5) Philippians 2: Did God become human?

Jan 22, 2020

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Does Philippians 2:5-11 describe the eternal God the Son humbling himself to become man?

We think not.

In this podcast we explain some problems and contradictions with the "deity of Christ" interpretation of Philippians 2, and suggest a better way to understand this section of Scripture:

When Christ Jesus "emptied" and "humbled" himself, he was already a human being. The acts of emptying and humbling himself relate to his obedience to die on the cross, not "to become a human being".

1. The context of the Letter to the Philippians shows that Paul is talking about the human being, Jesus Christ.

2. Paul is describing the mind of Christ Jesus, the title (Christ/Messiah) and name (Jesus) of the human being, not of an assumed pre-existent "Second Person of the Godhead".

3. Paul expects his readers to have the same mind of Christ Jesus, which would be impossible if he was referring to an eternally pre-existent God who became a man.

4. As in many other places in his writings, in this passage Paul differentiates three times between God and Jesus Christ. God is someone other than Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is someone other than God.

5. Being in "the form of God" means Jesus is not God. The word for "form" does not have reference to the metaphysical nature of Jesus.

6. Jesus has a certain representative, functional equality with God that Jesus knows is given to him by God, so Jesus knows he does not have to seize or hold on to that equality. He has it because God has given it to him.

7. Jesus "being/being made in the likeness of men, in the fashion of men" (2:7-8) means that Jesus is a human being.

5. Christ Jesus "emptied himself", taking on the form of a servant, that is, as a human being. Paul does not say that Christ Jesus "emptied himself" of his deity to become a man, but that he "emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant".

6. Jesus Christ is obedient to God, to the extant of death on a cross. This means that Jesus is not God - he is obedient to God, and God does not die.

7. God exalted Jesus Christ and gave him a name above all names. This means that Jesus is not God, since God exalted Jesus, and gave Jesus a name.

8. Jesus Christ's exaltation and glory is never described as something he "gave up" and then "received back" again. Rather, his exaltation and glory is something he had and received only after his death.

9. Will you and I bow the knee to God's designated human Messiah Jesus, or will we continue to insist that Jesus must be "God become man" before we bow the knee to him, refusing God's Messiah and God's will for us?