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The Example of Christ's Humility. Php_2:5-11
Christ's state of humiliation and its lesson:
v. 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
v. 6. who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
v. 7. but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men;
v. 8. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
His admonition to meekness and humility the apostle supports in the most emphatic manner: After this manner think in yourselves that also was in Christ Jesus. The Christians should have this mind, this opinion, concerning themselves, they should let this manner of thinking govern their view of life. As they were ready to make great sacrifices for the sake of Christ. so let them display the same quality in the common concerns of daily business and social intercourse. Jesus, in His work, in His office as Savior of the world, should be continually before their eyes. The mind of Christ should live in the Christians. This is the argument with which the apostle clinches his entire argumentation and admonition. The Christians will be able to follow the entire exhortation of Paul if they always have the example of Christ in their minds.
Now Paul draws his picture of Christ: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God). Jesus is here represented as the Son of God incarnate, in His capacity as Savior of the world, as man among men, who alone can be an example to men. This man, Jesus Christ, found Himself in the form of God, Mar_16:12; Php_3:21; Rom_8:29; Php_3:10; Rom_12:2; 2Co_3:18; Mat_17:12. His form, His external appearance, which, of course, included His nature, was that of God. Only one that has the nature of God, who in His essence is God, will also have divine form. This form of God includes every manner of manifestation of His divinity, everything wherein the divinity is shown, Joh_1:14. It is the divine glory and majesty which includes all the divine attributes and qualities, especially His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. They are a part of God's essence, they are the divine majesty, the sum total of God's glory. Thus the eternal Son of God, in His incarnation, found Himself in the form of God, invested with all His glory and majesty. He was not merely clothed with divine form and glory, but He possessed this glory and majesty as His own. He not only stood on the same level with God, He was identical with God. But He did not count it a prize to be on an equality with God. For the sake of saving sinners, Christ regarded the wonderful prize of His divinity, with all its manifestations, lightly. He did not make use of His glory and majesty as a prize or spoil to be held by Him at all costs, even after His incarnation; He did not make a show of the majesty and glory that were His, as a victor might display his spoils. He did not make use of the possessions which His human nature had gained according to vagrant fancies; He did not make a shop of His divinity, merely for the sake of gaining favor and making impressions.
This resolution of Christ found its expression in His life: But emptied Himself, assuming the form of a servant, being made in likeness of men, and in habit found like a man; He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Here the completeness of Christ's self-renunciation is brought out. He emptied Himself, poured out His contents, though not His substance. He voluntarily gave up something, waived His right, renounced its use for the time being. Not that Jesus, during His earthly ministry, had merely prophetic gifts, as those given by God to the prophets of old. By His own almighty power Jesus performed the great miracles which are recorded of Him. It is true, indeed, that He and the Father are one, and that He received the works from the Father, but it is true, also, that He performed them in His own power. But He voluntarily divested Himself of the unbounded, continual use of His divine majesty. He did not give up the divine nature, but only its unlimited use. He might often have helped Himself, but He chose not to make use of His glory, because He wanted to be the Savior of the world. He deliberately assumed the form of a servant, that was the way in which He emptied Himself. Not that His incarnation was a degradation, a humiliation, but the fact that He became a poor, lowly, humble man, that he took upon Himself the likeness of our sinful flesh and bore the misery of fallen mankind in His body. He seemed altogether like other people of His day and time. The peculiar weaknesses of the flesh He also endured, hunger, thirst, faintness, etc. These are attributes of men in their present sinful condition, weaknesses that are the result of sin. And the fact that He became subject to these natural affections of man shows that He divested Himself of His divine glory, renounced its full and continual use. Thus there is a double nature in Christ, that of God and that of a true human being. He might have come down on earth as a glorified, sinless man, like Adam before the Fall. And there is not only a double nature in Christ, divine and human, but also a double form of being, the form of God and that of a servant, of a poor, lowly human being. These were not successive states, but they were present at the same time in the person of Christ. That was Christ's condition, an example for all Christians.
The humiliation of Christ proceeded by degrees; the longer He lived, the more thoroughly He emptied Himself, the more completely He was clothed with the form of a servant. He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. The greatest and most serious ill which sinful flesh is heir to is that of death, since death represents the culmination of all evils caused by sin. Christ's death was one of an especially cursed nature, that on the cross. In this respect His humiliation went beyond the usual experience of sin-laden human beings. He died a cruel death, not that of a Roman citizen, but that of a base criminal, of a slave. This represents the last, the most abject degree of degradation. But He was willing to undergo all; He put aside, for the time being, the glory which was His, in order to be to the full extent, in the complete meaning of the term, the Savior of the world. He died as one that laid down his life of his own free will. The fact that His death was a willing sacrifice, and for that reason was so valuable, is stressed here. Note: Just as Christ showed Himself a shining example of humility, so the Christians should learn of Him. They should also, for the sake of love for Christ and their brethren, waive their rights, not be over insistent upon their rights, their honor, and their interests. They should learn to suffer also the evil, the wrong which is committed against them, willingly and gladly. Thus will they show the spirit of Christ among themselves and toward one another, thus will they preserve Christian love and harmony, thus will they live as it becometh the Gospel of Jesus Christ.