Did God become man? – Philippians 2:5-11

Bill Schlegel

Does Philippians 2:5-11 describe the eternal God the Son humbling himself to become man?

We think not.

These are notes for the One God Report podcast in which we explain some problems and contradictions with the “deity of Christ” interpretation of Philippians 2, and suggest a better way to understand this portion of Scripture:

When Christ Jesus “emptied” and “humbled” himself, he was already a human being. The acts of emptying and humbling himself relate to his obedience to die on the cross, not “to become a human being”.

1. The context of the Letter to the Philippians shows that Paul is talking about the human being, Jesus Christ. Throughout Philippians, as throughout all of Paul’s letters, the Lord Jesus Christ is distinguished from God. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ is someone who is not God, but has a God (1:2, 1:11, 2:9, 2:11, 3:3, 4:19-20).  The context of these four verses (2:5-8) is not the “deity of Christ”, but an admonition for humility toward unity among believers.

2. Paul is describing the mind of Christ Jesus, the title (Christ/Messiah) and name (Jesus) of the human being, not of an assumed pre-incarnate “Second Person of the Godhead”. Even in “deity of Christ” theology the “pre-incarnate second person of the godhead” is not Jesus the Messiah.

3. Paul expects his readers to have the same mind as was in the human Christ Jesus, which would be impossible if he was referring to an eternally pre-existent God who became a man. Paul is calling for a humility of mind among believers to preserve unity among the body of believers.

4. As in many other places in his writings, in this passage Paul differentiates three times between God and Jesus Christ. God is someone other than Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is someone other than God.

5. Being in “the form of God” means Jesus is not God. The word for “form” does not have reference to the metaphysical nature of Jesus, i.e., Paul is not stating that Jesus is the same metaphysical “substance” as God.

6. As the sent, obedient Son of God, Messiah, Jesus has a certain representative, functional equality with God that Jesus knows is given to him by God. Jesus knows he does not have to seize or hold on to that equality. Jesus is confident or secure in his authorization by God. He has authority to represent God because God has given the authority to him.

7. Jesus “being/being made in the likeness of men, in the fashion of men” (2:7-8) means that Jesus is a human being.

5. The human Christ Jesus “emptied himself”, taking on the form of a servant. Paul does not say that Christ Jesus “emptied himself” of his deity to become a man, but that he “emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant”.

6. Jesus Christ is obedient to God, to the extent of death on a cross. This means that Jesus is not God – he is obedient to God, and God does not die.

7. God exalted Jesus Christ and gave him a name above all names. This means that Jesus is not God, since God exalted Jesus, and gave Jesus a name.

8. Jesus Christ’s exaltation and glory is never described as something he “gave up” and then “received back” again. Rather, his exaltation and glory is something he received only after his death.

9. Interpreting passages like Philippians 2:5-9 (cf. also Colossians 1:15-19, Hebrews 1) as describing the “deity of Christ” has a certain sinister, even satanic motivation. The “deity of Christ” interpretations of these passages attempts to rob the man Jesus the Messiah of who he is and what he did as a human being. In this way the “deity of Christ” interpretations are anti-Messiah, anti-Christ.

“Deity of Christ” interpretations, when unmasked, are an expression of satanic jealousy. The “deity of Christ” interpretation of Philippians 2:5-8 ignores and attempts to deflect who the man Messiah Jesus is, and what he did, and attempts to give his glory to some non-existent pre-incarnate being. “The man Jesus Christ didn’t humble himself in Philippians 2.”

But Yawheh (God) says to the man Christ Jesus, “Sit at my right hand. Rule the Earth. Let all God’s angels worship him (Gen. 1:26, Psalm 2:6-8, Psalm 8:3-9, Psalm 110:1-2, Heb. 1:6, 1 Pet. 3:22). Will you and I bow the knee to God’s designated human Messiah Jesus, or will we continue to insist that Jesus must be “pre-existent God who took on human flesh” before we bow the knee to him, refusing God’s Messiah and God’s will for us?