Philippians - Lesson 9

I. Introduction to Philippians 2:6–11

In this lesson, we're going to introduce chapter 2, verses 6 through 11, sometimes called a hymn, the Christ hymn, sometimes called the Christ poem. I want to lay out for you some important ideas and theological constructs. And then in the next lesson, we'll dive into the passage verse by verse.

This section—and I keep using hymn or poem, however you want to understand it—these verses 6 through 11 of chapter 2, with a great economy of words, Paul exposes us to a mystery that is really, for any human mind, hard to fully comprehend: the character of the Godhead, the incarnation of Christ, the glorification of Christ. Well, but if we can't know it all, at least we can claim some things. And that's what we're going to do in this lesson and the following one.

I argued briefly in our previous lesson that this passage should not be understood merely as doctrine or merely as imitation of Christ, but rather think of the two of those together in the concept of participation in Christ. Remember, Paul has said to the Ephesian believers that as they are in Christ, they are now seated with Christ in the heavenlies, or Paul will talk about being crucified with Christ, no longer living, Christ living in him. He says this to the Galatians. So this participation in Christ's life, both in the crucifixion, longing for the resurrection of our own bodies in relation to Christ's resurrection and being seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Now, Ephesians 2 captures, I think, our participation in Christ and invites us then to think imitation and doctrine both. So as we look at this passage in these next two lessons and we dive into some pretty deep exegetical waters, I want you to periodically surface and appreciate this overarching vision that Paul gives us.

II. Literary Form & Background

Well, first, should we use the designation of hymn or poem for this passage structure? People talk about five criteria to identify a hymn. They argue first that there's a disruption in the flow of the prose. Secondly, there are certain stylistic and terminology differences compared to the rest of the letter. Third, there are introductory phrases. Fourth, there's an antithetical style that highlights a contrast. And then five, there's the use of rare or ceremonial terms. And so many people looking at that set of criteria would say, "Yes, this fits the category of hymn." The passage is lyrical. So it would also fit, if you prefer, the designation poem. In this case, the accent is on the parallelism that we find, the repetition, the word clusters that we find: nature, for example, or likeness, appearance. Some of those are examples of word clusters that we find. So hymn, poem, I'm going to use either one interchangeably, even though they're not technically interchangeable, but I like the idea of thinking about this section as set apart from common prose. I think that most scholars agree on.

This poem also has two halves. The first half, verses 6 through 8. The second half, 9 through 11. The first half, verses 6 through 8, talk about incarnation and passion. The second half, Christ's exaltation.

In the study of this passage, there have been questions raised, including three questions we'll look at. Did Paul write this hymn or is it a pre-Pauline hymn of the church? Does this passage presuppose a Greek background or a Jewish background? And then, related to the second question, the third question, does verse 6 speak of Christ's pre-existence? Answering these questions, which have been raised by scholars over the last 50 or 70 years, is done with a reflection on, in particular, four terms that have been difficult to interpret, or there are different ways of interpreting them: morphē, which is form; harpagmos, which we'll look at that definition in a minute; the theological impact of emptied himself, what's called the kenosis verse; and then the fourth word is often translated as likeness. So these four words—form, I haven't translated yet harpagmos, likeness, and then the emptied, the verb emptied—this is kind of what makes up the argument.

III. Authorship & Theological Roots

Let's look first at authorship. Typically the claim that this is a hymn that Paul knew—and so, and maybe even the Philippians also knew, and he incorporated it into his letter—that argument is based on the kind of language that we find in the passage, or even more, the presumed non-Pauline theology. So either the vocabulary doesn't sound quite like Paul, or the theology doesn't sound quite like Paul. I would say in both cases, that evaluation is overconfident that we know what Paul would sound like at all times. We don't have the necessary volume of Paul's material to draw the kind of conclusions that some do to say that, well, he would never use this sort of word or this kind of syntax. The argument that the theology is not Paul's also, I think, flounders, because Paul is quite capable of speaking about the pre-existing Christ. I think of 1 Corinthians—sorry, 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, verse 9. He can speak, for example, Paul can speak about the cross and not mention resurrection in that same context. We see this in Romans chapter 10. Both 2 Corinthians and Romans, and also Galatians, actually. All of those letters, people believe that Paul wrote them, and we find his ideas in there. So I think we can also say with this hymn that it could be composed by Paul.

