The apostle Paul writes to the believers at Philippi: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped" (Phil. 2:5-6 NRSVue). This verse, with this very translation--"did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped"--is used by some to deny to Jesus His innate deity / divinity. Have they never read: "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God" (John 1:1 NLT; cf. GW, ISV, NIRV)? Who is the Word? The "Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14 NASB); "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained [revealed] Him" (John 1:18; cf. John 1:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). What is His Name? "For of His fullness we have all received--and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ" (John 1:16-17). He is the
Concerning wisdom, the apostle Paul writes, "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus--who became to [or for, cf. BSB, CSB, EHV, ISV, NET, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV] us wisdom from God" (1 Cor. 1:30). He concludes as much by first pointing out to the believer: For consider your
DISSECTION
Let us carefully and painstakingly dissect the Philippian passage used against Jesus. "Let [present tense: let and keep letting; passive: humbly and submissively allow what follows to have its transformative and full effect within you; imperative: this is a command] the same mind [the understanding, to think, to direct the mind toward, the inner perspective of the heart, the attitude, the mental disposition that affects your behavior] be [be continually being] in you [plural, "in you all," or "in yourselves"] that was [or "that you have" (NRSVue tn) or "which is yours [in your possession]" (ESV), cf. 1 Cor. 2:16] in Christ Jesus, who, though He existed [present active participle: "although existing"--the reference to Jesus here is that He is presently and already existing] in the form [morphē, "properly, form (outward expression) that embodies essential (inner) substance so that the form is in complete harmony with the inner essence (HELPS Word Studies)] of God [i.e. Jesus is presently existing as is He is, "in the form of God," and thus equal with God in deity; but He], did not regard equality with God as [harpagmós] something to be grasped" (Phil. 2:5-6 NRSVue; also cf. Amplified, ASV, ESV, ISV, LSB, LEB, MEV, NABre, NASB, NET, NLT, OJB, RSV, TLV, WEB).
Prior to the 2021 update of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSVue) the 1989 NRSV renders harpagmós as "something to be exploited": So Jesus, though equal with God His Father, did not regard that equality "as something to be exploited, but [instead] emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness; and being found in human form [recall that, prior to this humbling incarnation, He existed in the form of God, Phil. 2:6], He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:6-8); cf. "who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited" (CSB and CEB); "who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage" (HCSB); "Though He was by nature God, He did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed" (EHV); "Although He was in the form of God, and equal with God, He did not take advantage of this equality" (GW); "Christ Himself was like God in everything. But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for His own benefit" (NCV); "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage" (NIV); "In His very nature He was God. Jesus was equal with God. But Jesus didn't take advantage of that fact" (NIRV); "Jesus has always been as God is. But He did not hold to His rights as God" (NLV); "Though He was God, He did not demand and [forcefully] cling to His rights as God" (NLT 1996); "Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to [by force]" (NLT 2015).
All of the translations in the above paragraph, and even so the New Living Translation (both 1996 and 2015), are closest to the heart of this passage. I particularly appreciate the New Living Translation's use of cling to, to which formal translations are aiming with their use of "something to be grasped," because harpagmós and harpazō capitalizes on the notion of seizing--or even robbing--something by force and clinging tightly to what is seized / robbed / taken by force (cf. "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," KJV). What is seized / robbed / taken by force is then retained and displayed to others as a prize (as when a conqueror takes a people or land and prides himself on his conquest). The proper interpretation of the verse, then, is that Jesus, though existing as God and equal with God (cf. John 1:1 NLT), did not cling to His deity / divinity in such a way as to shun the incarnation. Instead, He humbled and emptied Himself, taking upon Himself the form not of God, as He is, but of a bond-servant--being made in the likeness of mere men (Phil. 2:7; cf. Heb. 2:14-18).
