Kenosis as it relates to Christ
Kenosis as it relates to Christ
Philippians 2.5-11 -- Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, (7) but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (8) And being found in appearance as a man, he emptied himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! (9) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What does it mean that Christ "emptied" himself? I've seen this clause alluded to on numerous occasions since joining TOL. I've heard it expressed as anything from the eternal Son emptying himself of divine attributes to assertions claiming that Christ actually emptied himself of divinity – absurd! I think it might do us good to actually get inside some of these words and see if we can't do this passage some justice.
The thrust of the passage is this: that the One who, before becoming human, possessed divine equality, did not regard that status as something to be taken advantage of, but instead understood it as a mission to obedient humiliation and death; and that the Father acknowledged this interpretation by exalting the One, forever now also a Man, to share in divine glory. Allow me to explain.
Why do I say that Christ did not consider his divinity something to take advantage of? Most translations say something on the order of the Son did not consider his divinity something to be grasped, and interpret that to speak to the emptying of himself. My question is, Are we ready to go that far? Must we go that far? Did the Son divest himself of some or all of his divinity when taking on a human nature? No. Impossible. The eternal Son did not become something less than fully God when he took upon himself the flesh of humanity. In his own ministry Jesus interpreted himself as being fully divine. Look at John 14.9 – "Anyone who has seen me has seen my Father." And in case his disciples should misunderstand, he went on to say, "Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (v. 10). How could Jesus truly manifest the divinity of his Father if he had divested himself of even an ounce of divinity himself? The answer is he couldn't. "To see Me is to see My Father." Did the Father become something less than God when he sent his Son? No, of course not. That is ridiculous. We need to reconsider this emptying idea.
That said, the key word in unpacking this passage is not kenosis -- to empty --, but this very word we are questioning, arpagmos. We will see that the kenosis clarifies itself, once we begin to understand the meaning of this other word: arpagmos. This word appears only once in the NT, right here at the heart of this passage. It is not used in the Septuagint, and it is rarely used in contemporary extra-biblical writings; however, in those contemporaneous writings that we do have, the word consistently conveys a meaning of “exploitation” on the part of one over another or others (See N.T. Wright for a full exposition of this word). Let us, therefore, take that meaning with us to the text.
The theme of this passage is the determination of the path Christ chose as the way to his Lordship. The incarnate Christ was always in the form of God, but throughout his earthly ministry he did not yet possess equality with God. At any point of his fleshly ministry he could have taken advantage of this higher state – that is to say, he could have exploited it – but in doing so he would not have been representing the heart of his Father. How do we know this? Jesus said so: "If you have seen me you have seen the Father." It was Jesus in a humbled state that truly revealed the heart of God; rather than by way of exploitation, Jesus maintained this higher form via the path of humbling service, even unto death. This pleased the Father, who exalted this God-man, Christ Jesus to the Glory that had previously only been exercised in divinity. Thus it was in the exaltation that Christ established his Lordship, a human being becoming equal with God the Father, forever over humanity.
How does our heavenly Father desire us to see him? Through the life of his Son, "who – being in nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be exploited, but made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant, born in human likeness -- emptied himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!"
How does the Father desire to see us? Our "attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, ..." (v. 5).
In our frenzy to be right, let's not diminish who God is. We are the only religion on earth whose God stoops. While every other religion is trying to climb its way to God, ours came down to us. They are working themselves to death. But our God humbled himself, became like us in birth, re-gathered us in humanity and raised us up in the glory of His Son. Let's exalt our Lord in his exaltation. Let's glorify him in his glorification. He whose Name is above all names, let's praise him in his purification!
Blessings, T
