Philippians 2:1-11 → Look To Christ, Our Ultimate Example Of Humility
Philippians is a personal letter, written by Paul, to the church in Philippi. He combines this letter as a letter of friendship as well as a formal letter of his support and encouragement. The main emphasis of his letter was on strengthening the commitment and faith of the Philippian Christians.
Passage (NIV1)
Imitating Christ’s Humility
2 Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Verses 1-5: Unite in love and humility
Verses 6-11: Follow Christ’s Example
Part 1: Unite in love and humility
Paul opens with four ‘if’s’. These conditional statements are self-evident facts. ‘If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love,’ why of course I feel these things as a result of being in Christ, they’re so obvious! Through this, Paul is causing the Philippians to reflect on ‘if’ these are evident, which they were as the church was thriving, and then they should work towards the dos and don’ts that Paul follows with.
They should be of the same mind, have the same love and be of the one spirit. Meaning that they should use their different gifts, as written about in another of Paul’s letters, 1 Corinthians 12, in a cooperative way and focus on God’s glory. They should not do anything out of selfish ambition or conceit. Paul writes earlier about others preaching Christ out of selfish intent, in envy and rivalry. Instead, we are to view others as more highly than ourselves, practising humility.
Paul acknowledges that everyone naturally looks out for his or her own interests, but we are to take that level of concern and apply it also to the interests of others. Some translations include this also, as it does not imply that our needs are worthless and should be ignored, but we should be equally considerate of our neighbours’ needs. Believers need to have a mindset of Christ, to be of one mind, united by love and humility and looking out for the interests of others. This rare type of love sounds pretty radical, leaving us stunned about how we should take this on. But thankfully, Paul does not leave us in the dark; he reveals to us the ultimate example of how this should be lived out through Jesus.
Part 2: Follow Christ’s example
Verses 6-11 poetically trace Christ’s pre-existence, incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God. Some scholars suggest that Paul incorporated a hymn known as the Carmen Christi, or ‘Hymn to Christ’, into this part of the passage. Prior to Jesus’s incarnation as man, he was in the form of God; this was the ‘pre-existence of Christ’. We know that Jesus has existed since the beginning, when there was the Word, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
To be in the form of something means to be the true and exact nature of it, possessing all the characteristics and qualities. Verse 6 states that Jesus was in the ‘form of God’. Yet the following verse contrasts this by saying He took ‘the form of a servant’. Why would Jesus, who had the qualities and divine attributes of God, then take on the form of a servant? It is because Christ knew there was a role for him to fulfil in the form of a man, to take upon himself the sins of many, so that all could be offered eternal life. And while he was a man, he became an example to many, particularly in the ways we should serve. Jesus already had equality with God, but he did not believe it was something to hold onto for his own benefit or advantage. Instead, Christ had the mindset of service.
Verse 7 says He emptied himself, which is an unusual term. In Greek, it means to ‘give up status and privilege’. Paul is not saying by this that Jesus permanently became less than God or lost his divine attributes or was not all-knowing and all-powerful while he was on earth. Paul’s saying that even though Jesus had all of these things, he temporarily gave these things up because of his love for sinful mankind. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says that ‘though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich’ and all this was by his grace.
Jesus went further than taking on human form for a broken world. He became obedient to the Father, even to the point of death on a cross. His crucifixion was the ultimate humiliation with terrible physical pain and mockery. Christ bore it, though, so that we might receive our gift through his obedience – ‘for as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous’ Romans 5:19. Jesus was our second Adam, the better Adam. The one who fulfilled the many promises and prophecies and brought redemption into the world.
Verse 9 starts with the powerful word ‘therefore’, urging us to consider what comes next in light of what has been previously described. ‘Therefore’ because of Christ’s humility, ‘God exalted him to the highest place’. God raised him to life, exalted him, entrusted him to rule over the cosmos and gave him the highest name. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he received a new status and authority, and he told some of the disciples about this in Matthew 28:18, saying ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’.
The last few lines conclude this passage with what I believe is the most joyful part. We serve an amazing God whom we should be in constant awe and praise of. Verses 10 and 11 declare that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. What an image to imagine.
We have this command from Paul to love each other and to be united with each other through humility. And Paul does not leave us lost without an example, so he points us to Christ. Jesus was the ultimate example of love and humility. He died a shameful death on a cross and did so through true obedience. He died out of the love he has for us. Jesus is our perfect model of loving service to the Lord. So I’ll conclude with this. Follow Christ’s example and in all you do, do all ‘to the glory of God the Father’.
- Both NIV and ESV translations are used in this post ↩︎