THE FORM OF GOD
Jesus preexisted with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity past (John 1:1 NLT; cf. Isa. 9:6; Micah 5:2; John 8:58; 17:5; Col. 1:17). His outward morphē, form, would have been that of both the Father and the Holy Spirit--spirit, not physical, form (John 4:24). Paul's use of form at Philippians 2:6 blends "the ideas of nature and the visible display of that true identity. Paul is speaking of One who not only is and has eternally been truly God, but also displayed His glory as God in preincarnate radiance."1 God the Father's outward form is spirit (John 4:24). But Paul, here, is not referring to an outward form of Jesus--which was the physical body of a man. "In Jesus the very nature of the invisible God is displayed in a form that we can access, as John testified that the Word who 'was God ... became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth' (John 1:1, 14)."2 We see a parallel image from the author of Hebrews: "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [the Father's] glory and the exact representation of His nature, and [He, Jesus] upholds all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:1-3 NASB).
THE FORM OF MAN
In His incarnation, however, Jesus now assumes two identities: fully in the form of God (in His divine nature) and fully in the form of man (in His human nature and His mortal flesh). Jesus, in the form of (in very nature) God, can pray to His Father, "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5), while He clothed Himself in the form of a servant or, more properly, a slave (Phil. 2:7). "The form of God is stunning radiance; the form of a slave entails subservience to others and subjection to their scorn. Christ now bears both."3 We must remember that the form of God is "not something different from God or less than God, just as the glory of God is not something different from God or less than God. So the One existing in the form of God is not different from God or less than God."4 In His earthly life, Jesus, in the form and nature and glory of God His Father, lived as authentic man, "being made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:7). Jesus, from eternity past, enjoys His deity / divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but does not "grasp," does not "cling to," His divine right, but, rather empties Himself of His divine privilege, "taking the form" of a human slave. This "emptying" is not the "taking off" of His Godness, divinity, as the eternal Son of God. "In the context [the passage] draws attention 'not to the [divine] right which He claimed but the dignity [as God] which He renounced [for our sake]."5 Christ laid aside His divine right but not His innate divinity.
JESUS: EQUAL WITH THE FATHER
While those who deny Jesus His innate deity and divinity in equality with the Father and the Holy Spirit, they must do so by eisegeting their own preconceived notions into this very text, given that being equal with God (Phil. 2:6) is "precisely another way of saying" in the form of God. "Christ reveals the essence of equality with God and cosmic Lordship by His humiliation. The exaltation of Jesus is 'the affirmation, by God the Father, that the incarnation and death of Jesus really was the revelation of the divine love in action.'"6 Jesus, "being in very nature God," and thus equal with God (cf. John 5:18; 10:33), did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage" (Phil. 2:6 NIV). Dr. G. Walter Hansen refers to the work of Dr. R.W. Hoover as noting that, "in every instance which I have examined this idiomatic expression," i.e., ἡγήσατο (did not regard) ἴσα (equality) θεῷ (with God) ἁρπαγμὸν (something to cling to, something to exploit, something to use to one's own advantage), "refers to something already present and at one's disposal." So, then, the question before us is "not whether
DOES IT MATTER?
Belief in the eternal deity / divinity of Jesus matters for salvation. In other words, if you deny the deity / divinity of Jesus Christ, then you cannot be saved. The Jewish Temple Leaders of Jesus' day reject His deity / divinity and Jesus responds to them: "That is why I told you that you will die in your sins; and you will die in your sins if you do not believe that I Am Who I Am" ... "So He said to them, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that I Am Who I Am; then you will know that I do nothing on My own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed Me to say'" ... "'I am telling you the truth,' Jesus replied. 'Before Abraham was born, I Am'" (John 8:24, 28, 58 GNT). How do we know here that Jesus insists He is the Great I Am, equal with His Father, the God of Israel? Because of the response of those Jewish Leaders: "Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him [to stone Him to death], but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple" (John 8:59 LSB).
