The pattern of Christ’s servantship in Philippians 2

In the last verses of chapter 1, Paul emphasizes that the Philippians have an
assignment, a responsibility, that is at the heart of what it means to believe in
Christ; they should fight for the Gospel of the Messiah, and preach this
message so that people could turn to God and be saved. This is an emphasis
that will recur several times in the letter. Now this was not at all an easy task
for the Philippians. Philippi was a Roman colony, and the Romans did not look
favourably on Christians at this time. Christians claimed loyalty not to the Lord
Caesar, not to any lesser gods and lords, not to the Roman Empire as such, but
only to Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords and king of kings. To be a Christian was to
be a potential trouble-maker, to make a mess out of the good Roman order,
which demanded spiritual and practical obedience. Paul himself writes while
being in chains in a Roman prison, and in the last verses of chapter 1 he
emphasizes that the Philippians also have been granted the privilege of
suffering and struggling for Christ.

To be effective and faithful ambassadors of Christ and his gospel, however, was
not only a matter of saying the right words. It was also a matter of faithful
living. As Paul says: Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of Christ. That
could of course mean many different things. But there seems to have been a
peculiar problem going in the Philippian congregation. There seem to have
been dissensions, strife and grumbling going on between people or groups of
people in the church. And this is particularly destructive both of the inner life of
the congregation, but also of their image to the outsiders. So this is perhaps the
chief thing that Paul is really eager to set straight in his letter to the Philippians.
This comes out clearly in the first verses of chapter 2, which we can turn to
now. Verses 1 to 4 read as follows:

”Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any
comfort from love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and
compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the
same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above
yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests
of the others.”

We may note that the first verses here probably have a deliberate trinitarian
structure. The Philippians have been united with Christ, they share in love,
which Paul elsewhere says that is from God the Father, and they have a
common sharing in the one Spirit. That is: Being a Christian and living as a
Christian is to share in the divine life of the trinity, and to increase in this until
we will take part in divine nature and be like Christ in the kingdom. Now, if this
is so, Paul says, then the Philippians really must live it out in their own lives.
How can they do so? Here comes Paul’s main point: By being like-minded,
having the same love, being one in the spirit and of one mind.

Both Jesus and the apostles often admonish Christians to live in peace and
unity. We may remember the words of Jesus in the gospel of John; from this
everyone should acknowledge that you are my disciples, that you love each
other. A few chapters later he prays that his disciples may be one so that the
world would believe that God has sent him. And Paul sees it as imperative that
the believers live in unity of love and peace. The church is the one body of
Christ. Christ is one, both in his body at the right hand of the Father, and in the
bread and wine of the eucharist, and so his church, his body, must also be one.
If there is strife and division in the body of Christ, the whole of the body and all
of its functions will suffer from it. As Paul says in chapter one: “…stand firm in
the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28 without
being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.”

Paul evidently sees threats to this unity in the Philippian congregation. He

warns them against “selfish ambition” and “vain conceit.” That is; he warns
them against putting themselves first, stepping on others to gain their own
glory and power and reputation. This was also something Jesus tirelessly
reminded his disciples of: He who want to be large among you, should be a
servant and slave of all. When you are invited to a party, then take the lesser
place, and later on the lord will give you a higher place. So Paul says: “…in
humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but
each of you to the interests of the others.” That is a genuine Christian way of
life; value others above yourselves. Perhaps afterward we can talk a little bit
about what this kind of unity and love this could mean in our lives today, as
Christians. But now let’s move on in the text.

We are now about to encounter one of the most important passages in the
whole of the New Testament. Paul has exhorted his fellow-believers to hearken
to his advice, to love each other and keep the unity and peace among
themselves. Now he moves on to give the most important reason and model
for this kind of living. We read from verse 5
”Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in
the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be
exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in
human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” That is what we must
keep in mind throughout the whole of this section. We must live and think and
act the way Jesus did, and share in his fate, so to speak. That is what it means
to be a Christian. Now Paul says that Jesus was “in the form of God,” that “he
was equal with God.” Those are pretty remarkable sayings. Jesus was with God,
and he shared in the divine identity. We may then ask: What exactly does it
mean to be God? What is the divine identity? What is his character? Paul
answers in this way: To be God is not to be a grasping, selfish being, using his
position to his own advantage. No: Being in the form of God, Jesus emptied
himself, took on the form of a slave, became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a demeaning and absolutely shameful cross.

