In Ph 2^'8 St. Paul says that our Lord ' being (vTrdpxwj') in the form of God, counted it not a prize [a thing to be grasped at] to be on an equality with God, but emptied (iKivwae) himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man.' This passage, which has given rise to the word ' Kenotic,' is elaborately treated by Lightfoot (see his Philippians*, 1878, p. Ill f., and especially liis appended Notes, pp. 127-137). It expresses Christ's pre-existence, tor He 'emptied himself.' Of what He emptied Himself is seen from the pre- ceding words. He was originally (I'Trdpxw;',' denot- ing ' prior existence,' but not necessarily ' eternal existence' [Lightfoot]) in the form of God, partici- pating in the ovala of God. Yet He did not regard His equality with God as a thing to be jealously guarded, a prize which must not slip from His grasp.
We cannot lay great stress on Ac 20^^ for which see above, 3 (6), because of the uncertainty of the reading ; but by all grammatical canons (though this has been denied) Tit 2'^ must apply the name ' God ' to our Lord : ' our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ' (RV ; tov fieydXov OeoD Kal ffwrripos ijfxCjv 'ItjctoO XpiffTov), and this interpretation is borne out by the word iintpdveia (' manifestation ') which immediately precedes, and by the whole context, which speaks of our Lord (v.^^). The plirase in 2 P 1' is similar : 'our God and Saviour Jesus Christ '(RV text).
The explicit ascription of Divinity is found frequently in the Johannine writings. In 1 Jn 5^", indeed, the phrase ' Tiiis is the true God ' may be applied either to the Father or to the Son (see above, 3 (c)) ; and in Jn 1'^ the reading is disputed (see Only-Begotten) ; ' God only begotten ' (/jLovoyeviis 6e6s) is somewhat better attested than ' the only begotten Son ' (6 iJ.ovoyei'r]^ vi6s) and is the more diffi- cult reading ; Westcott {Co7n. in loc.) judges both readings to be of great and almost equal antiquity, but on various grounds thinks that the former must be accepted. But, whatever view we take of these two passages, St. Thomas's confession, ' My Lord and my God ' (20^^), is quite explicit ; and so is the preface to the Fourth Gospel : ' The Word was with God, and the Word was God' (1^), and so are our Lord's words, ' I and the Father are one ' {Sp i(T/jL€v, W). The Johannine doctrine of the Logos or Word, which cannot be altogether passed over even in an investigation which deals chiefly with the NT outside the Gospels (though the title 'Word of God' occurs only in Rev 19'^ outside the Fourth Gospel, for He IP [p-qixan deov] is no excep- tion to this statement), is equivalent to the Pauline doctrine of the Image. The Logos is an eternally existent 'Person' through whom God has ever revealed Himself ; who was in a true sense distinct from the Father, and yet 'was God' (Jn 1') ; who was incarnate, 'became flesh and tabernacled [ivK'^v-
uTev) among us ' (1"). The Logos is identified with Jesus Christ, whose glory the disciples beheld.
{(l) Pre-existence of our Lord. — This is stated frequently in the NT. Besides the passages just quoted in (c), we may notice Ro 8* {' God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh ') ; 1 Co 10* (the Israelites of old ' drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ ' [note the past tense ' was ' : it is not a mere type]) ; 15*^ ('the second man is of heaven'; the best MSS omit ' the Lord,' but this does not attect the present point ; Robertson-Plummer, however \1CC, 1911, in loc], think that the reference is to the Second Advent rather than to the Incarnation) ; 2 Co 8^ ('though he was rich, for your sakes he bcca77ie poor ' (eirrajxeucre) — if He had no previous existence, there never was a previous time when He was rich) ; Col 1" (' he is before all things, and in him all things consist ' [hold together] : see above (f )) ; 1 Ti V^ (' Christ Jesus came into the world ') ; 3^^ (' He who was manifested in the flesh ' : the read- ing deds for 6s [i.e. 6C for OC], which would have made this verse an explicit statement of our Lord's Divinity, has 'no sufficient ancient evidence' [RVm], but this ancient hymn, as it appears to be, is good witness for the pre-existence) ; 2 Ti P'* (' which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but hath now been manifested by the ap- jjearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus ') ; He 1' ( ' when he bringeth in the firstborn into the world ') ; 1 P 120 (' ^vlio was foreknown indeed before the founda- tion of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake') ; 1 Jn 3*"^ (He 'was manifested'); 4* ('Jesus Christ is come in the fiesh '). See also below (e). Some of these expres- sions might have been interpreted, though with diificulty, of an ordinary birth ; but such an inter- pretation is impossible when we compare them all together.