This is not the last time those Leaders try to murder Jesus. When He insists "I and the Father are one [a unified essence]" (John 10:31), thus revealing Himself as being eternally equal with God, the Jewish Leaders "picked up stones again to stone Him [to death]. Jesus answered them, 'I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?' The Jews answered Him, 'For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself God'" (John 10:31-33 LSB). Jesus is declaring Himself to being equal with God. The Jewish Leaders understand the implications of Jesus's words and He does not correct them! Here is Jesus' opportunity to help the people understand that He is being misunderstood--that He is not making Himself equal with the Father, the God of Israel, but He does not do so because He cannot do so. He is God the Son, eternally equal with God the Father, the eternally-existent I Am.
JESUS AND THE FATHER: ONE ESSENCE
In prayer to His Father, Jesus says, "This is eternal life, that they may know [to know by experience (through new birth, John 3:3, 5)] You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3 NASB). Eternal life is summed up in a person experientially knowing God via a saving relationship by grace through faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8, 9)--but not only knowing God the Father but also knowing "Jesus Christ whom You have sent." This renders Jesus equal with the Father. This is how Jesus can say to Philip: "Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative--but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves" (John 14:9-11). Jesus is not the Father but the Son. God the Father is not the Son but the Father. A clear distinction is made by Jesus regarding His own Personhood and the Personhood of His Father but so also is the revelation of the Father and the Son eternally sharing one unified essence or nature.
Jesus prays to His Father: "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:4, 5). Jesus shared the glory of God from eternity past because they share the same unified essence or nature. This renders Jesus equal with the Father. He continues His prayer: "I have manifested Your Name [cf. Ex. 3:14] to the men whom You gave Me out of the world" (John 17:6). Those men were His followers. God the Father gave them to Jesus (John 17:8, 9) and Jesus is praying for them particularly, "for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine" (John 17:9, 10). If whatever belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son then the Son is equal with the Father.
JESUS AND THE FATHER: ONE NAME
The Name of God revealed to Moses is referred to as the tetragrammaton--lit. the four-lettered Name--and in Hebrew the Name is revealed in four letters, אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה (YHWH), and is translated as "I Am" (from the Hebrew verb hayah, "to be" or "to exist"); and can also be translated as "I Am Who I Am," "I Am That / Which I Am," or "I Will Be What I Will Be." God says to Moses: "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'" (Ex. 3:14b LSB). God is the eternally-Existent One. God, simply, Is. Jesus Himself confesses to bearing the Name of God.
Jesus knows His earthly life and ministry are coming to a close and so He prays: "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your Name [cf. Ex. 3:14], the Name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are [one]" (John 17:11). So the Father and the Son share the same Name, YHWH, I Am That I Am. This is how Jesus can say: "Before Abraham was, I Am" (John 8:58). Jesus is either deluded, possessing a God-complex, or He is Who He says He is--the Great I Am--the YHWH of the Old Testament (John 8:24, 28, 58; John 17:11; 1 Cor. 10:1, 2, 3, 4). The apostle Paul affirms Jesus' own identity when he writes: "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him [Jesus], and bestowed on Him the Name which is above every name [Ex. 3:14], so that at the Name of [or bestowed upon or given to] Jesus [which is YWHW, I Am] 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 [YHWH--the I Am], to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9, 10, 11).
CONCLUSION
All attempts to rob Jesus of His divinity and deity are futile. The same can be said of the deity / divnity of the Holy Spirit for He, too, is LORD, YHWH, the I Am. The apostle Paul writes: "But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart [the heart of unbelieving Jewish people]; but whenever a person turns to the LORD, the veil is taken away. Now the LORD is the Holy Spirit, and where the Holy Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom (cf. John 6:63; 8:32; 16:7. 8, 9, 10, 11; Rom. 8:1, 2, 3, 4, 15; 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 5:13, 14, 18). But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the LORD, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the LORD, who is the Holy Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:15, 16, 17, 18; I added "Holy" to "the Spirit" so that He is rightly identified). The Holy Spirit is God, the Spirit of God, eternally equal with the Father and the Son (cf. Acts 5:3, 4, 9). The Holy Spirit, then, shares the Name of God, YHWH (LORD), the I Am.
__________
1 Dennis E. Johnson, Philippians, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2013), 122.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid., 122-23.
