(This was originally posted in a Muslim/Christian discussion group chat, and is an expansion on a thought prompted by Greg Gilbert's SBTS chapel sermon, "The Servant King." I've made some minor edits after posting, and some sentences have been modified/added for clarity. The two primary passages referenced are Philippians 2:3-11 and Genesis 3. "Phil" refers to the Philippians passage, and "Gen" refers to the Genesis passage.)
In Philippians 2, Paul is writing to Christians (ordinary people, not the super-rich or powerful) who are being persecuted for their faith, and he has a two-fold goal: first, to encourage Christians to be humble and consider others better than themselves, and second, to teach them the truth of Jesus’s divinity.
To do this, he uses fascinating allusions/references to Gen. and goes almost line-by-line through the creation story, showing how Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan.
In the Bible, Jesus is often called the “last Adam,” as he is the one who did what Adam could not — perfectly obey the Father. Paul begins Phil. by saying that Christians need to have the mind of Christ (humility), because Jesus is perfectly humble. In verse 6, Paul says that Jesus was in the form of God. The original temptation in Gen. that Satan gave Eve/Adam in Gen. was that they would be “like God, knowing good and evil.” Jesus didn’t need to become like God, because He already was. Adam wanted to be like God, but Paul says that Jesus “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (i.e. didn’t selfishly grab or cling onto power). Instead, verse 7 says that He emptied Himself and took the form of the servant. What form did Adam want? God’s form. Next, Paul says that Jesus was born in the likeness of a servant. Adam was made in the image of God, but he desperately wanted to leave his “manhood” and be like God and cling to power.
And then, Paul says (this is the incredible part) that Jesus, though He was found in human form, humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death on a cross. Contrast that with Adam. Adam already had eternal life, but because he wanted to be like God, he disobeyed God and pridefully attempted to seize knowledge and life. Instead, Adam and Eve were both expelled from God’s presence in Eden and condemned to pain and death. The curse, it seemed, was permanent. However, God made a promise to the woman -- that one day, one of her offspring would crush the serpent's head, but he would strike His heel.
The cross that Jesus was killed on was a tree, alluding to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve ate from in defiance of God’s will. Jesus, because He humbled Himself, did the exact opposite. He put Himself on a tree and bore upon Himself the wrath of God for the sins of Adam’s descendants, and thus reversed what Adam had done. THEREFORE, Paul says, God has EXALTED Jesus and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. This is what Adam wanted, but he disobeyed God. Jesus humbly did the will of God, and He was exalted. Adam, as humanity's first representative, wrongfully sought what we most desire, and Jesus, as the church's final representative, righteously achieved what we never could.
Now, if you stop reading in verse 9 of Phil., you might think that Jesus was just a prophet, or a creation, or a lesser being than God. However, verses 10-11 say that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of the Father. Jesus is God!
What’s just absolutely astounding is that Jesus was so humble. He didn’t have to do any of this. He could have remained in heaven, in perfect communion with the Father and Spirit in triunity, but He didn’t. He loved His creation so much that He was willing to do the exact reverse of Adam’s sin to redeem His people and give them forgiveness and freedom from their sins. Now, because of His sacrifice, we don’t have to work hard enough to earn salvation (like Adam had to), because Jesus already did it for us. We are simply called to receive His grace by repenting of (turning from) our sins and believing that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.
Notice the reason Paul is writing this, though. He’s not saying that because of what Jesus did we can be pompous jerks. Instead, Paul is saying that because Jesus is so humble, so also we should be humble. Jesus is Lord, and that has a really practical outworking: we must be humble.
Comments
Post a Comment