Philippians 2:5-11:
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
Some understand Paul to refer to the divine
essence and nature in Christ; meaning that Christ, though true God,
humbled Himself. While Christ is indeed true God, Paul is not speaking
here of His divine essence, which is concealed.
The word he uses—“morphe,” or “forma”—he
employs again where he tells of Christ taking upon Himself the form of a
servant. “Form of a servant” certainly cannot signify “essence of a
real servant”—possessing by nature the qualities of a servant.
For
Christ is not our servant by nature; He has become our servant from good
will and favor toward us.
For the same reason “divine form” cannot
properly mean “divine essence”; for divine essence is not visible, while
the divine form was truly seen. Very well; then let us use the
vernacular, and thus make the apostle’s meaning clear.
“Form of God,” then, means the assumption of a divine attitude
and bearing, or the manifestation of divinity in port and presence; and
this not privately, but before others, who witness such form and
bearing.
To speak in the clearest possible manner: Divine bearing and
attitude are in evidence when one manifests in word and deed that which
pertains peculiarly to God and suggests divinity.
Accordingly, “the form
of a servant” implies the assumption of the attitude and bearing of a
servant in relation to others.
--- For, as previously
stated, the essence is concealed, but its manifestation is public.
The
essence implies a condition, while its expression implies action."
Martin Luther
