This is an article in the series on the question: Is Jesus the Most High God?
Summary
Philippians 2:5-11 is a profound statement of the nature of Christ, describing His life through four chronological stages, namely:
(1) Before He became a human being, “He existed in the form of God” and had “equality with God” (Phil 2:5-6).
(2) But then “Jesus Christ … emptied Himself” and was “made in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7). He became truly and fully human. Just like us, He had to grow in wisdom, become weary, thirsty, hungry, and die (Luke 2:52; John 4:6; 19:28; Matt 4:2; Mark 15:37).
(3) “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). He suffered a cruel death and remained in the grave for three days.
(4) After His resurrection and ascension, “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:8-9). Therefore, “at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW” (Phil 2:10).
Jesus is not God.
This article analyzes these verses to determine whether they support the Trinity doctrine, according to which the Son is God and equal to the Father in all respects. For the following reasons, it concludes that these verses indicate that He is not God:
(A) By maintaining a distinction between “God” (Phil 2:6, 9, 11) and “Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5, 10-11), this passage reserves the title “God” for the Father only.
(B) Before He became a human being, He existed in the form of God (Phil 2:6), which means that God is one Person and the Son is somebody else.
(C) Jesus also had “equality with God” (Phil 2:6). This confirms the distinction between Jesus Christ and God. He was equal to God just like Joseph was equal with Pharaoh (Gen 44:18), namely through the authority which He received.
(D) Jesus emptied Himself of equality with God (Phil 2:6-7). God cannot empty Himself of equality with Himself. That Jesus was able to empty Himself of equality with God shows that He received His equality with God from God; it was not essentially His.
(E) After His resurrection and ascension, “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9). In other words, He received His “name which is above every name” from God; it is not essentially part of His nature.
Why do we worship Jesus?
If Jesus is not God, why must we bow the knee to Christ (Phil 2:10)? This article provides three reasons:
Firstly, because God exalted Him (Phil 2:9-10). In other words, it is God’s will (cf. Heb 1:6).
Secondly, the created beings of the universe bow the knee to Jesus because “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:11); not because He is God (cf. 1 Cor 8:6).
Thirdly, Jesus is not worshiped independently of or equal with God the Father, but “to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).
– END OF SUMMARY –
Christ in Philippians 2
Philippians 2:5-11 is a profound statement of the nature of Christ, describing His life through four chronological stages, namely:
-
- Before He became a human being,
- His life as a human being,
- His death and
- His exaltation after He was resurrected and ascended to heaven.
This article analyzes these verses to determine whether they support the Trinity doctrine, according to which the Son is God and equal to the Father in all respects.
The Four Stages of Christ’s Life
1. Pre-Existence
Before He became a human being, “He existed in the form of God” and had “equality with God” (Phil 2:5-6).
Firstly, this confirms that Jesus existed before He became a human being. Some Unitarians (as opposed to Trinitarians) deny His pre-existence (e.g., listen to Dustin Smith).
Secondly, this could mean that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. For example, Isaiah saw:
“The Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted,
with the train of His robe filling the temple.
Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings”
(Isa 6:1-4).
Since Jesus, before He became a human being, “existed in the form of God,” this could have been a vision of Him.
2 A Human Being
“Jesus Christ …
emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-servant,
and being made
in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7).
Since Christ “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself” (Phil 2:6-7), He emptied Himself of “equality with God.” He also “emptied Himself” of “the form of God,” for He took on “the form of a bond-servant … being made in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:6-7).
Adam attempted to seize equality with God (Gen 3:5 – “You will be like God”). Christ did the opposite: “He had to be made like his brothers in all things” (Heb 2:17). He emptied Himself of His powers and knowledge, beginning His human life as a vulnerable human baby (Luke 2:7; Gal 4:4). He performed many miracles, but only because “God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38). “Our Lord Jesus Christ … though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor” (2 Cor 8:9). He voluntarily descended to the realm where He was “despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3).
That Jesus emptied Himself when He became a human being also reveals God to us; how much God loves His creatures; even His enemies:
“God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).
He became a real human being. Just like us, He had to grow in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52). “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb 5:8). He became weary (John 4:6), thirsty (John 19:28) and hungry (Matt 4:2). He marveled at the faith of the centurion (Matt 8:10) and was sad when Lazarus died (John 11:35). In Gethsemane, He grieved deeply, to the point of death (Matt 26:38). The next day He died (Mark 15:37). Jesus did not just look like a man; He was truly and fully human.
How it was possible for the Person, through whom God created all things, and who “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Heb 1:3), to be transformed into a human embryo, we cannot begin to understand, and we will not even try. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God” (Deut 29:29).
