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I side with those scholars who think this passage is about Yahushua, the man—not a godman, a god, or a divine Person—and his obedience to Yahuwah during his earthly life.
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We should keep in mind some relevant and undeniable facts. First, the event that so many interpreters claim to find here (a divine Person becoming also human) is not a clear theme in Paul’s writings. The closest parallel in Paul’s surviving letters is 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, where he encourages his readers to be generous with their money. Nothing in this passage’s context suggests that the sacrifice in question was before his human life. This should make us wonder whether Paul’s point in Philippians 2 might be understood without appealing to a hypothesized pre-human stage of Yahushua’s life; the man “Christ Yahushua” is mentioned, but there is no explicit reference here to any eternal divine Person. Second, just as in 2 Corinthians 8, Paul’s point in Philippians 2 is practical and does not involve the metaphysics of Christ’s “natures.” Yahushua’s humble, self-sacrificing obedience is introduced as illustrating the “mind” (v. 5) that Paul wants his audience to obtain. Third, for nearly all of us, there is nothing in our experience much like the hypothesized decision of the pre-human Yahushua to empty himself of something to become human. On the other hand, as portrayed in the gospels, Yahushua's earthly career provides many points of contact with our experiences. In sum, we should wonder whether instead of being a remarkable one-off in Paul’s writings, which, oddly, briefly mentions what should be astounding news if true, and which is altogether not very apt as an example for us to imitate (this alleged descent of a heavenly divine Person) Paul is instead talking about the sorts of faithful obedience we see the man Yahushua accomplish in the gospels.
I have defended one such reading elsewhere. However, after more study, I now think there is a more compelling reading. Here is the NET rendering, with footnotes added to express my disagreement with a few phrases and to show connections with what I and many commenters believe is a subtext, the famous suffering servant text of Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Yahushua had, 6 who though he existed in the form of Yahuwah did not regard equality with Yahuwah as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men and by sharing in human nature. 8 He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross. As a result Yahuwah highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Yahushua every knee will bow– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –11 and every tongue confess that Yahushua Christ is Lord to the glory of Yahuwah the Father.
Yahushua enjoyed a unique standing with Yahuwah, his Father who begat him, called him to be the Messiah, and was well pleased with him.
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“Form of Yahuwah” (morphe theou) is a unique phrase in the New Testament; it is plausible that it was composed to make a pair with the “form of a slave/servant.” In a philosophical context, morphe can mean essential nature, but generally, it has to do with observable features. More broadly, it can refer to a condition that isn’t directly observed. We know that Paul uses related terms to refer to moral character. Here, the “form of Yahuwah” is plausibly understood as Yahushua’s Yahuwah-like “manner, demeanor, and behavior,” or I would suggest, his godly character from which these flowed. Another unseen condition was that Yahushua was Yahuwah’s unique Son, and Yahuwah chosen Messiah, a king-in-waiting. Yahushua enjoyed a unique standing with Yahuwah, his Father who begat him, called him to be the Messiah, and was well pleased with him. This “form of Yahuwah” couldn’t be the essence of divinity because this one died (v.8), whereas divinity was understood to imply essential immortality.
That “form of Yahuwah” and “equality with Yahuwah” are meant here as two descriptions of the same state. I agree with many recent scholars that harpagmon in v. 6 is best understood as “something to be exploited.” This has been much contested, and the major translations are divided, but for me, the most weighty consideration is not lexical but rather making sense of Paul’s thinking in this passage and the whole letter. In this book, Paul discusses a series of people who chose to lay aside their privileges in favor of self-sacrificial service to others: Paul himself, who lays aside his accomplishments as a Pharisee to imitate Yahushua’s suffering and death, the believers at Philippi who should lay aside their privileges as Roman citizens to embrace their “citizenship in… heaven,” and perhaps also Paul’s colleague Epaphroditus, who presumably left behind a normal life to serve Paul and others, nearly at the cost of his own life. In the passage, Paul praises Yahushua, the greatest of these self-sacrificing servant-leaders, who lays aside his privilege because of his unique standing with Yahuwah.
In the reading I’m arguing for here, Paul has in mind Yahushua’s earthly obedience to Yahuwah, his self-sacrificing decision to take on the form/condition of a slave/servant, and he cites this as an example for us to imitate.
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In the reading I’m arguing for here, Paul has in mind Yahushua’s earthly obedience to Yahuwah, his self-sacrificing decision to take on the form/condition of a slave/servant, and he cites this as an example for us to imitate. We already know that the culmination of Yahushua’s humiliation is his terrible death on the cross (v. 8), so we would naturally look before this in Yahushua’s earthly life for something Paul could have in mind in v. 7 – not to an unmentioned “pre-existence” as a “divine Person” who is not a man.
Two incidents immediately come to mind. First, Yahushua prays to Yahuwah in the garden, asking – but not demanding – to be spared from this terrible death. Did Yahushua, as Yahuwah’s beloved Son, have the right to demand a pass? (Perhaps this is why he clarifies that his request is humble and submissive, not a demand?) The text, of course, doesn’t say that Yahushua had that right. But for that idea, consider this episode, where Yahushua scolds the disciple who tried to use his sword to prevent Yahushua’s arrest.
Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?
Here, Yahushua seems to imply that he has the right to ask Yahuwah for an angelic rescue and that if he did ask, it would be sent. But he is willingly foregoing that privilege to fulfill the scriptures, following what he knows to be Yahuwah’s will.
In sum, Paul picks an example that is relevant to his readers’ lives: the sacrificial, humble, other-preferring obedience of the man Yahushua. In response to this obedience, Yahuwah raised and exalted him. The reader must remember that we will be raised and exalted if we persevere in faithful, self-sacrificing obedience.
This is a non-WLC article by Dr. Dale Tuggy.
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team
