When understanding the concept of the Trinity, we first need to reconcile and establish, as best we can, the fullness of Jesus’ deity and humanity in our minds. One passage that can be tremendously helpful as we seek to do this is Philippians chapter 2:3-11. In this passage, Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Paul’s primary point in this scripture is that Christians need to have the same humble attitude that Jesus possesses towards each other. To illustrate Jesus’ humility, Paul highlights the extent to which Jesus was willing to lower Himself to serve others. Before Jesus’ life on earth, He existed in the “form” of God. Some might suggest that if Jesus was only in the form of God, then that means that Jesus only looked like God but actually wasn’t. But such an interpretation is ridiculous and misses Paul’s point. Instead, Paul uses the word form to describe Jesus’ divine existence in heaven to provide a contrast to His humble human existence. In other words, Jesus gave up His glorious form to take one made out of dust.
Just because Paul uses the term “form” doesn’t mean that Jesus only appeared to look like God. To conclude that Jesus only appeared to be God would make Him a hypocrite. Similarly, if Jesus came to earth and only had the “form” of a servant and were not actually a servant would also make Him a hypocrite. Clearly, that is the last thing that Paul is trying to say. While in heaven, Jesus had a spiritual form just like the Father. He was both internally divine and externally. As such, and this is Paul’s main point, Jesus didn’t need to serve anyone. Jesus, however, was unwilling to selfishly hold on to His elevated position and state in heaven and willingly lowered himself in rank and form to become a servant. In other words, He became a human. And as a human on earth, Jesus had a position significantly lower than the Father who was still positioned in heaven. In fact, Jesus earthly position made Him temporarily lower in rank than even angels (Hebrews 2:7-9).
While on Earth, Jesus submitted to the Father’s will and was willing to die on the cross to save humans from their sins. The point of Paul highlighting this was to show the depths to which Jesus was ready to lower Himself due to His humble attitude. If Jesus was willing to humble Himself to this extent, what excuse do we have not to serve one another? On a side note, just because Jesus became human doesn’t mean he gave up His divine nature. If you are eternal and divine, how do you give that up? You can’t. It’s who you are.
So, with that said, this passage leads us to several insights:
- While in heaven, Jesus possessed a form that displayed that He was divine in every sense. Jesus wasn’t a hypocrite; He looked like God and was God. However, Jesus gave up His divine form to become human.
- While fully human, Jesus maintained His divinity, which was revealed by His sinlessness, teaching and miracles (John 1:14).
- While Jesus was human, He became lower in rank than even the angels. That would explain why in John 14:28, Jesus says, “…for the Father is greater than I”.
- As a human, how does Jesus relate to God in heaven? And how does He teach the rest of us to relate to the God in Heaven? By calling one Father and the other the Holy Spirit.
I mention this last point because many of us scratch our heads when we read specific passages. In some instances, Jesus calls God Father and behaves like He is less than God, and at other times He speaks and behaves like He is God (John 14:8-14). If Jesus is part of the Godhead, how can He call God in heaven Father? Well, could it be that at times He is speaking from a human perspective and other times from a divine perspective? Also, when He addresses God in heaven as the Father, could He be talking like this to describe to us the closeness of His relationship with God? Could it also be that He is teaching the rest of us about the type of relationship that God wants to have with us?If Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, it makes sense that sometimes He will speak and act from both sides of His nature.
Final Thoughts:
In Jesus’ pre-earthly state, Paul is clear that Jesus was in every sense divine. If Jesus was divine, and still is, then He shares the exact nature, abilities, eternal existence and now positioned with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit can be perfectly united in a relationship and share governance over all things.
