Christ’s Example of Humility
2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1) Humility and Unity
Philippians 2:1-4 (ESV)
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
“While Paul refers to facets of their faith that are current realities, he frames them as conditional (if) to lead his audience actively to affirm the truth of these realities and so feel the weight of responding to his exhortations that follow.”
MLA 9th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.)
Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin. Philippians : An Introduction and Commentary. IVP Academic, 2022.
Paul’s 4-fold description of unity:
framed by the term phroneō, referring to a mindset that includes dispositions and attitudes as well as a right way of thinking (see comment on 1:7):20
complete my joy by being of the same mind [to auto phronēte],
having the same love,
being in full accord (bring of one Spirit)
and of one mind [to hen phronountes].
Using phroneō here and across the letter, Paul calls the Philippians to a common mindset:
(1) a shared way of looking at and (2)living in the world, through the lens of the gospel (2:5; 3:15; 4:2; cf. 3:19), (3) having the same love and (4) being one in spirit
When we are united in Christ we will inevitably humble ourselves and look to the interest of others.
2) Humility and Christ
Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV)
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Given that Paul uses the language of en Christō, which signals believers’ participation with Christ in his experience and benefits, this reading would emphasize that a part of this participation includes the gifting of Christ’s mindset to believers.
MLA 9th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.)
Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin. Philippians : An Introduction and Commentary. IVP Academic, 2022.
“in his incarnation he took ‘the form of a slave’. As Oakes describes the distanced travelled in 2:6–7b, ‘Between being like God and being like a slave, there is the widest status gap imaginable by Paul’s readers.’ 18 (Morphe)
If the first stanza shows, generally and in broad strokes, the great ‘distance’ in status travelled by Christ in his incarnation, the second stanza provides a more granular view of what occurred in Christ’s embodiment, from his identification with humanity to his obedient death on a cross, the form of execution used for slaves and criminals. In this stanza, the poem echoes the creation narrative (and Gen. 1:26 specifically) to show that Christ’s incarnation, in a sense, enacts the imago Dei in reverse. As humanity (Gen. 1:26; LXX: anthrōpos) is made in the image of God (in God’s homoiōsis or ‘likeness’), so in the incarnation Christ is made in ‘the likeness [homoiōma] of human beings [anthrōpoi]’ (2:7). As Eastman suggests, by taking on humanity’s likeness Christ ‘repeats, replicates, and reverses Adam’s story’.19
MLA 9th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.)
Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin. Philippians : An Introduction and Commentary. IVP Academic, 2022.
Kenosis – The emptying of self by Christ (the temporary giving up of the fullness of His divine glory so that he may be a servant.
Integral to the 100% God/100% man nature of Christ.
Christ humbles himself and because he was obedient to God.
Christ set’s the tone for us and exhibits the way that we should respond.
Furthermore, in His example He evidences the need for our own submission to God’s will.
3) Humility and Exaltation
Philippians 2:9-11 (ESV)
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Quoting Isaiah 45:23b
“To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance”
Why?
ὑπερυψόω (huperupsoó) (exalted by God) universal Lordship–status given by God which counters the previous humbling and this is powerful within the context of Philippi and within our modern Context as well. Here’s why:
The statement that ‘Jesus is Lord’ is the quintessential Christian confession (see Rom. 10:9), It is important for 1st Century Christians and Jews alike and it is important for us as well. It has a very Jewish root (seen in the aforementioned verse from Isaiah) and a radically powerful Roman implication.
In a sociopolitical context where Caesar was regarded as Lord (kyrios), the confession that Jesus is Lord has significant political overtones. The proclamation that ‘Christ is Lord’ implies that Caesar is not. And for us, it is a stark reminder that neither are we, nor are our modern rulers.
Our lives should not be rooted in status but rooted in Christ.
Questions:
1) Why might humility be central to generating unity (and, community)?
2) In what ways are you regularly sacrificing for the benefit of others within this community; and, in the greater non-church community (outside these walls)?
3) What do we learn from vv.5-8 about the example of Christ? How might we best respond to this example?
4) In what ways does God’s economy of status differ from the wordly view of status?
5) What might we learn from Paul’s teaching on the Lord (lyrics)? How might this be an affront to our wordly focus on cultural norms, politics, and personal status? (If Jesus is Lord than _______ is not.)