In the modern era, another argument grew up about this hymn, and the hymn was placed in parallel with the Hellenistic hero gods. I mentioned those briefly in one of our intro lessons when we looked at the number of shrines and temples and deities worshipped in Philippi. That would include these hero gods who through apotheosis, through a change, they gained the status of deity. And so did the Gentiles that Paul was writing to, were they reading this hymn through their own pagan background to kind of see Jesus Christ as this man-god, just a divine being but not truly God? This argument, which, as I say, is about 70 years old, back into the early 1900s, is an example of scholars who brought their own ideas, especially their own anti-Jewish ideas, into the biblical text in an effort to remove any kind of connection with Judaism. They sought the backdrop of the Greek world. And also, there were some who argued that Jesus—and there are some, of course, today that still argue that Jesus is a created being, not the second person of the Trinity. And so some of that type of scholarship entered into New Testament studies. But I'm glad to say that almost no one today will argue that this backdrop of this hymn is somehow connected to the hero-god of Paul's time, the Gentile hero-god.

What we do have, which is a separate argument but still is an emphasis on looking at Christ as human, is an argument that this hymn sets up a contrast to see Christ as the new and perfect Adam. So some scholars will suggest that in this hymn what we see is a replay of the fall, but this time Christ gets it right. So rather than grasp at God, which is what Adam did, so this theory says Christ humbled himself. Christ, like Adam, did not share equality with God. So in this argument, the hymn is not about Christ's pre-existence, but it's about how the human Jesus restores humanity as the second Adam. Now Paul does use language of second Adam. We see that, for example, in Romans chapter 5. And so the argument is that we have something similar here in Philippians. Now seeing the hymn as a comparison with Adam doesn't rule out Christ's pre-existence. That can be got at through the idea of incarnation. So this way of looking at the hymn, I have to say it's not one that is widely held, but it also is not a position that would in and of itself rule out Jesus Christ as the second person of the Trinity. Again, this Adam and new Adam argument is a way for Paul to make the case that Jesus restores humanity as it should be. And we as believers then can live into this new restored humanity.

Many people focus on the suffering servant in Isaiah as a background to understand this hymn. In Isaiah 53:2, for example, we have connections to language that we have in the hymn: form of God, form of slave. In chapter 52 of Isaiah, people point to the phrase in the likeness of human beings. That's in chapter—or that's in verse 7 of our passage. I mean, you can just go through 52 and 53 of Isaiah and the language like servant or slave, the idea of empty—in Isaiah 53:12 we have, he poured out his soul unto death—just this language that you find in Isaiah. Many people point to those chapters, 52 and 53, as a way to think about what's going on in the hymn. In fact, we have one scholar, James Ware, who will argue that all of these numerous correspondences suggest that Paul actually might be doing an exegetical reflection on Isaiah 52 and 53 in this Christ hymn. Not everyone holds to the tight connection between the Christ poem and Isaiah 52 and 53. Some people say, you know, to imagine that Paul is pointing to Isaiah here would disrupt the chronological flow of the hymn's narrative, mentioning Christ's death before his incarnation. But I mean that you have to ask yourself, was Paul intending to present a chronological account? Often in poems, the chronology is bent to be able to get thematic points across.

IV. Narrative & Christological Themes

I mentioned chronology and narrative. Many scholars see narrative in this poem. When they look at verses 6 through 11, they see this narrative: cross and resurrection, and then also our death and new life. "Paul's gospel," says Richard Hays, "Paul's gospel is a story." Okay. And we see a narrative in Philippians 2:6-11. Scot McKnight, in using his language of "Christoformity," conforming to Christ, reflects on this passage of ours and says Paul is shaping his story and identity to reflect Christ. So people look at this poem and they see a narrative or a story embedded in it. I think this reflects helpfully. It helps us to understand the humility and exaltation theme that we find when we read the whole poem: the humility in the first half, the exaltation in the second half. And so Janine Brown talks about how Paul, quote, "tells the story of Christ's descent and subsequent glorification to motivate the Philippians towards a shared mindset of humility." So there's a story here. There's a narrative underneath this or reflected in—I shouldn't say underneath, reflected in—the poem or hymn. There may be a nod to Isaiah 53. I think many people are comfortable with seeing Isaiah 52 and 53 as part of this, as helpful to read Isaiah in understanding what's going on here in Philippians. And some would even suggest thinking broadly about Christ as the new Adam or second Adam as a way to capture some of Paul's meaning in this passage.