This is what it means to be God: God is love, he is serving, he is saving. Jesus

gave up his privileges and advantages, and bore our sin, pain and shame, out of
love. These are, as I said, very remarkable and world-changing sayings. The
Romans in Philippi knew of many gods and lords in the world. The perhaps
most noticeable of them all was the lord of the Roman empire, Emperor Nero.
Romans were commanded to bow for him, to acknowledge him as their lord,
savior and benefactor. But Nero was everything but gracious and loving. He
was instead a violent, brutal man – just as the Roman Empire was known to be
a superpower grasping money and land through violence. But this is not the
character of the real Lord of the world, of the real kingdom of the world. God is
love.

Paul continues: “9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the
name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus was loyal to his own nature, and to the mission that God had given him,
namely to sacrifice himself for us. But just therefore, because he was obedient,
God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name – that
is the very name of God himself. Here Paul has in his mind a very important
text from the Old Testament, namely Isaiah 45. In this text we read that the
Lord says: I am the Lord, and there is no one else beside. So the Lord is savior
and judge for all the earth and everything that he has created, and he promises
that one day all people will bow their knees to him and confess their allegiance
to him. Now Paul uses this text and says that God has given this position to the
Lord Jesus, to the glory of the Father. So it is to Jesus that all people will bow
their knees and confess allegiance. Here we have the first outworkings of a
trinitarian view of God.

Anyway, what is the relevance for all of this to the Philippians in their situation?
Well, one of the chief things that Paul has in mind, is that the pattern that Jesus
went through, with serving and suffering, and then subsequent resurrection,
exaltation and glory, will also be the pattern of the philippians, if they are
steadfast in faith. The Philippians may now be suffering and living in shame,
and losing all their privileges from the Roman Empire because they are
Christians. Yes, but in the future, at the day of Christ, when the kingdom finally
comes in its fullness, then the Romans who have been living in pagan ways, will
be judged, whereas the Philippians will have a glorious new body and be
exalted by God himself in the kingdom. These thoughts are all more explicit in
chapter three, when Paul’s reasoning progresses and reaches it climax.

Here, however, he continues to draw some crucial and practical conclusions

about how the Philippians must live to be worthy followers of Christ. We will
read these last verses together, from verse 12 to verse 16:

12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my
presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you
both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 14 Do all things without
murmuring and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. 16 It is by your holding
fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in
vain or labor in vain.

Paul emphasizes that the Philippians must obey him and his injunctions. The
reason for this is not that Paul was an especially authoritarian kind of guy.
Rather the point is that he knew himself to be an apostle of Christ, and to carry
on his message and his commands. This is actually a point that comes through
many times in the letters of Paul, though it does not receive the attention that
it deserves, I think. Paul did not see himself as an especially original theologian,
making up stuff; he saw himself as a disciple of Christ, with a special vocation to
preach to the Gentiles, and to make sure that the believers be kept safe in their
faith. Actually Paul several times seems to say that the spiritual well-being of
his congregations is important for how Paul himself will fare on judgment day.

So in the beginning of the chapter we saw that Paul warned against selfish
ambitions, vainglorious conceit and so on. These things are really destructive to
the community and to the evangelistic efforts. Paul pointed to Christ as the
paradigm of love and service, he who did not mind giving up his privileges and
power, he who put others higher than himself, and thusly became exalted by
God. And now Paul sums up his admonitions; God is doing his good work in
you. So do not murmur, do not argue. Do not be like the Israelites in the desert,
who were disobedient to God and did not take pleasure in his good will. Rather,
be blameless and innocent, so that people around you will clearly see that you
shine like stars, and that you really have the word of life.

I think that will suffice for now. But perhaps we could have a little talk about
the text, and about how it could be applied to our situation today. If any of you
have thoughts, feel free to bring them forward.