THE INTENTION IS TO LOOK AT THE SUBJECT OF KENOSIS – THE EMPTYING OF HIMSELF, MENTIONED IN THE PHILIPPIAN LETTER OF PAUL
Lamentations 3, and Philippians 2:1ff
Philippians 2:5-11 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross
Colossians 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.
1 Timothy 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
In these passages is seen the obvious tension; which is beyond human understanding.
Wristbands with the letters: W W J D – worn by Christian youngsters, signifying the challenging question: “What Would Jesus Do?” The question mark is not on the originals, but implied.
This is challenging.
Even though there are some things which Our Lord has done, which we cannot do; there are some we have in common, and others we have to make a decision about!
Jesus did not come in His capacity of wrathful judgment, as He will at The Return. We should all take careful note of this: as in the short Psalm 2, and in the passage from Isaiah 61:1-2, which he read in the synagogue in Nazareth, and applied to Himself – here He stopped short of the words covering the Day of Wrath.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
SOMETHING OF WHAT THE KENOSIS OF THE INCARNATION MEANT
The complexity of living organisms, and the huge size of our Milky Way Galaxy, point to the greatness of God and the Messiah. In 1929, the discovery was commenced that there are billions of galaxies containing billions of stars, having distances measured in light travelling for billions of light years. Why this huge extravagance? The answer is found in the last two words of Colossians chapter 1, verse 18: For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and FOR HIM.
How incredibly awesome for this immense personage to become a baby, not the smallest thing on our Planet, but minute compared with the Cosmos! He had to learn the basics of literacy, mathematics, theology, general knowledge, and social procedures. Quite an emptying!
From unapproachable Splendour to a cattle stall, humanity, a national occupational history, the Cross, and the Grave
He came from beyond the Cosmos, which He had created, and past the Angels – through the Heavens to the Earth.
Left Eternity behind
His humanity started as a very small fertilized egg, OR at Delivery. (There is a significant issue here: Adam became a “living soul”, when God breathed into him. My wife, as a qualified Midwife, believes from experience, that the foetus becomes a person when he breathes unaided. The same could be true for an oxygen aided child following delivery. There are differing views within the Church.)
Ancestry – having a motley Family Tree including Gentiles and some wayward Jews. (Romans 1:3 has “sperm” of David, in the original Greek)
Inherited genetic material – he had a look of His Mother and her ancestors….
Gestation in Mary’s womb, OR Following Gestation – at Delivery
Birth
He was brought-up by His stepfather
He had stepbrothers and sisters
Circumcision
Filled His nappies
Had to be toilet trained
Refugee in Egypt
Persecution by King Herod
Weaning, hiccups, digestive wind, teenage spots, voice breaking
Teething and second teeth
He enjoyed, respected, and learned the Scriptures
Had to trust for God the Father’s Protection
Human to human relationships, from the family outwards
He went to a school of some kind – had an education – He had to learn
Debating with elders in the Temple at twelve years
Was not a Levitical Priest
Used money: but was dependent on godly ladies for fiscal support (Luke 8:1-4)
Learned a trade/skill, and earned a living –
Thirty Years of Working Class Life: gave a tenth/tithe to Ministry
Although being thirty plus, He had the bearing of an older man
Was baptised – but only as an example to us
Had to be anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit
Required to fast
Knew temptation
He experienced hunger and thirst, tiredness, pain, persecution, torture, brutalization, mockery, accused of having satanic spiritual power, grieved at death, compassion, and living in a nation occupied by an enemy
Nowhere to lay His head
Knew lack of success
Stood against hypocrisy and false teaching
Was misunderstood and criticised by family, friends, and enemies
Could be amazed apropos peoples’ faith, or lack of it – which He found limiting
Cared for His family members
Would not judge in disputes (Luke 12:14)
Needed to pray
Experienced grief
Had to choose and train Disciples
Had a personal cost in: Healings, Casting out Unclean Spirits (Perhaps learning about exorcism – Mark 1:21-28, 34), Resurrections, Miracles, Teaching, travelling
Relinquished knowledge of the time of his Return: to claim the Church, deliver Israel, destroy the Antichrist and the False Prophet, Rule the World, Judge the Lost and Satan, be the Bridegroom in the New Jerusalem coming to the New Earth
He had the choice to follow God’s will as a priority – particularly in the Garden of Gethsemane
Forensic Trials
Accused of blasphemy
Suffered Judicial Murder
Violent Torture and Wounding
Humiliation
Death as a Sinner
The World of the Dead – Sheol/Hades – Paradise
The First to rise to Eternal Life
He experienced the Ascension, a most significant and awesome event.
———————————————————————————————-
John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
So in what ways is Jesus like us, and in what ways is He unique, because He is God Incarnate?
There have been huge debates and Church Councils, Creeds have been formulated, and sometimes differences have existed on the basis of just one word.
The answer is quite simple: Jesus was truly God and truly Man.
There is no need to go beyond that
The ‘New Bible Dictionary’ gives a long quotation from an heretical theologian and then points out that it is wrong, with these words: “This Christological statement is open to damaging theological objections; and, on exegetical grounds too, there is little support for it.” (‘Illustrated New Bible Dictionary’, Part 2, page 848)
As a theological concern the name “Kenosis”, was introduced by Thomasius of Erlangen, Germany , in the mid-eighteen hundreds; although the wonder and the mystery of the Incarnation has been evidenced from the beginning of Time: for both angels and humans.
