Passage

Philippians 2.5-11

Book: Philippians · NASB95

Verse

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus…" (Philippians 2:1-5, NASB95), leading directly into the Christ-hymn.

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle.
Audience: the church at Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia, the first European church Paul planted (Acts 16). The community has been generous to Paul (4:14-18); the letter has overall a warmer / less polemical tone than Galatians or Colossians.
Location and time period: Paul writing from prison, c. AD 60-62 (Rome) or possibly earlier (Caesarea, Ephesus); the Roman-imprisonment dating is the traditional and majority view.
Function in the letter: the hymn is invoked as the paradigm of humility for the Philippians' own communal life. This is the unusual feature, Paul's deepest Christological statement is invoked not as doctrine for its own sake but as ethical-formational example.

Theological reading

The passage is the most-discussed Christological text in the New Testament, possibly an early Christian hymn (the Carmen Christi, "Song of Christ") that Paul incorporates, possibly Pauline composition. Its structural rhythm and pre-Pauline-sounding vocabulary suggest the former. It traces a V-shape: pre-existence → descent → death → exaltation → universal lordship.

1. En morphē theou hyparchōn, "existing in the form of God." The participle is present tense, while existing in the form of God. Morphē in Greek philosophical and ordinary usage carries the sense of essential form / characteristic appearance (not surface "shape"). The Son's pre-incarnate existence was as one who was of God's essential form, sharing the divine nature.

2. Ouch harpagmon hēgēsato to einai isa theō, "did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." The interpretive crux. Harpagmos (NT hapax) means either:

Robbery / something to be seized (the active sense): equality with God was not something to be grabbed at, implying He did not have it and would not seize it.
A thing to be clung to / exploited (the passive sense): equality with God was something He had but did not exploit / hold onto for personal advantage.

The mainstream orthodox reading is the passive sense: the Son already had equality with God; He did not exploit it. This is consistent with v. 6's en morphē theou hyparchōn and prepares for v. 7's ekenōsen heauton, He emptied Himself, which presupposes He had something to empty. The active reading (the pre-existent Son lacked equality and refused to grab it) is held by some (Dunn) but does not fit the verbal flow as well.

3. Heauton ekenōsen, "emptied Himself." The kenosis text. Kenoō means to empty or pour out. The crucial question: emptied Himself of what?

19th-century kenotic theology (Thomasius, Gess): the Son emptied Himself of certain divine attributes (omniscience, omnipotence) at the incarnation, so that He was less-than-fully-divine during the earthly life.
Mainstream orthodox reading: the Son emptied Himself not of any divine attribute but of the prerogatives and glory attached to the divine condition. He retained His full deity but laid aside the manifestation / exercise / external glory of it. He took on the form of a servant by addition (assumption of humanity), not by subtraction.
Veiling reading: a variant of the orthodox reading; the Son veiled His glory rather than emptied any attribute.

The emptying is self-emptying, voluntary, self-determined. This is the heart of the Pauline ethical appeal: Christ chose this, and so should we.

4. Morphēn doulou labōn, "taking the form of a bond-servant." Note the parallel: en morphē theou (v. 6) vs morphēn doulou (v. 7). The same word (morphē) governs both. Just as His pre-incarnate existence was in the essential form of God, His incarnate existence is in the essential form of a servant, not appearance only, not docetic, but full-essential. He really became a servant.

5. Genomenos en homoiōmati anthrōpōn, "being made in the likeness of men." Homoiōma (likeness) preserves the full reality of Christ's humanity while marking that He is also what no other man is. The likeness is a likeness of substance, not a mere appearance.

6. Mechri thanatou, thanatou de staurou, "to the point of death, even death on a cross." The double thanatou drives home the depth: not just death, but the most shameful form of death, Roman crucifixion, which was reserved for slaves, rebels, and the lowest criminals. The Son's descent reaches the deepest point of human degradation.

7. Dio kai ho theos auton hyperypsōsen, "for this reason also, God highly exalted Him." The pivot. Dio ("therefore / for this reason") makes the exaltation consequent on the obedient self-humiliation. The Father's response to the Son's self-giving is hyper-exaltation, exaltation to the highest degree.

8. To onoma to hyper pan onoma, "the name which is above every name." The "name above every name" in Jewish biblical context can only be one thing: the divine name, YHWH. The Father bestows on the exalted Son the divine name, making explicit what was implicit from v. 6.