4 G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmands Publishing Co., 2009), 138.
5 Ibid., 143.
6 Ibid., 145.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Joseph H. Hellerman, Philippians, B&H Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishing Group, 2015), 118.
image of the invisible God--the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:15-17). God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:1-3). 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 [YHWH--I Am; cf. John 8:24, 28, 58] which is above every name [Ex. 3:14, 15], so that at the Name of [given to] Jesus [John 17:6, 11] 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 (Phil. 2:8-11).Jehovah's Witnesses, and others who deny Jesus His innate deity / divinity, quote Proverbs 8, connect the passage with 1 Corinthians 1:30, and then use the very passages in the New Testament that attest to His deity / divinity and use them against Christ. Giving personality to wisdom, the author writes, "The LORD created me [wisdom] at the beginning of his work--the first of His acts of long ago" (Prov. 8:22 NRSV; cf. CEB, HCSB, ISV, NASB 2020, NET, RSV). Other translations render: "The LORD possessed me [innately possessed wisdom, not "created me," as though God created wisdom for the first time] at the beginning of His way--before His works of old" (Prov. 8:22 NASB; cf. ASV, EHR, ESV, KJV, LSB, LEB, MEV, NKJV, WEB, YLT; cf. "acquired" [wisdom] CSB; cf. "I, wisdom, was with the LORD when He began His work--long before He made anything else," NCV; cf. "brought me [wisdom] forth," NIV; cf. "formed me [wisdom]," NLT). Regardless of the verb reference, i.e. what God did with wisdom, the subject concerns wisdom, though personified, but the subject is not about God "creating" Jesus Christ.
Concerning wisdom, the apostle Paul writes, "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus--who became to [or for, cf. BSB, CSB, EHV, ISV, NET, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV] us wisdom from God" (1 Cor. 1:30). He concludes as much by first pointing out to the believer: For consider your
calling [to salvation in Christ], brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen [elected] the foolish things of the world to shame [those who consider themselves] the wise, and God has chosen [elected] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are [or which mortals consider to be] strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen [elected for salvation], the things that are not [meaning: those whom the elite in society consider disgraceful, marginalized, despised--in Greek this is the most demeaning term one can use for a human being], so that He may nullify the things [and those who think] that [they] are [something in the eyes of the world], so that no man may boast before God (1 Cor. 1:26-29).So, then, God is not searching to save those who think highly of themselves (unless He sovereignly humbles and thus saves them), or those who consider themselves wise (or of infinite value via societal status or wealth) in the eyes of the world, but He looks to the despised, the lowly, even the uneducated. This is how Jesus has become for us "wisdom" from God. "You are partners with Christ Jesus because of God," God's Word translation offers us. "Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness and our ransom from sin." What the passage does not convey in any terms whatsoever is that God the Father created God the Son. Interpreting Jesus as "wisdom from God" (1 Cor. 1:30), and then using the proverb that God "created" wisdom / Jesus (Prov. 8:22), is nothing short of vile interpretive manipulation.
DISSECTION
Let us carefully and painstakingly dissect the Philippian passage used against Jesus. "Let [present tense: let and keep letting; passive: humbly and submissively allow what follows to have its transformative and full effect within you; imperative: this is a command] the same mind [the understanding, to think, to direct the mind toward, the inner perspective of the heart, the attitude, the mental disposition that affects your behavior] be [be continually being] in you [plural, "in you all," or "in yourselves"] that was [or "that you have" (NRSVue tn) or "which is yours [in your possession]" (ESV), cf. 1 Cor. 2:16] in Christ Jesus, who, though He existed [present active participle: "although existing"--the reference to Jesus here is that He is presently and already existing] in the form [morphē, "properly, form (outward expression) that embodies essential (inner) substance so that the form is in complete harmony with the inner essence (HELPS Word Studies)] of God [i.e. Jesus is presently existing as is He is, "in the form of God," and thus equal with God in deity; but He], did not regard equality with God as [harpagmós] something to be grasped" (Phil. 2:5-6 NRSVue; also cf. Amplified, ASV, ESV, ISV, LSB, LEB, MEV, NABre, NASB, NET, NLT, OJB, RSV, TLV, WEB).
