Philippians chapter 2 and verses 5 thru 8
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth upon these words of truth that I will here speak. Some will gnash their teeth at me claiming I am the haughty one for staunchly standing firm in what I absolutely know is the Holy Spirit's teaching of the matter. But I am not speaking to fill seats with men to supply donations of money. I am not speaking to try to be popular among you. I could care less about being popular among you as compared to faithfully serving the Lord and obeying him in the Holy Spirit.
Do not be puzzled at such burning among you, for, it must be, 1 Corinthians 11:19 “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.”
It is the pure word of God untangled in the hearts of the true “sons of the kingdom” that shines as the sun and sets the bundles to burning for the purpose of making “manifest among you” the genuine wheat who have been merely sincerely hindered of the tares.
Matthew 13:43 “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Revelation 3:22 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. “
I ascribe to the exegesis of Philippians 2: 5-8 as above from the American Standard Version Bible. My concern is not to speak popular words among you, but to speak as the Spirit compels in words of simple truth as to babes hungering to understand.
This is not because I desire to push or debate Jesus’ identity as to whether he is only “the Son of God” or “equal with God” and thus God his self. If my discussion in some way steps on your toes as regards the debate of the Trinity or not the Trinity, suck up your pride and discipline yourself to focus on the real point here being made. Thus so demonstrate that you do not burn because you are not a tare.
I believe that the sloppy translation the King James Version uses of this passage of scripture, as it does also in other places, whittles away important details of understanding. I am therefore here going to begin with quoting from the American Standard Version.
Let’s now consider Philippians 2:5-8:
5 “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.”
(American Standard Version - Philippians 2:5-8)
In these words at Philippians 2:5-8 there is something very important for us to learn about the nature of Satan’s sin, Adam’s sin, and all mankind’s sin, in contrast to Jesus’ use of his own will.
Let’s look at the more literal breakdown of the wording of verse 6 for a moment:
[1] “who in form of God existing” (KJV – “Who, being in the form of God”)
[2] “not grasping considered” (KJV – “thought it not robbery”)
[3] “the to be equal to God” (KJV – “to be equal with God”)
Amidst the wicked debating as to whether this verse does or does not support a Trinity doctrine, the principal import of the statement has been buried to many.
The principal import is that we can have this same mind in us as was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
I dare to say only a fool would claim that these verses are telling us that we ought to not consider it robbery for us to be equal to God. That then cannot be the point in verse 6. So what is the point that is being expressed in verse 6?
The principal thought must be centered on the phrase, “not grasping considered”.
Indeed verse 7 verifies this, contrasting it to, Philippians 2:7 “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”
Verses 8 and 9 then go on to show us that Jesus carried this marvelous example of humility toward God and obedience to God, which we are capable of copying, all the way to death in the flesh.
We thus see in a pronounced way in this passage of scripture, the application of, 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
Paul’s mind-set ought to never be forgotten, that he always spoke in a way so as to try to take away occasion from those who sought in their subtle pride and worship of self-intelligence to try and be as Paul and other true ministers of Christ: 2 Corinthians 11:12 “But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.”
It is really quite evident that Paul’s mind-set in Philippians 2:5-8 is the contrast between Christ’s humble use of his will to obediently serve his Father as opposed to the prideful and wrong use of will by Satan and Adam to seize at (grasp at) equality with God. And that is essential for us to see as that is what we need to imitate of Christ.
To the teeth gnashing let me inform you that I am fully capable of meeting your discussions based intelligence of rules of translation but choose to speak at the level the holy spirit also speaks to the meek little children. Your intellectual muscle flexing does not serve these little ones. It does not even serve you but to confuse you.
Let the sun shine its heat that the wheat and the tares become ever more distinguishable until the Lord does away with all who refuse to humble themselves.
When one humbly thinks about it, this discussion directly impacts the subject of the measure of freedom of will God gave us and how we are to properly use it.
Let us not be high-minded but humble.
