He emptied himself

Abstract

"This brief study examines some of the difficulties in interpreting Philippians 2:5-11 and attempts to clarify Paul's meaning in this passage. With Ladd' we can summarize the main statements of the passage as follows: Christ pre-existed in the morph-I of God. He did not consider equality with God a harpagmon. He emptied himself, taking the morph7 of a slave, and was born in the likeness of man. In the schema of men he humbled himself in obedience to death on the cross. Therefore God has exalted him by elevating him to the status of Lord over all creation. For the purpose of this study, the discussion will be limited to the following three questions: (1) What is the morplie theou? (2) How is harpagmon to be interpreted? (3) Of what did Christ empty himself? Each question will first be examined independently of the other two. This will lead to some tentative conclusions, each of which has definite limitations when considered independently. It will be shown, however, that when the conclusions are combined and interrelated they support and strengthen each other"