Prior to the 2021 update of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSVue) the 1989 NRSV renders harpagmós as "something to be exploited": So Jesus, though equal with God His Father, did not regard that equality "as something to be exploited, but [instead] emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness; and being found in human form [recall that, prior to this humbling incarnation, He existed in the form of God, Phil. 2:6], He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:6-8); cf. "who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited" (CSB and CEB); "who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage" (HCSB); "Though He was by nature God, He did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed" (EHV); "Although He was in the form of God, and equal with God, He did not take advantage of this equality" (GW); "Christ Himself was like God in everything. But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for His own benefit" (NCV); "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage" (NIV); "In His very nature He was God. Jesus was equal with God. But Jesus didn't take advantage of that fact" (NIRV); "Jesus has always been as God is. But He did not hold to His rights as God" (NLV); "Though He was God, He did not demand and [forcefully] cling to His rights as God" (NLT 1996); "Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to [by force]" (NLT 2015).
All of the translations in the above paragraph, and even so the New Living Translation (both 1996 and 2015), are closest to the heart of this passage. I particularly appreciate the New Living Translation's use of cling to, to which formal translations are aiming with their use of "something to be grasped," because harpagmós and harpazō capitalizes on the notion of seizing--or even robbing--something by force and clinging tightly to what is seized / robbed / taken by force (cf. "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," KJV). What is seized / robbed / taken by force is then retained and displayed to others as a prize (as when a conqueror takes a people or land and prides himself on his conquest). The proper interpretation of the verse, then, is that Jesus, though existing as God and equal with God (cf. John 1:1 NLT), did not cling to His deity / divinity in such a way as to shun the incarnation. Instead, He humbled and emptied Himself, taking upon Himself the form not of God, as He is, but of a bond-servant--being made in the likeness of mere men (Phil. 2:7; cf. Heb. 2:14-18).
THE FORM OF GOD
Jesus preexisted with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity past (John 1:1 NLT; cf. Isa. 9:6; Micah 5:2; John 8:58; 17:5; Col. 1:17). His outward morphē, form, would have been that of both the Father and the Holy Spirit--spirit, not physical, form (John 4:24). Paul's use of form at Philippians 2:6 blends "the ideas of nature and the visible display of that true identity. Paul is speaking of One who not only is and has eternally been truly God, but also displayed His glory as God in preincarnate radiance."1 God the Father's outward form is spirit (John 4:24). But Paul, here, is not referring to an outward form of Jesus--which was the physical body of a man. "In Jesus the very nature of the invisible God is displayed in a form that we can access, as John testified that the Word who 'was God ... became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth' (John 1:1, 14)."2 We see a parallel image from the author of Hebrews: "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [the Father's] glory and the exact representation of His nature, and [He, Jesus] upholds all things by the word of His power" (Heb. 1:1-3 NASB).
THE FORM OF MAN
In His incarnation, however, Jesus now assumes two identities: fully in the form of God (in His divine nature) and fully in the form of man (in His human nature and His mortal flesh). Jesus, in the form of (in very nature) God, can pray to His Father, "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5), while He clothed Himself in the form of a servant or, more properly, a slave (Phil. 2:7). "The form of God is stunning radiance; the form of a slave entails subservience to others and subjection to their scorn. Christ now bears both."3 We must remember that the form of God is "not something different from God or less than God, just as the glory of God is not something different from God or less than God. So the One existing in the form of God is not different from God or less than God."4 In His earthly life, Jesus, in the form and nature and glory of God His Father, lived as authentic man, "being made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:7). Jesus, from eternity past, enjoys His deity / divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but does not "grasp," does not "cling to," His divine right, but, rather empties Himself of His divine privilege, "taking the form" of a human slave. This "emptying" is not the "taking off" of His Godness, divinity, as the eternal Son of God. "In the context [the passage] draws attention 'not to the [divine] right which He claimed but the dignity [as God] which He renounced [for our sake]."5 Christ laid aside His divine right but not His innate divinity.
