2. His exinanition and abasement, which is — (1.) Generally set forth ; (2.) Particulars are mentioned.
[1.] Generally, eKevaxrev eavrov, 'He made himself of no reputation,' in the text ; erairhvoyaev eavrov, ' He humbled himself,' ver. 8.
[2.] The particulars are his incarnation, mean life, and accursed death. Let us stand a little, and consider this condescension by com- paring the terms. That the creator should stoop so low as to become a creature, and go down from the form of God to the form of a servant, from equality with God to subjection to men, from being Lord of all to a state of obedience, and that obedience carried on in the way of the most perfect self-denial, ' Obedient to the death,' and that death
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clothed with all the circumstances that might make it grievous, it was painful, ignominious, and accursed.
I shall insist only on the general description of it, eKevcoaev eavrbv, ' He made himself of no reputation ; ' emptied himself, lessened him- self ; in the next verse, ' humbled himself.'
Boct. That the Lord Jesus did for our sakes empty, lessen, and humble himself.
I shall open three things— (1.) How far Christ was lessened; (2.) That this was his own voluntary act ; (3.) That this was for our sakes.
I. How far Christ was lessened. It chiefly lieth in these two things — (1.) Obscuring his godhead ; (2.) Abatement of his dignity.
1. His' godhead was obscured by the interposing veil of our flesh. He did empty himself of that divine glory, splendour, and majesty which before he had ; not by ceasing to be what he was, but by assuming some- thing to himself which he was not before, viz., the infirmity of the human nature, which did for a time hide his divine glory, so that little of it did appear, and that to some few only that narrowly observed him : John i. 14, ' We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.' To the generality it was otherwise : Isa. liii. 2, * He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground , he hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.' As the covering in a dark lantern hideth the light from shining forth, so did the human nature obscure his divine glory ; for he assumed not this nature as it shall be in heaven, perfectly glorified, but as it is now since sin entered into the world, clothed with manifold infirmities. He came in the form of a servant, not of a glorified saint. The apostle, Eora. viii. 3, calleth it, ' The likeness of sinful flesh.' The estate and condition of his assumed flesh was exposed to all those infirmities wliich in us are the punishment of sin. Though he continued still infinite, eternal, and omnipotent, and in his greatest abasement was still the Lord of glory, yet his exter- nal habit and appearance was that of a mean afflicted man ; and the divinity, though not separated, withheld its influence, to leave the human nature to sufi'er whatever the humanity was capable of As it exposed the soul to desertion, so the body to all manner of sufferings, and death itself.
2. His dignity was lessened, and there was a depression of the glory of his former state, that which the Romans called capitis diminuiio, a lessening of state and condition. The eternal Word set himself at nought, lessened and humbled himself from the condition of being Lord of all to that of a subject and ordinary man : Gal. iv. 4, ' But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.' From a judge of the world he be- came a party. It was a condescension of God to take notice of man's misery : Ps. cxiii. 6, ' Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth.' Much more to make a party in it, and to be found among the miserable.
Three steps of condescension we may eminently take notice of — [1.] That Christ, 'who thought it no robbery to be equal with God,' is made less than God : John xiv. 28, ' My Father is greater than I ;
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compared with John x. 30, ' I and my Father are one.' As mediator incarnate, he undertook an office designed him by God, and obeyed him in all things. Tliey are one in essence, yet the Father was greater than he ; not as he was God, but man and mediator, and in his present state of humiliation. For he bringeth it there to prove that, by departing out of the world then, he should be exalted to a more glorious estate than that in which he was during his abode upon earth, because the veil should then be laid aside, and that glory which he had with God before the world was made should fully appear : John xvii. 5, ' And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.'