What we want to learn through the current series of articles is who Jesus really is; not only who He was as a human being. He said, “I can do nothing on My own initiative” (John 5:30). Since He emptied Himself of equality with God and of the form of God, we must always ask whether such statements are also eternally true of Him.
3 Death
“He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). He suffered a very cruel death and remained in the grave for three days.
As discussed in the articles on the Seven Seals of Revelation, the important matter is not His death, but His obedience. His entire life was a test, namely to see whether He would remain obedient under the most severe circumstances. Satan was allowed to test Jesus, even “to the point of death” (Phil 2:8). But Jesus remained faithful, “that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14). (Also see – Why Jesus had to die.)
4 Exaltation at the Father’s Right Hand
Because “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,” after His resurrection and ascension, “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:8-9). Therefore:
“At the name of Jesus
EVERY KNEE WILL BOW …
in heaven and on earth …
and that every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).
Is Jesus God?
For the following reasons, this description of the four stages of the Son’s life indicates that He is not God:
(A) By maintaining a distinction between “God” (Phil 2:6, 9, 11) and “Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5, 10-11), this passage reserves the title “God” for the Father only.
(B) Before He became a human being, He existed in the form of God (Phil 2:6). If an angel appears in the form of a man, he is still an angel and not a man. Similarly, that Jesus existed in the form of God does not mean that He is God. Rather, it means that He is distinct from God.
(C) The statement that Jesus had “equality with God” (Phil 2:6) also makes a distinction between Jesus Christ and God. In other words, He is not God. Joseph was given His power and authority by Pharaoh to act on his behalf. So, he had equality with Pharaoh (Gen 44:18). Similarly, God gave His power and authority to Jesus Christ. He was equal in authority, but it was an authority which He received; not His own.
(D) Jesus emptied Himself of equality with God. God may perhaps be able to empty Himself of His divine form and glory but God cannot empty Himself of equality with Himself. That Jesus was able to empty Himself of equality with God (Phil 2:6-7) shows that He received His equality with God from God; it was not essentially His.
(E) After His resurrection and ascension, “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9). In other words, He received His “name which is above every name” from God; it is not essentially part of His nature.
Another article shows that the entire New Testament teaches that Jesus is distinct from God, reserving the title “God” for the Father alone. Since “God” highly exalted Him (Phil 2:9), Jesus is subordinate to God. As discussed in the article – Subordinate to God, this principle is also taught all over the New Testament.
Why do we worship Jesus?
The Bible commands us to worship only God. For example: “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” (Luke 4:8), but we must also bow the knee to Christ (Phil 2:10). If Jesus is not God, why do we worship Him?
In Revelation 5, heavenly beings fell down before the Lamb with the prayers of the saints (Rev 15:8) and give honor to both Him who sits on the throne (the Father), and to the Lamb (Rev 5:13). God commanded all angels to worship His Son (Heb 1:6). We must honor Jesus as we honor the Father (John 5:23).
Many Christians believe that Jesus is worshiped because He is co-equal with the Father, but we have already noted that Jesus is both distinct from and subordinate to God. Philippians 2:9-11 explains why Jesus is worshiped:
(1) It is God’s will.
“God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9). Then Philippians 2:10 begins with the phrase, “for this reason.” This means that “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow” (Phil 2:10) because “God highly exalted Him” (Phil 2:9); not because He is God Himself. Hebrews 1:6 contains a similar statement, saying that God commanded the angels to worship His Son.
God is the great Source of power and authority. Jesus received everything He has from God; also such an exalted position that it is right and proper for created beings to worship Him.
(2) Jesus Christ is Lord.
Secondly, the created beings of the universe bow the knee to Jesus and confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:11). They do not confess Him to be God. The identification of the Father as God and the Son as the Lord is a consistent pattern in the New Testament. For example:
“For us there is but one God, the Father …
and one Lord, Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 8:6).
The article – Jesus in Colossians – shows that Jesus is never called God in that letter; He is always called Lord. That is significant because Colossians is the letter in the New Testament with the highest view of Christ.
Related to this, notice also that the word “worship” does not appear in Philippians 2. All it says is that “every knee will bow” (Phil 2:10). This is the ancient way of showing respect to a king. As explained in the article on worship, that is exactly what the Greek word proskuneo (sometimes translated as “worship”) means.
(3) To the glory of God
Thirdly, Jesus is not worshiped independently of or equal with God the Father, but “to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11). This is also how we should understand the worship of Christ in Revelation 5, where He is worshiped together with “Him who sits on the throne” (Rev 5:13-14). Similarly:
“All will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.
He who does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23).
To “honor” the Son is the same as bowing the knee to the Son. This verse also contains the idea that, to honor the Son, is to honor the Father. Jesus is the visible “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). By honoring the Son, the universe honors the Father. The worship of the universe flows through Jesus to the Father, who exists outside space, time, and matter.
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