Philippians 2 Footnotes

2:4 Paul’s concern was balance—looking to the concerns of others as well as one’s own. There is a place for attending to our basic needs (Eph 5:29).

2:5 To “adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus” means to value what Jesus values. Since Christ gave himself for us, we give ourselves to one another (Eph 5:1-2).

2:6-7 The “form” (morphe¯) of God is not a physical or structural form. Jesus shares God’s nature; he is not “another god.” Before the incarnation, Jesus existed in the form of God. In the incarnation, Jesus takes the “form of a servant.” God served us in humility. He became human, surrendering access to his divine prerogatives, and willingly died a shameful death.

2:7 Jesus’s self-emptying (keno¯sis) cannot mean loss of deity or divine attributes; God cannot become less than God. Rather, he emptied himself of divine privileges by becoming human.

2:9 God highly exalted Jesus, giving him a new position. He became the visible focus of the Godhead, a position graciously bestowed because of his self-humbling death.

2:10-11 Contrary to what some critics claim, this description does not reflect an outdated cosmology or view of universal reality. Jesus’s lordship is comprehensive—over all personal beings in heaven (spiritual beings), on earth (living human beings), and under the earth (the dead awaiting resurrection).

2:12 To “work out” our salvation (which was “worked in” to us) is opposed to “working for” salvation.