Jesus' Incarnation

INTRO

Our phrase for Philippians to represent how we see the Lord within the book is Exalted One from Philippians 2:9. Chapter 2 is the essential passage for Christians, and it also goes after all the false religions.

TEACHING

Philippians 2:1-4: MacArthur summarizes the first four verses as Paul’s call “to be united by humility.”¹ Verse 1 provides descriptors of what this looks like: “encouragement in Christ,” “consolation of love,” “fellowship with the Spirit,” and “affection and mercy.” “Consolation of love” can be understood as “to come alongside and help, counsel, exhort,” and refers to “the Lord coming close and whispering words of gentle cheer or tender counsel in a believer’s ear.”² “Fellowship” describes “the partnership of common eternal life provided by the indwelling Holy Spirit.”³ While these statements each begin with “if,” it can be understood best as “since.” Since the believers already had these things in their lives, Paul gave what their lives would be like when they lived it out in Christ—they would live in complete unity and humility with each other (v. 2). They would think the same (being like-minded), have the same love that Christ has for them, share that same love with others, and share the common goal (intent on one purpose). Achieving these in unity would make Paul’s joy complete. Since they were in unity, Paul encouraged them to do nothing that put themselves first to break that unity (v. 3a). They were to see others as more important than themselves (v. 3b–4). MacArthur defines “selfish ambition” as “strife,” which leads to “factionalism, rivalry, and partisanship,” and defines “conceit” as “empty conceit” that refers to “the pursuit of personal glory, which is the motivation for selfish ambition.”⁴ “Consider others as more important than yourselves” is “the basic definition of true humility.”⁵ Paul’s instruction does not mean we cannot look after our own interests, but the balance of looking after others with the same passion that we look after our own interests.

Philippians 2:5–11: In verse 5, Paul encouraged the Philippians to live out their lives in selfless humility just as Christ did (Matthew 11:29; John 13:12–17). The early church possibly sang verses 6–11 as a hymn. Christ exists in the form of God (v. 6). Paul used an unusual word for “being” (v. 6 NIV) instead using a Greek word that “emphasizes the essence of a person’s nature—his continuous state of condition,” and he chose the word for form that “denotes the essential, un-changing character of something—what it is in and of itself.”⁶ Jesus was, is, and will always be God. But Jesus laid that aside to take on the “form of a slave” and was like men. He emptied Himself of His godly attributes (intentionally), took on the form and frailties of man (without sin), and died on the cross (not for anything He had done, but for what we had done) (vv. 7–8) (Matthew 27:46; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Colossians 1:22; Hebrews 2:14,17; 4:15). John 1:1 expresses this constancy of Godship, and in verse 14 the statement, “The Word became flesh” shows Him emptying Himself to take on the form of a man. MacArthur explains what it means theologically for Christ to empty Himself of His Incarnation as God (represented by the term kenosis):

“This was a self-renunciation, not an emptying Himself of deity nor an exchange of deity for humanity. Jesus did, however, renounce or set aside His privileges in several areas: (1) heavenly glory—while on earth He gave up the glory of a face-to-face relationship with God and the continuous outward display and personal enjoyment of that glory; (2) independent authority—during His Incarnation Christ completely submitted Himself to the will of His Father; (3) divine prerogatives—He set aside the voluntary display of His divine attributes and submitted Himself to the Spirit’s direction; (4) eternal riches—while on earth Christ was poor and owned very little; and (5) a favorable relationship with God—He felt the Father’s wrath for human sin while on the cross.”⁷

Wiersbe describes those in Scripture who did not have the attitude of Christ, and who were actually the opposite of Christ:

1. Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12–15): “He was once the highest of the angelic beings close to the throne of God, but he desired to be on the throne of God. Lucifer said, ‘I will!’ but Jesus said, ‘Thy will.’” ⁸
2. Adam (Genesis 3:1–7): “Lucifer was not satisfied to be a rebel himself; he invaded Eden and tempted man to be a rebel. Adam had all that he needed; he was actually the ‘king’ of God’s creation, but Satan said, ‘You will be like God!’” ⁹

John Henry Jowett said, “Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.”¹⁰ Both Lucifer and Adam wanted to jump to the top. Lucifer tried to tempt Jesus to do the same. Yet Jesus gave up His life for us. It cost Him everything.

In verse 9, God made Jesus the Exalted One for what He had done and put Him above every name, those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. All people, regardless of whether they have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, will bow before Him and confess that He is Lord (vv. 10–11). All people include “the angels in heaven (Revelation 4:2–9), the spirits of the redeemed (Revelation 4:10–11), obedient believers on earth (Romans 10:9), the disobedient rebels on earth (2 Thessalonians 1:7–9), demons and lost humanity in hell (1 Peter 3:18–22).”¹¹ They will ALL bow to Christ.

CLOSING

Wiersbe emphasizes, “Others is the key word in the vocabulary of the Christian.”¹² The bottom line is our relationship with Christ determines how we are to live with one another:

We are to prefer one another (Romans 12:10).

We are to edify one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

We are to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

We are not to judge one another (Romans 14:13).

When you have the attitude to love others and put them first, that is when you'll have the attitude of Jesus Christ. I pray that as we reflect the emptying that Christ did as He loved us, we will empty ourselves as well. May the only thing others see is Christ in our lives.