”- This interpretation says that the word “servant”, as applied to Christ, is to be understood in terms of Isaiah’s Servant passages (esp. 53:13-53:12). So the phrase “taking the form of a servant” means “playing the part of the Servant of the LORD”. The clause “emptied himself” is equivalent to Is. 53:12, “he poured out his soul (to death).” This view has several problems: First, it reverses the logical order of this passage by mentioning the cross before the incarnation. The question of the hymns structure, its linguistic validity, and the issue of chronological sequence all seem to point that this view just doesn't stack up.
3. He Took the form of a Slave- The term “servant” is best understood in light of the Greco-Roman culture of the day. Slavery, in the contemporary society of the day, meant the denial and deprivation of one’s rights. The statement that Jesus "took the form of a slave" means that he completely stripped Himself of his rights as to be comparable to a slave. This assertion is meant to give a description of His absolute and extreme self-emptying, and fits the context well’.
Let me summarize how I understand this phrase. First, bearing in mind that the Paul is writing to Christian readers in Philippi with a pagan past, it seems best to understand the expression against the background of slavery in the Roman society. Slavery pointed to the extreme deprivation of rights. When Jesus emptied Himself by embracing the divine will and becoming incarnate He become a slave, without any rights whatever. He did not exchange the nature or form of God for that of a slave. Rather, He displayed the form of God in the form of a slave. By doing this, thereby He showed not only what His character was like, but also what it meant to be God.
Let's turn our attention to the next phrase.
“Being found in human form”- The phrase “in the likeness of men” or better translated- "born like other humans"- helps define even more the emptying of Christ. Here , the pre-existing one, who has always existed in the form of God, now becomes like men. The idea being presented here is Jesus’ complete identity with the human race. He is like them, yet He is sinless. Therefore, part of the emptying is that the pre-existing Son of God at one point and time, became identified with humanity.
Let me sum it up this way: The emptying of Christ is not a pouring out of His deity in exchange for something else. Rather, it is a humbling of Himself in which He manifest the form of God through the form of a servant by becoming identified with the human race. Jesus did not use His deity for His own advantage, but denied all of His rights, and became a slave to God and identified with humanity. This is the mind that Paul wants us to have- an emptying of ourselves, a denial of our rights- This is the attitude of Christ.
“became obedient to the point of death”- It wasn’t enough for Christ to empty Himself by becoming human. He had to go a step further. After becoming human, He humbled Himself even more. How? By becoming obedient to death, but not just any death; death on the cross. There is also the connection here between humility and obedience. True humility will express itself in obedience to God.
Here are some application points:
1. Wash the feet of your enemy (John 13)- Have you ever thought about this: Jesus washed Judas' feet. Yes, He bowed down in humility and washed the very feet of His betrayer. Why? Obedience. It was what the Father wanted. It was a living example of Jesus' own teaching of loving your enemies. This is one of the greatest things a disciple can learn. It is a hallmark of the cross, and is required if one is going to go on into conformity to Christ. It takes immense humility and a willingness to be content with obedience.
2. There is no end to obedience- For there to be the utmost humility and obedience, there must first be a renunciation of all of our rights. For until we have abased ourselves for God and chained ourselves to Him as His slave, obedience will always be conditional and humility will be unstable. Humility is the door to death to self; the pathway to a life of obedience. It is this type of humility that led Jesus to surrender to God and live a life of perfect obedience. Jesus desires us to bear what Andrew Murray calls death-marks. The death-marks of humility can only appear in our lives as the Spirit of the death of the dying One lives in us and works in us so that the power of His dying can be known in us. This death-mark, humility, means that I give up my self and become perfect nothingness before God- to recognize that I am bankrupt in spirit. If we want to know Christ and the power of His death and know the full deliverance from self, we must humble ourselves before Christ. He is the one who makes us dead to sin and it is his Spirit that manifest this life through us. He alone can do this, therefore our responsibility is to throw ourselves upon this marvelous grace. We must place ourselves before God in utter helplessness and fall into our own nothingness and take an attitude of trust and surrender in God. We must be willing to accept all of the humiliations that come our way and look upon every person who tires our patience or irritates us, or that we have no respect for, as a means of grace to humble us. We must use every opportunity we have to humble ourselves before others and seek their well being. Oh how so many say that they would love to enter into this type of life, yet they have too many qualifications, too many limitations. They have so many reasons and questions, that they talk themselves right out of it and they never unreservingly surrender themselves and make themselves of no reputation. If we desire true humility, a humility that will lead to obedience, we must, every morning, set ourselves down into a life of nothingness, we must sink down into the grave of Jesus, so that every day, the life of Jesus may be manifested in us. We must do this with a joyful spirit and a willing spirit and lose all consciousness of ourselves and our rights, for as we have talked about earlier, we have no rights. Our only thought should be of pleasing our master.