The Pulpit Commentary — Philippians — Section 66

nn ll<'tinn or process, favoum the first view, volnntary act-he emptied himself. "He wh ic Ii s<'ems to be Adopted by most of the used his equality with Go1l as e.n oppor• nn<'ient. VPrsions nnd by most of the Llltin tunity, not for self-exaltRtion, but for sclf- FnlhC'l'I!. On the other he.nd, the form of ~be.sement" (Alford). "Me.nebat plenm, Joh. 1he word docs not exdnde the pllSHivc inter- 1. H, et tameu pcrinde se gessit 110 si illanis pr,•tfltion ; mllny words of the Bllme termi- esset" (Dengel). And took upon him the nntion have a plll!Sive mee.ning, and apra-yµ&s form of a servant; rntber, ns R. V., tal,ing itself is used in the sense of &p1ra-yµa by the form. The two clo.uses refer to the same EuEOebius. C\T:I of Alexandrill. e.nd n writer net of self-humiliation regarded from its two in the • Cat.ena Possini • on 1\1:Rrk x. 42 (t.he sides. He emptied himself of his glory, tbree passages A-re quoted by Bishop Light- t.'\king at the same time the form (µop</>fi•, 1\B foot.;,. loeo). The Greek FR-thers (ns Chry- in ver. 6, the essential nttributes) of a servant, soslom. •o Toii e,oii uios oJ,_ •<PofH1611 l<QTQ• literlllly, of a slave. Observe, he was origin- Wiwa, a.1ro -rov ~uI,iurros, etc.) generally adopt ally (~dpxw•) in the form of God; he took this interprctR-tion. And the context seems (>..af3d,v) the form of a slo.ve. The Godhead to TC'<}Uire it. The aorist 71-yf,,raTo point.s to was his by right, the manhood by his own R-n n<'t. the act of e.bnegRtion; not to a st.-ite, volnntarv act : both are equally real ; he is the continued assertion. The conjunction perfect God and perfect :Man. Isruah pro- "but" (DA~o.) implies that the two sentences phesied of Christ (Isa. xlix. and Iii.; comp. o.re opposed to one another. He did not Acts iii. 13, in the Greek or R.V.) as the gmsp, but, on the contrary, he emptied him- Servant of Jehovah ; he came to do the self. The first interpretation involvC"s the Father's will, submitting his own will in all tacit insertion of"ncverthelcss;" he asserted things: "Not as I will, but as thou wilt" his equality, but nevertheless, etc. And the (comp. Matt. x:x:. 27, 28; Mark x:. 44, 45). whole Rtr<'ss is laid on tlie Lord's humility And wa9 made in the likenes9 of men ; trans- and unselfishness. It is true that this second late, becoming, or, as R. V., being made (aorist interpretation does not so distinctly assert participle). Thie clause is another de- the divinitv of our Lord, already snfficiently scription of the one act of the Inee.rne.tion: asserted in ihe first clause, "being in the he taas God, he became man. Form (µ.op<f,~) form of God." Bnt it implies it. Not t.o asserts the reality of our Lord's human grasp at equality with God would not be an nature. Likeness (dµo/wµa) refers only to instance of humility, but merely the absence external appearance : this word, of course, of mad impiety, in one who was not himself does not iwply that our Lord was not truly Divine. On the whole, then, we prefer the man, but, as Chrysostom says (' Hom.,' viii. second interpretation. Though he was from 247), he was more than man; "We a.re the beginning in the form of God, he did soul and body, but he is God and soul and not n,gard equality with God as a thing to body." The likeness ofme:n; bece.µse Christ be grasped, a prize to be tenacioUBly retained. is the R11presentative of humanity: he took Not so good is the view of :Meyer nnd others: upon him, not a human person, but human "Jesus Christ, when Le found himself in the nature. He is one person in two na.tnres. heavenly mode of eristence of Divine glory, As Bishop Lightfoot says, " Christ, as the did not permit himself the thought of using second Adam, represents, not the individual Lis equality with God for tLe puxpose of man, but the human race." seizing possessions e.nd honoux for himself Ver. 8.-And being found in fashion as e. on earth.'' The B..V. rendering of the last man. He humbled himself in the Incar- words of the clause," to be on au equality," is nation; but this was not all. The apostle has nearer to the Greek and better tha u the hitherto spoken of oux Lord's .Godhead A. V., "to be equal with God." Christ was which he had from the beginning, and of equal witL God (John v. 18; x:. 30). He did his assumption of oux human nature. He not cling to the outward manifestation of now speaks of him e.s he appeared in the that equality. The adverbial fo':°1 fo·ci im- sight of men. The aorist participle, "being plies the state or mode of equality rather found ( ,vp,6,ls)," refers to the time of his than the equality itself. earthly life when he appeared as a mim Ver. 7.-»u.t made himself of no repu- among men. FBBhion (a-xfiµ.a), as opposed tation; rather, as R.V., but emptied himself; to form (p.op</>fi), implies the outward and not, indood, of the Godhead, which could not transitory, In outward e.ppee.ronce he wu Le. bat of its manifeatatiou, its glory. This as a man ; he was more, for he was God. },<;· diJ onec for all, a.s the aorist implies, at Ke humbled himself, and became obedient tl,e Incarnation. The word "emptied" in- unto death ; translate, as R. V., becoming ,·ol VtB a previous fulness, "a prCC6deut obedient. The participle implies that the plenitude" (Peo.roon on the Creed, iii. 25). supreme act of sdf-humilie.tion CODSisted in Tl11o Divine muje..ty of which he emptied the Lord's voluntary submission to death. Lirw,df ww; liis own, his own rigliiful pre- The obedience of his perfect life extended rugative; e.nd hiB humiliation was his own even unto death. "He taketh 11we.y Clitero.lly, CHI, II, 1-30.] 'l'HE EPIS'l'LE TO THE PHJL[PPIANS. 131