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Php 2:6. Ὃς) inasmuch as being one who.-ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, subsisting in the form of God) The name God, in this and the following clause, does not denote God the Father, but is put indefinitely. The form of God does not imply the Deity, or Divine nature itself, but something emanating from it; and yet again it does not denote the being on an equality with God, but something prior, viz. the appearance [outward manifestation] of God, i.e. the form shining forth from the very glory of the Invisible Deity, Joh 1:14. The Divine nature had infinite beauty in itself, even without any creature contemplating that beauty. That beauty was the μορφὴ Θεοῦ, form of God, as in man beauty shines forth from the sound constitution and elegant symmetry of his body, whether it has or has not any one to look at it. Man himself is seen by his form; so God and His glorious Majesty. This passage furnishes an excellent proof of the Divinity of Christ from this very fact; for as the form of a servant does not signify the human nature itself-for the form of a servant was not perpetual, but the human nature is to continue for ever-yet nevertheless it takes for granted the existence of the human nature: so the form of God is not the Divine nature, nor is the being on an equality with God the Divine nature; but yet He, who was subsisting in the form of God, and who might have been on an equality with God, is God. Moreover the form of God is used rather than the form of the Lord, as presently after on an equality with God: because God is more an absolute word, Lord involves a relation to inferiors. The Son of God subsisted in that form of God from eternity: and when He came in the flesh He did not cease to be in that form, but rather, so far as the human nature is concerned, He began to subsist in it: and when He was in that form, by His own peculiar pre-eminence itself as Lord, it was entirely in His power, even according to His human nature, so soon as He assumed it, to be on an equality with God, to adopt a mode of life and outward distinctions, which would correspond to His dignity, that He might be received and treated by all creatures as their Lord; but He acted differently.-οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο, He did not regard it a thing to be eagerly caught at as a prey) as a spoil. Those, to whom any opportunity of sudden advantage is presented, are usually eager in other cases to fly upon it and quickly to lay hold of it, without having any respect to others, and determinately to use and enjoy it. Hence ἁρπαλέα, with Eustathius, means, τὰ πάνυ περισπούδαστα, the things which a man may with all eagerness snatch for his own use, and may claim as his own: and the phrases occur, ἅρπαγμα, ἁρπαγμὸν, ἕρμαιον, εὕρημα, νομίζειν, ποεῖσθαι, ἡγεῖσθαι, ἁρπάζειν. E. Schmidius and G. Raphelius have collected examples from Heliodorus and Polybius. But Christ, though He might have been on an equality with God, did not snatch at it, did not regard it as spoil.[17] He did not suddenly use that power; compare Psa 69:5; Gen 3:5, etc. This feeling on His part is at the same time indicated by the verb ἡγεῖσθαι, to regard, to treat it as. It would not have been robbery (rapina), if He had used His own right; but He abstained from doing so, just as if it had been robbery. A similar phrase at 2Co 11:8, where see the note, may be compared with it.-τὸ εἶναι ἶσα Θεῷ) ἶσα, the accusative used adverbially, as happens often in Job, on an equality with and in a manner suitable to God. To be on an equality with God, implies His fulness and exaltation, as is evident from the double antithesis, Php 2:7-8, He emptied and humbled Himself. The article, without which μορφὴν is put, makes now an emphatic addition [Epitasis]. It is not therefore wonderful, that He never called Himself God, rather rarely the Son of God, generally the Son of man.
[17] Many think rightly, from a passage of Plutarch, quoted by Wetstein, that ἁρπαγμὸς signifies the act by which anything is greedily seized, and the desire which leads to it; but that ἀρπάγμα, having a neuter ending, indicates the object desired, the thing seized, the prey. Drusius, in Crit. S.S., Lond., tries to show that ἁρπαγμὸς, as well as ἁρπάγμα, though both strictly signifying an act, may signify the thing which is the object of the act. Wahl renders ἁρπαγμὸς, “res cupidè arripienda et necessario usurpanda.” So Neander, “Conscious of Divinity, He did not eagerly retain equality with God for the mere exhibition of it, but emptied Himself of the outward attributes and glory of it.” The antithesis favours this view. However, there seems no very valid argument against ἁρπαγμὸς being taken in the strict sense, as Engl. V., ‘thought’ the being on an equality with God no act of ‘robbery,’ or arrogation of what did not belong to Him. It is true the antithesis, as Olshausen argues, ἀλλʼ ἐκένωσεν, may seem to suit better Wahl’s rendering. But ἁρπαγμὸς, in the only passage where it occurs, Plut. de puer. educ., 120, means raptus or actio rapiendi, not res rapta. It is only by metonymy it can be made even res rapienda. As to the antithesis, ἀλλʼ plainly means, And yet: Though having been in the form of God, etc., yet, etc.-ED.