9. Pan gony kampsē… pasa glōssa exomologēsētai, "every knee will bow… every tongue will confess." A direct citation of Isaiah 45:23, where YHWH speaks: to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. Paul takes a YHWH-text and applies it to the exalted Christ. The universal worship that Isaiah reserves for YHWH alone is now offered to the exalted Jesus.

10. Kyrios Iēsous Christos, "Jesus Christ is Lord." Kyrios, the Septuagint's standard rendering of the divine name YHWH. The earliest Christian confession (probably the original baptismal confession; see Romans 10:9) is the assertion that Jesus is YHWH-incarnate-and-exalted.

Patristic / scholarly note

Patristic. The hymn was central to the Christological controversies. Athanasius (Contra Arianos 1.40-44; 3.26-58) treats Phil 2:6-11 as decisive against Arianism: the Son's pre-existent equality with God refutes any creaturely-Christ position. The kenōsis clause was the focus of intense engagement; orthodox readers (Cyril, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine) consistently rejected the reading that Christ emptied Himself of any divine attribute, holding that the emptying was the laying-aside of glory and the assumption of humanity. The Chalcedonian definition (451), one person in two natures, without confusion or change, preserves the orthodox reading of Phil 2:6-7.

Reformation. Luther's kenosis reading emphasized the humiliation of God, God hidden in suffering, as a foundational theological category (theologia crucis). Calvin (Commentary on Philippians, 1548) treats the hymn as foundational for both Christology and ethics.

19th-century kenotic theology. Gottfried Thomasius, W. F. Gess, P. T. Forsyth, Charles Gore, H. R. Mackintosh developed varieties of "kenotic" Christology in which the Son surrendered some divine attributes during the incarnation. Critics (B. B. Warfield, Christology and Criticism; Donald MacLeod, The Person of Christ) have argued that this surrenders too much, a Christ who lacks divine attributes during the earthly life is no longer fully God. Most mainstream contemporary theology has retreated from strong kenotic positions.

Modern scholarship. Ralph P. Martin's A Hymn of Christ (1967, rev. 1997) is the standard monograph. Major commentaries: Peter T. O'Brien (Philippians NIGTC, 1991); Gordon Fee (Philippians NICNT, 1995); Markus Bockmuehl (Philippians BNTC, 1998); Moisés Silva (Philippians BECNT, 1992; rev. 2005); G. Walter Hansen (Philippians PNTC, 2009). The pre-Pauline-hymn hypothesis (Lohmeyer, Käsemann) is widely discussed but remains debated.

Recent significant work. Larry Hurtado (Lord Jesus Christ, 2003) treats Phil 2:6-11 as evidence of the very early (within decades of the resurrection) high-Christology and worship of Jesus as divine. Richard Bauckham (God Crucified, 1998; Jesus and the God of Israel, 2008) develops a "Christology of divine identity" that draws heavily on Phil 2, the exalted Jesus is identified with YHWH within the strict monotheism of Second Temple Judaism.

Connection to other passages

Isaiah 45:22-23, the every-knee-shall-bow text Paul cites
John 1.1, John 1.14, John 17.5, Johannine pre-existence and incarnation
Hebrews 1.3, parallel high-Christology with cosmic-sustainer dimension
Colossians 1.15-17, parallel cosmic-Christology hymn
Romans 10:9, "Jesus is Lord" as the early baptismal confession
1 Corinthians 8:6, "for us there is one God, the Father… and one Lord, Jesus Christ"
Philippians 2:12-13, the immediate ethical application: work out your salvation
Mark 10:42-45, Jesus's anti-domination teaching (parallel ethic; cf. Matthew 20.25-28)
2 Corinthians 8:9, "though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor"

Key words

G3444 - morphē (pending), morphē (form, essential form)
G2758 - kenoō (pending), kenoō (to empty, pour out), load-bearing for kenotic theology
G0725 - harpagmos (pending), harpagmos (a thing to be grasped), the interpretive crux (active vs passive sense)
G3667 - homoioma (pending), homoiōma (likeness)
G2962 - kyrios, Kyrios (Lord), the divine name applied to Jesus
G2424 - Iēsous (pending), Iēsous, the personal name to which every knee will bow