JESUS: EQUAL WITH THE FATHER
While those who deny Jesus His innate deity and divinity in equality with the Father and the Holy Spirit, they must do so by eisegeting their own preconceived notions into this very text, given that being equal with God (Phil. 2:6) is "precisely another way of saying" in the form of God. "Christ reveals the essence of equality with God and cosmic Lordship by His humiliation. The exaltation of Jesus is 'the affirmation, by God the Father, that the incarnation and death of Jesus really was the revelation of the divine love in action.'"6 Jesus, "being in very nature God," and thus equal with God (cf. John 5:18; 10:33), did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage" (Phil. 2:6 NIV). Dr. G. Walter Hansen refers to the work of Dr. R.W. Hoover as noting that, "in every instance which I have examined this idiomatic expression," i.e., ἡγήσατο (did not regard) ἴσα (equality) θεῷ (with God) ἁρπαγμὸν (something to cling to, something to exploit, something to use to one's own advantage), "refers to something already present and at one's disposal." So, then, the question before us is "not whether
one possesses something but whether or not one chooses to exploit something." This interpretation takes [the] reference to equality with God as a description of Christ's divine nature and position in His preincarnate state. The [passage] asserts Christ's decision not to regard His equality with God as ... something to be exploited for His own selfish advantage. When [the Greek word ἁρπαγμὸν, harpagmon, something to be exploited] is understood as something to be selfishly exploited, Christ's decision does not imply that He gave up His equality with God but that He expressed His equality with God. "The pre-existent Son regarded equality with God not as excusing Him from the task of (redemptive) suffering and death but actually as uniquely qualifying Him for that vocation."7Dr. Hansen adds: "The obedience of the Son in His death on the cross revealed the true nature of God."8 Because of His obedience, the Father bestows on the divine and exalted Son the divine Name of God, YHWH (Ex. 3:14, 15; Phil. 2:9, 10), the Name given to Jesus and known to Jesus even during His earthly ministry (John 17:6, 11), so that all of the rest of the world will know that the Son of God is God (John 1:1, 14, 18), equal with His Father in divinity, equal with the Holy Spirit in divinity (Phil. 2:9, 10, 11). This exaltation of Jesus Christ by God the Father (cf. Acts 2:32; Rom. 6:4) and the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom. 8:11) "expresses 'divine affirmation of Christ's way of expressing His "equality with God" ... not as compensation [or reward] for Christ's work but as proof of divine approval.'"9 God the Father will see that all the world knows experientially that His Son, Jesus Christ, is, has always been, and will ever be God the Son in the power of God the Holy Spirit: one God manifested in three co-equal, co-eternal, divine Persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever, world without end. Amen.
DOES IT MATTER?
Belief in the eternal deity / divinity of Jesus matters for salvation. In other words, if you deny the deity / divinity of Jesus Christ, then you cannot be saved. The Jewish Temple Leaders of Jesus' day reject His deity / divinity and Jesus responds to them: "That is why I told you that you will die in your sins; and you will die in your sins if you do not believe that I Am Who I Am" ... "So He said to them, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that I Am Who I Am; then you will know that I do nothing on My own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed Me to say'" ... "'I am telling you the truth,' Jesus replied. 'Before Abraham was born, I Am'" (John 8:24, 28, 58 GNT). How do we know here that Jesus insists He is the Great I Am, equal with His Father, the God of Israel? Because of the response of those Jewish Leaders: "Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him [to stone Him to death], but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple" (John 8:59 LSB).
This is not the last time those Leaders try to murder Jesus. When He insists "I and the Father are one [a unified essence]" (John 10:31), thus revealing Himself as being eternally equal with God, the Jewish Leaders "picked up stones again to stone Him [to death]. Jesus answered them, 'I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?' The Jews answered Him, 'For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself God'" (John 10:31-33 LSB). Jesus is declaring Himself to being equal with God. The Jewish Leaders understand the implications of Jesus's words and He does not correct them! Here is Jesus' opportunity to help the people understand that He is being misunderstood--that He is not making Himself equal with the Father, the God of Israel, but He does not do so because He cannot do so. He is God the Son, eternally equal with God the Father, the eternally-existent I Am.
