Philippians: Part 2.a. (2.5-11)

Although I said I was going to do one post per chapter, I have to dedicate one post to this very special part of the letter, which has become the most themed verses of the last few years as I've gone through my higher education career.

For years, I had always took this passage to be speaking about Christ's emptying himself of certain divine attributes in order to take on full humanity (an action theologians and biblical scholars refer to as "kenosis"). With the help of certain professors, reading the text in light of other scriptural passages, and coming across other ideas in books, I have come to question that what is going on in this passage is kenosis and is probably actually referring to a different theological idea: i.e., one of Christ's recapitulating Adam...a theme that involves humanity more as it focuses heavily on our participation in redemption.

2.5 This is the key verse that illumines the shift in my understanding to focus more on Christ's involving humanity in redemption...we are called to have the same mindset, attitude, and even actions of Christ. That is not to say that we "save ourselves" but that Christ's deity and humanity is the only thing that could and does "enable" our response to participate in the life of the Godhead.

2.6 This verse (when read in light of and comparison with Genesis 1) illumines the similarities and differences between Christ and Adam: their makeup and their act(s) of obedience and disobedience, respectively. "Form of God" though not exactly the same, is apparently an allusion to the original humans being made in the "image of God." "Equality with God" and "something to be grasped" (doesn't that sound like grasping fruit from a tree?), hence, are allusions to the serpent's temptation in Gen. 3. I wrote in an earlier post about consumption and the notion that "consumerism" of today is not unlike the original sin recorded in Gen. 3. To have the same "mind of Christ" (v. 5) is to find our identity in relation to God, neighbor, self, and creation not by taking or consuming what is not rightfully ours, but centrally by giving (and in a fallen world, forgiving).

2.7 "emptied" is the key word if our interpretive approach is that this is about "kenosis." But if it is not, then Christ emptying himself refers more to humility (in line with not trying to unrightfully take "likeness with God") and focuses more on his service ("form of a slave") to others.

2.8 "humbled" and "obedient" are the operative words for the approach I am taking here. These are key terms in "recapitulation" theology (as in Irenaeus, Church Father of the 2nd century). He writes in one place: "The disobedience of [Adam's] tree was undone by the obedience of [Christ's] tree." That statement communicates the extent of Christ's sacrifice...to the heart of where all of humanity has gone wrong: disobedience. It is through Christ's obedience that we are enabled to obey as well.

...more to come later...