We also have kenosis, this language, the verb here in the text, "he emptied himself," or "he made himself nothing," verse 7. This self-emptying, one scholar, Michael Gorman, talks about a theory of self-emptying in a way that's like a math equation. And he says, you know, although X, not Y, but Z, kind of a math equation to explain this. The first part of this hymn, which includes kenosis: Christ, although in the form of God, didn't seek this status, didn't use this status for his own advantage, but he emptied himself. This verb that Gorman was referring to, "to make empty," we don't find it much at all in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. We don't find it much in the New Testament. The kenotic Christology, that Christology related to self-emptying, suggests that in Jesus' incarnation, he emptied himself of omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, but he retained his holiness, his love, his righteousness, but he emptied out certain things. Maybe another way to look at it, one that I'm more convinced of, is that Jesus Christ did not empty anything out of himself. He actually emptied himself out of a heavenly and glorious form, morphē, into an earthly and inglorious form, morphē, that is, form of a slave. So it's not so much that Christ is this big and then he empties himself and he's this big, but rather Christ is this and comes to us. And it's that coming to us that is the emptying.

V. Exaltation & Relational Trinitarianism

Another point that I'd like to make in the theology of this passage is the exaltation of Christ, where the claim is made—and this is a quotation from Isaiah, "every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." And the question has been raised whether bowing the knee will happen willingly. Okay. This is an important question because it not only touches on human salvation, but it also touches on the character of God. And we find within the New Testament the claim, the firm conviction, that God is not willing that any should perish. And also that every person is asked to call upon the name of Jesus that they may be saved. So let me say, give you a couple of thoughts as you think about drawing your own conclusions about whether the knee will bow willingly. First, I think we learned from the book of James that yes, "the demons can believe that God is one, but they shudder." So the supremacy of God doesn't soften them. It only brings fear and obstinacy. Secondly, we know that there are some who will think that they have confessed the name of Jesus, but they are confusing their use of Jesus' name and the miracles that they do supposedly with his power. And Jesus will say to them—this we find in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus will say, "Depart from me, I don't know you." In both of these examples, the underlying issue is lack of obedience. And I think that's important because there is this focus on obedience that we have in the hymn. Jesus became obedient to death, even death on a cross. So as every knee bows, as you think about what that will look like, consider also the importance of obedience.

And then one final point at the end of the hymn: every knee, every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Some people look at this closing and suggest that there is a subordinate status of the Son to the Father, but I have two responses to that. First, the quotation from Isaiah points rather to the single essence that the Father and Son share. I think this difference is important today, and I draw on Wesley Hill and his work in this passage, inviting us to think about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—as in relationship rather than on a vertical axis of human, demigod, God. Let me say this another way. When we speak of God the Father, we are also at the same time implicating and involving the identity of Jesus Christ the Son. There is never a time when God the Father was a bachelor. There's never a time when he wasn't Father. He has always had the Son and the Son has always had the Father. 

So in the creeds we talk about the Father eternally begetting and the Son eternally begotten. And what Hill wants to draw out of that is thinking that there's an emphasis on relationship, Father and Son. It's very different than our human relationships because fathers were first sons themselves and then became fathers, but that's not the Godhead that is revealed to us in Scripture. So when we see God the Father and Christ the Son in relationship to each other, they take their identity in part from that relationship. The eternal God is eternally the Father; the Son is eternal. This, I think, helps us to understand that the self-emptying, the incarnation, all of that is how we receive our salvation, how we understand God as we see Jesus, we see the Father, as he tells us in the Gospel of John. But Hill's insight helps us to understand the unity of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the Lord. God sends and exalts. Jesus is sent and is exalted. But there's not a hierarchy of essence in this. They are together God.

So as we dive into the verses now, I'd like us to remember both the salvation piece—soteriologically, this hymn, this poem shows Christ's death and resurrection brings salvation and cosmic reign, we can know that from this—but also from a sense of practice, the ethics that are part of this passage. It shows how Paul and the Philippians can work with purpose to bring the news of salvation and Christ's reign to all the nations.