Bible Commentaries
Philippians 2

Verses 1-30

II 1-11 Humility, after Christ’s Example— This passage is treated at some length in The Incarnation (op. cit.).

1. ’any consolation’ etc. on your part towards me; this appears reasonably certain from the final imperative corresponding to the if’s, ’fill up my joy’. ’any encouragement through charity, any fellowship in the Spirit’, in the Holy Ghost; see on 1:19, also Ephesians 4:3-4. ’any affection and compassion’. 2. ’Fill up my joy by thinking alike . . . the same (i.e. mutual) charity . . . with one soul and one mind’.

3. ’better than themselves’. Such a precept, if taken quite literally, could only lead to false conclusions; but human nature so inclines all to think too well of themselves that effort must be put forward in a contrary direction.

4. ’each looking not merely to his own interests, but also to those of others’. ’also’ is in the Gk, though not in Vg, and thus makes it necessary to insert ’merely’ to bring out the sense; Paul does not mean that one is not to attend to one’s own affairs.

5. We must aim at the same dispositions that were Christ’s in his Incarnation. He humbled himself by becoming man at all, and still further by his crucifixion. Paul presupposes Christ’s Godhead as already believed; no readiness to lower oneself can compare with his.

6. ’in the form of God’. This word (µ??ø?) is the regular technical term in Aristotelian philosophy for ’form’ as opposed to ’matter’; but we must beware of interpreting it too strictly along these lines, for St Paul was no peripatetic or scholastic. The Greek Fathers take the word as equivalent to ’nature’, in the rough and ready language of popular philosophy, and in full accord with St Paul’s meaning; still, it is very difficult to believe that the word had entirely lost any implication of visible appearance, and it is more easy to suppose that he slightly stretched the meaning of the word, in order to contrast with it ’the form of a slave’ in 7. Such is the opinion expressed by Père Prat ( Théologie de S. Paul, 1st ed. Paris 1908, p 442), though he seems to have withdrawn it afterwards. In any case there can be no doubt of St Paul’s meaning.

’Who, being in the form of God’. The Greek word, ?p?????, here translated ’being’, probably means more than that, and is best taken to express previous existence; however, as examples can be produced to the contrary, it is wiser not to press the point, and merely to insist that the mere meaning of ’being’, taken in this particular context, must in any case signify such previous existence: ’being in the form of God, he took the form of a slave’.

’thought it not robbery’: this word ’robbery’ translates Vg rapinam, but not the rather difficult Greek word ??pa?µ??, a noun with a masculine termination giving the object of the verb, whereas a neuter termination (in this case ??pa?µa) would be a more usual way to express the action of the verb. ’He counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God’ (RV) seems the best English rendering; but ’prize’ needs explanation. The Gk means something to be grasped and held fast, a festzuhaltendes Gut, as the Germans say. He did not insist on being God and nothing but God, but took the form cf a slave. This interpretation has been expounded and proved by Lightfoot at considerable length. It is also the earliest Christian interpretation, for the letter of the churches of Lyons and Vienne (c a.d. 178), quoted in Eusebius’ Church History, in referring to the humility of Christ, stops at the words just quoted, as already sufficiently indicating that humility, and do not add the words, ’but he emptied himself’ etc. (Eus., HE 5, 2, 2). This is the natural flow of sense and sentence: ’He did not count it a prize . . . but emptied himself’; if the text meant ’He did not count it robbery, usurpation etc.’ then it would have to continue, but nevertheless he emptied himself’. There would be a strong contrast implied, whereas Paul (as often) is merely using parallel expressions to bring out his full meaning. ’to be equal to God’: so Vg aequalem, somewhat simplifying the Gk, which is really an adverbial expression, which we might render roughly, to be as good as God’; but the sense is the same.

7-9 ’emptied himself’: such is the literal meaning of the verb, but of course it is used metaphorically, as always in NT (5 times, always by St Paul himself), ’to make of no account (as here), futile, meaningless’, etc. Similarly the corresponding adjective (’empty’) is used 18 times in NT, but likewise always metaphorically, ’empty-handed, useless’, etc. Christ evidently could not empty himself of his Godhead, even in part; but outside the Church this expression, ’he emptied himself’ has been misinterpreted to imply something like this. Such are called ’kenotic’ theories, from the Greek words in question, ?e??? ’empty’ and ?e??? ’I empty’. Mgr R. A. Knox has explained this matter in an excellent lecture on ’Kenotic Theories’ in The Incarnation; cf. § 905a. What St Paul himself stresses, indeed, is Christ’s Divinity, and that so strongly that if we had not the guidance of a multitude of other passages (Romans 5:15 etc.), we might think that his Humanity was something unreal. Here, for example, we have ’the form of a slave’, ’in the likeness of men’, ’in habit found as man’ (rather, ’in outward form’ or shape). But these expressions are preparing the way for the tremendous emphasis on Christ’s Godhead which follows; Christ’s Person is divine, and it was the Divine Person that assumed human nature.

