Philippians 2:5–11.
Have this in your mind, which was also in:
Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God,
didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,
being made in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
yes, the death of the cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him,
and gave to him the name which is above every name;
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Commentary:
You might be wondering why I’ve printed the reading in the pattern above. I’ve done it to show how it uses a memory or learning device that is used hundreds of times in the Bible and in other ancient documents. It’s called a chiastic structure.
This name comes from the Greek letter Chi, which basically looks like our capital X: It represents the sound ch, as in the Scottish loch. If you look at the shape of the reading the left-hand side looks like the left side of an X.
Now if you look at the general meanings or sense of the lines, you will see that they form a sort of mirror pattern, too. To explain, let’s first letter-name them like this, using A, B, C etc.:
A: Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God,
didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
B: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,
being made in the likeness of men.
C: And being found in human form, he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
D: yes, the death of the cross.
C: Therefore God also highly exalted him,
and gave to him the name which is above every name;
B: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
A: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
And now we can show a summary of the general meaning or sense. Read the twinned letter A’s, B’s etc – see how the same letters tell a similar but opposite or fuller story:
A Jesus was recognised as God in Heaven.
B Jesus became like a servant.
C Jesus humbled himself as low as anyone could possibly go.
D Jesus died on the cross.
C God raised Jesus up to the highest possible level.
B Jesus became the Lord of all.
A Jesus is recognised as God throughout the whole universe.
The central part (labelled ‘D’) is a sort of fixed statement. It has no repeat or echo because it is the central, the really important part. For Paul in this passage the most important point he wants us to reflect on is the work of Jesus Christ in dying on the cross. Here are two really key points:
1. Paul is emphasising as strongly as he can, that Jesus is God. So it was actually God who died on the cross, not just a human person. Lots of critics of Christianity ask how a good God would have his son killed just to satisfy his demand for a sacrifice for sin. Richard Dawkins made this strident critique, accusing God of child-abuse. But we see how little Dawkins understands of theology. The Bible’s teaching is clear: it was God himself who died for his people.
We have to be careful that we say this theological truth properly ourselves, because it is easy to make a mistake and teach children a wrong thing. It was not that God made his son die as a sort of general punishment, like a teacher punishing one student for the misbehaviour of the whole class, or a concentration camp commander punishing one prisoner because of some general thing that someone else did in camp, such as an escape or a theft or so on. Of course that would be unjust – and God is never unjust.
2. The principle of leadership that Jesus taught was that masters must serve their followers. Unless you first become a servant, he said, you cannot become a leader (Matthew 20:25–27). God rewards those who humble themselves. He was prepared to give his whole self for others. He would die for us. Why would we not be prepared to die, even if only symbolically, through some humble act ourselves for others?
Paul teaches the Philippians (and us) that this same attitude towards life that was found in Jesus should be what we strive to adopt in our own lives. This is a hard lesson to learn. It’s easy to say, but it’s very hard to put into practice consistently.
Nevertheless, this is precisely what God has called us to do.
Group or Individual Questions for Reflection
1. Why do you think ancient writers might have used this chiastic structure?
2. Can you see any other important things in this pattern that I haven’t pointed out above?
3. Why do you think Paul made the line about Jesus’ death on the cross as the central point?
4. How can you practise being humble in your own life? What are the things that get in your way?
Passage for Memory:
Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 2:10–11.
Prayer Time:
1. Give thanks for the death of Jesus which has given you new life.
2. Ask for help in reading scripture carefully and well.
3. Ask for help in learning to become truly, really humble.
Colouring for children created by Anna-Mieke Mulholland 2020.