JESUS AND THE FATHER: ONE ESSENCE
In prayer to His Father, Jesus says, "This is eternal life, that they may know [to know by experience (through new birth, John 3:3, 5)] You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3 NASB). Eternal life is summed up in a person experientially knowing God via a saving relationship by grace through faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8, 9)--but not only knowing God the Father but also knowing "Jesus Christ whom You have sent." This renders Jesus equal with the Father. This is how Jesus can say to Philip: "Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative--but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves" (John 14:9-11). Jesus is not the Father but the Son. God the Father is not the Son but the Father. A clear distinction is made by Jesus regarding His own Personhood and the Personhood of His Father but so also is the revelation of the Father and the Son eternally sharing one unified essence or nature.
Jesus prays to His Father: "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:4, 5). Jesus shared the glory of God from eternity past because they share the same unified essence or nature. This renders Jesus equal with the Father. He continues His prayer: "I have manifested Your Name [cf. Ex. 3:14] to the men whom You gave Me out of the world" (John 17:6). Those men were His followers. God the Father gave them to Jesus (John 17:8, 9) and Jesus is praying for them particularly, "for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine" (John 17:9, 10). If whatever belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son then the Son is equal with the Father.
JESUS AND THE FATHER: ONE NAME
The Name of God revealed to Moses is referred to as the tetragrammaton--lit. the four-lettered Name--and in Hebrew the Name is revealed in four letters, אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה (YHWH), and is translated as "I Am" (from the Hebrew verb hayah, "to be" or "to exist"); and can also be translated as "I Am Who I Am," "I Am That / Which I Am," or "I Will Be What I Will Be." God says to Moses: "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'" (Ex. 3:14b LSB). God is the eternally-Existent One. God, simply, Is. Jesus Himself confesses to bearing the Name of God.
Jesus knows His earthly life and ministry are coming to a close and so He prays: "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your Name [cf. Ex. 3:14], the Name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are [one]" (John 17:11). So the Father and the Son share the same Name, YHWH, I Am That I Am. This is how Jesus can say: "Before Abraham was, I Am" (John 8:58). Jesus is either deluded, possessing a God-complex, or He is Who He says He is--the Great I Am--the YHWH of the Old Testament (John 8:24, 28, 58; John 17:11; 1 Cor. 10:1, 2, 3, 4). The apostle Paul affirms Jesus' own identity when he writes: "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him [Jesus], and bestowed on Him the Name which is above every name [Ex. 3:14], so that at the Name of [or bestowed upon or given to] Jesus [which is YWHW, I Am] 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 [YHWH--the I Am], to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9, 10, 11).
CONCLUSION
All attempts to rob Jesus of His divinity and deity are futile. The same can be said of the deity / divnity of the Holy Spirit for He, too, is LORD, YHWH, the I Am. The apostle Paul writes: "But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart [the heart of unbelieving Jewish people]; but whenever a person turns to the LORD, the veil is taken away. Now the LORD is the Holy Spirit, and where the Holy Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom (cf. John 6:63; 8:32; 16:7. 8, 9, 10, 11; Rom. 8:1, 2, 3, 4, 15; 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 5:13, 14, 18). But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the LORD, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the LORD, who is the Holy Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:15, 16, 17, 18; I added "Holy" to "the Spirit" so that He is rightly identified). The Holy Spirit is God, the Spirit of God, eternally equal with the Father and the Son (cf. Acts 5:3, 4, 9). The Holy Spirit, then, shares the Name of God, YHWH (LORD), the I Am.
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1 Dennis E. Johnson, Philippians, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2013), 122.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid., 122-23.
4 G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmands Publishing Co., 2009), 138.
5 Ibid., 143.
6 Ibid., 145.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Joseph H. Hellerman, Philippians, B&H Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishing Group, 2015), 118.
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