PHILIPPIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
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human likeness, and being found in human guise, He still humbled Himself unto death — yea the Cross-death.' Here we have the Apostle's descrip tion of our Lord's incarnate life. What is involved in His self-emptying we cannot say. The ' how' of it is beyond our understanding, but the fact of it and its absolute moral value are full of force. The Apostle does not mean by 'tlielil<enessof men ' or ' in fashion as a man ' th.at Jesus was less than human, but that He was truly human, tried by all experimental tests — yet more. The ^K^fuae" iavT6i> is not physical annihilation but moral ellacement. To discuss theologically the possible theories that have been used to explain this is not called for here. They are neither useless, however, nor futile, but due to an essential thought-impulse in us. The diHicultiesof theory must not obscure the glory of the fact to be explained. Milton has this passage in mind when he says :
*That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable. And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty, Wherwith he wont at Heav'n's high Councel-Table, To sit the midst of Trinal Unity, He laid aside ; and here with us to be.
Forsook the Courts of everlasting Day, And chose with us a darksom House of mortal Clay '
(On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, 8-14).
Men saw Him here as they saw other men, subject to the limitations to which man as man is subject.
The third vision is the Exalted Christ — yet still the .same Person, but now freed from earthly limi- tations, highly exalted, gifted with universal Lord- ship by God because of His obedience, possessing now the ineffable Name in recognizing which all are to worship to the glory of God the Father. The Apostle's view of the imitation of Christ is not a slavish copying of His earthly habits or actions but a possession of His Spirit as the spirit of humility and obedience to the will of God. This Lordship of Clirist is central in St. Paul's teaching. It gives duty its obligation, for Christ is the law and light of the individual conscience. It supplies virtue with striving and sustaining power, guarantees it with the sure hope of ultimate success and reward in the day of Christ, the day when His Lordship shall be known and recognized. It supplies the good witli its content, for the glory of the Lord — the riches of that glory — is the true inheritance and life of the saints. It gives moral judgment a norm and a finality, for tlie Lord is the ultimate Judge. It gives evangelism its programme of advance. It enforces sanctifieation because it sees in Cliristian men God Himself at work. It assures salvation. It gives life on earth a purpose and robs death of its terror and transforms suftering into a grace. The day of the full revelation of this Lordship is the day of Christ. Its date is not told, but it is near. The measurement used is the pro- phetic not the chronological. To the Apostle death means to be with the Lord — to see His face. There is no word here of a sleep of the saints (KoiixaaBai). The coming of Christ means the transformation of the body of humiliation into the likeness of Christ's own body of glory, so that in contrast with that glorious life this life of striving, ' pent in the body,' is like death. Whether this happens immediately af terdeath or after an interval is not said. St. Paul does not say that the Philippian community will be alive at Christ's coming, but he seems to regard it as a possibility (l'").
For these reasons it is held by some that St. Paul changed his view of eschatology, that he gave up the idea of a KOL/xaudai. of the saints, and favoured the idea of immediate reunion with Christ after death (W. Beyschlag, NT Theology, Eng. tr., 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1895, ii. 267 ff.). The influence under which this change took place, according to this view, is the sure prospect of his own death. But many others had died in Christ before him,
and it is impossible to think that St. Paul had not considered that question .seriously. He is working with the resurrection of Christ Himself as the norm of his thinking on this .siibject as far as the 'se of Christians is concerned. He lielieves in a -eueral resurrection for all (Ro 2" 14'", 2 Co 5'"), but for the Christian the Resurrection means a glorified body like to Christ's own, which shall be given him at Christ's coming. How he is clothed in the interval is not said. That St. Paul regarded this Parousia of Christ as near at hand is evident, but it is equally evident that he did not claim to know the date and that he did not la.y stress on it. What is of value for practice and for hope is that 'Jesus Christ is Lord and that ' He shall come.'
Literature.— There is no attempt to give an exhaustive bibliography. For exegesis the following commentaries are useful ; J. B. Lightfoot, PhiUiqnansi, London, 1878 ; M. R. Vincent, ICC, 'Fhilippians and I'hilemon,' Kdinburgh, 1897 (strong philologically) ; C.J. EUicott, Pliilipjjians, C<iiMsians, and Philemon^, London, 18SS ; but especiall,>' E. Haupt, in Mever's Kommentar iiher das A'7^, tJottingeii, I9D2, and H. A. A. Kennedy, jBGlCl'Philippiaiis,' London, 19(13. The history of the exegesis before 1S59 is given in B. Weiss, Der Philipper- Brief, Berlin, 1859; M. R. Vincent, op. cit. supra, p. xiff., has a good select list. J. MofTatt (LNT, Edinburgh, 1911, p. 165'^) gives a very full list of commentaries since (>alvin.