8. ’He humbled himself’: the whole emphasis is here, the example for the Philippians to follow.

9. ’hath exalted him’, a very strong word, lit. ’super-exalted’: WV ’exalted him above the highest’. ’the name’, the name Jesus, as is clear from the following verse. ’Lord’ in itself is not a name at all, but a very common word, used even by slaves to their masters; nor was it ’given’ in the obvious sense to Christ, like the name Jesus, as narrated by St Paul’s follower St Luke (Luke 1:31).

10-11. ’at the name’. There is a reference to Isaiah 45:23: ’to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear’, where we should say in English, ’by me every tongue shall swear’. Absolute Godhead is asserted in Isaias, and is here ascribed to Christ. But for ’swear’ Paul substitutes ’confess’, and goes on to give what is to be the subject of that confession. As Christ has suffered in his sacred humanity, so he is to be glorified for ever in that humanity, which is to receive divine adoration in virtue of the Divine Person who has assumed it. Every tongue is to ’confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’. Possibly we should translate with Vg ’in the glory’, for it seems to make rather better sense of the special allusion to God the Father, and there is no doubt that the preposition e?? with the accusative (as in the Gk here) could at this period bear this sense. See, for example, Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri ( Cambridge 1912), no. 13 (= P. Oxy. 294), ad init., where ??? with the dative is used in the sense of ’place to’, and e?? with the accusative in the sense of ’place at’. Every tongue is to confess that ’Jesus Christ is Lord’, which is the confession of Christ’s Godhead, since the Jews did not use the proper name of God, Yahweh, but spoke and read the Lord’ in its place, a practice followed by Vg and all except some modern versions. St Paul’s usual practice is not to use ’Lord’ for God the Father or the Holy Ghost, nor yet for God as such (the Blessed Trinity), except where he is quoting the OT. The fact that he uses ’Lord’ for God in OT passages would compel him to explain that he did not mean it in this sense when he applies it to Christ; but on the contrary he lays stress on the confession that ’Jesus is Lord’, here and in Romans 10:9 and 1 Corinthians 12:3. And indeed, even apart from all this, there is ample proof that he taught that Christ is God.

12-30 12. ’with fear and trembling’, a phrase implying reverence and awe, as again in 2 Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5. Vincent here well calls it ’a filial dread of offending God’. The English words are apt to give an exaggerated idea of the ’fear’ involved, which is not incompatible with joy; cf.Philippians 3:1; Philippians 4:4; Psalms 2:11.13. ’We can do no good work of ourselves towards our salvation; we need the help of God’s grace’ (Catechism Q. 138). 15. Cf.Deuteronomy 32:5.17. ’Even if I am to be poured out’ as a libation (drink-offering) ’over the solemn’ or ceremonial, ministerial, liturgical, or even priestly ’offering of your faith’. ’sacrifice of your faith’. In this metaphor the Philippians are the priests, offering their own faith, i.e. their whole life of faith. Romans 12:1 is somewhat similar. St Paul again compares the shedding of his blood to a libation in 2 Timothy 4:6; there it is impending, here it is as yet a mere possibility. The figure seems to suit the pagan sacrifices rather better than the Jewish, in which latter the libations were poured around and not on the altar, and were less prominent. ’and share the joy of all of you’. 18. ’and share my joy’. 21 has always been a puzzle, for St Paul usually speaks highly of his fellow-workers, e.g. of Epaphroditus, 25-30. Perhaps he found Timothy the readiest to serve him without excuse. Of Epaphroditus we only know for certain what we find here and in 4:18; it hardly seems likely that he is the Epaphras of Phm 23; Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:12 (which last verse makes him a native of Colossae).

25. ’your messenger’, sent on a special commission: the Greek word is ’apostle’, which bears also this meaning.

30. ’hazarding his life’, a word taken from gambling, like ??ß??(lit. ’dicing’) in Ephesians 4:14 (DV ’wickedness’). ’that which on your part was wanting’: perhaps with a slight hint that St Paul had not expected any neglect on their part; cf. 4:10.