Christology: Part Four (Philippians 2:5-11)

Just as professional golf has four majors each year, so the New Testament contains four major Christological passages. This is the fourth and final of those passages. Here is a brief review of what we have studied so far.

In Hebrews 1-2, we discovered that even though Jesus is higher than the angels, He came down lower than the angels to bring salvation to mankind. In Colossians 1-2, we saw that redemption from sins and reconciliation with God can only be found through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And last time, in John 1, we learned that Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, personifying grace and truth by giving life and light to those who will receive Him as Savior.

This lesson is will attempt to bring perspective to the idea that Jesus indeed is fully man and fully God. He is not 50 percent of one and 50 percent of the other. He is 100/100. He absolutely could not be any more of one than He is, because He is completely and perfectly both.

When we view Jesus as God—in other words, when we observe His deity—we correctly find that He is above us and that we can never attain to His God-likeness. We will never on earth reach perfection; and even in our future glorified bodies we will never be God. The Deity of Jesus means He is God—something we will never be.

When we view Jesus as a man—that is, when we observe His humanity—we see Immanuel (God with us). And while He was among us on the earth, He set a perfect example of what we should strive to be like. Even though we cannot do away with our sinful nature in this life, we are not excused from trying to pursue the holiness that Christ modeled.

The command of this passage is found in verse 5—“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (KJV). If we think like Christ thought, we will be more inclined to act like He did, since one’s actions are directly related to one’s thought patterns. One of the ways that Christ modeled humanity perfectly for us was in thought. His mindset and attitude were exemplary and we should strive to direct our thoughts in ways that He did.

The second way that Christ modeled humanity perfectly for us (and also was an extension of His mindset) was in humility. He had a humble mind and it showed though His humble actions. He did not use the fact that He was equal with God for His own advantage (v. 6). He didn’t cling to His status as God in order to avoid humility. Instead, Paul says “He emptied Himself” (v. 7).

Understand this does not mean he stopped being God, for God cannot cease to be what He is at any point. However, Jesus did periodically give up the voluntary use of His divine attributes. In other words, Jesus was not power happy; He was humble. His humility is further explained in the end of verse 7 and into verse 8, where Paul writes that Jesus took the form of a servant and was made to look like an ordinary man.

This brings us to the third way that Jesus—in His humanity—set the perfect example for other humans to live: obedience. Verse 8 explains that Jesus “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (KJV). Most of us aren’t obedient even in the easiest of circumstances. But Jesus was obedient even when He was given the most difficult of all tasks: to face a criminal’s execution and to bear the punishment of all sin when He was completely innocent. His perfect obedience in our place ought to burden us to be obedient to God the Father just as He was.

In addition to showing how Jesus set the perfect example for other people, this passage also gives much insight into the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first teaching of this kind here is that He is equal with God (v. 6). He is “in the form of God” (KJV), or “in very nature God” (NIV). As the old creed says, Jesus is “Very God of Very God.” The second person of the trinity (the Son) possesses all the power and authority that the first person (the Father) has.

Not only is Jesus equal with God, but He is also exalted by God (v. 9). His name is above every name. He is the Savior of which everyone else is in desperate need. His exaltation is to the place of highest honor (the right hand of the Father), so that he is to be worshipped as God, because He is God.

Next, because He is highly exalted, every knee will bow (v. 10). In fact, three groups are singled out to show that all people who have ever lived will physically bow the knee to Jesus Christ. The first group is “in Heaven”. It is not too difficult for our minds to imagine all of Heaven bowing to Christ as Lord, but for the sake of being all-inclusive, Paul mentions them here.

The second group that will bow is “on Earth”. Although this will not physically happen until the Millennial Reign of Christ on Earth, it is a promise that all the earth will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. At the mention of His name, people will bow to Him.

The third group is the most interesting, and that is the group “under the earth”. Most scholars speculate that Hell is located in the midst of the earth. Assuming this is true, then this indicates that even those who enter into Hell recognize that Jesus is Lord and bow to Him while they are there. The eyes of all who are in Hell will be opened and they will know that they are being justly punished by the righteous King of Kings.

Paul concludes this section by adding that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (v. 11). This is in correlation to the bowing of the knee: one is physical and one is verbal. Notice also that all of this is done for the glory of God the Father. All of God’s actions in history have been to display His glory and make Himself known, and this will be no different.