Jesus was not half man and half god like the Greek mythological heroes. He was fully God, the Second Person of the Trinity. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col 2:9). At the same time he became genuinely a man. To deny his genuine humanity is “the spirit of the antichrist” (1 John 4:2-3).
(The Zondervan New International Bible Dictionary)
“Christ’s glory was concealed in the form of a servant.”
This is a good statement in the form of a summary of Professor R. P. Martin’s understanding (ibid). It is often pointed out that the relationship between the Divine and the Human is not actually the topic of the Philippians passage.
TECHNICAL NOTES
Looking at various writers and listening to several people: it is a field fraught with dangers.
When teaching on the passage in Philippians 2, with A Level students, my own first attempt at exegesis was quite wrong, and I quickly had to agree with the definition given in our Tyndale Commentary on this epistle.
In certain aspects of the Messiah’s Life, both the Divine and the Human can be seen, and to say that we can act like Him requires qualification. However, in His Humanity, He was filled with the same Holy Spirit that we must know.
So here is the key Greek word:
ekenosen Philippians 2:7 “Emptied Himself” (RSV); “made himself nothing” (NIV).
The basic word is:
kenos Strong 2756 “empty”, “void”, via the Septuagint and Revised Standard Version of Jeremiah 14:2; 15:9 – “languished” [which, in turn (according to English Dictionaries), relates to: submit, lose strength and animation, droop, faint, fade, sink, look tender, have the air of a lover]. Here are the examples from the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 14:1 This is the word of the LORD to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2 Judah mourns,
her cities languish;
they wail for the land,
Jeremiah 15:9 (RSV) In time of drought:
She who bore seven has languished;
She has swooned away
Her sun went down while it was yet day;
She has been shamed and disgraced….
Says the LORD.
With Jeremiah in mind, The Book of Lamentations (of Jeremiah) chapter 3 is of great significance, because of its Suffering Messianic Prophecy implications. Our Lord was thought of as “Jeremiah” by his contemporaries, as reported by the disciples at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:14).
Without strength, is suggested. Should we even be saying that our Lord God: committed Himself to the “unthinkable”? Seeing that Jesus languished into humanity for our benefit, we might also be called to languish into Divinity for His glory.
THE TEXT: Philippians 2:6, tells us nine things about His Humanity
1. Who, being in very nature God,
2. did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but
3. made himself nothing, [emptied Himself]
4. taking the very nature of a servant,
5. being made in human likeness.
6. And being found in appearance as a man,
7. he humbled himself and
8. became obedient to death —
9. even death on a cross!
This is the only safe limit by way of definition of Kenosis
It is an answer to heresies: in that, if He emptied Himself; He must have been FULL, in His pre-birth eternal existence.
THE NOTE IN KITTEL
keno This word means “to make empty” (passive “to be desolate”) and “to nullify” … [in this] sense occurs in the NT only in Philippians 2:6-7 [see above] (of Christ). This can hardly mean that Christ negated himself, nor is it suggested that he aspires beyond his existing state. The point, then, is that Christ does not selfishly exploit his divine form but lays it aside to take the form of a servant. The pre-existent Lord is the subject. He remains himself, but changes his mode of being (cf 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”)
[A. OEPKE, ‘The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Kittel) volume III, pp 659-62; taken from the one volume version, translated and edited by G. W. Bromiley]
Arnold Frauchtenbaum, the Jewish Christian Bible Teacher, in one of his lectures, points out eight false views of this key issue, and he raises the curious technical question, did the Christ have one, or two, wills? I think the answer is ‘one’, whilst AF goes for ‘two’.
DEITY SHOWN IN UNIQUENESS
Pre-existence in Eternity beyond our time:
Again: How could Jesus “empty Himself”, if He was not at first FULL?
There are Scriptures, which apply the Old Testament use of YHWH to the Lord Jesus, for example:
Matthew 21:16 = Psalm 8:1-3, Philippians 2:10=Isaiah 45:23b-25.
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.’”
John 13:31-33 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Glimpses of His Glory on Earth: the angelic choir in Bethlehem, The Transfiguration, and the voice of the Father from Heaven.
Some see the brilliant shining of clothes and face, at the Transfiguration; Moses and a few in Church History have experience the effect of the face glorified: Arthur Blessitt, Charles Finney, and probably others, but not the clothing.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
At any time He could have chosen to betray His mission, and opted out:
Matthew 26:53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
He amended the Law (Matthew 5:27ff etc.)
Jesus did not preface His Teaching with words like the Prophets: Isaiah 37:21 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says.” Isaiah 43:1 “But now, this is what the LORD says.” Isaiah 1:2 “Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken.” Jeremiah 33:1c …the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name.” Jesus’s introductions were: “But I say to you.”
THE “I AM” STATEMENTS – the Divine Signature
These were not the statements expected of an ordinary man!
The Gospel According to John
6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.
6:41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
6:48 I am the bread of life.
6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven
8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
8:58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” Beyond time, and within Eternity
9:5 “I am the light of the world.”
10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 10:9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.
10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
10:36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?
11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
The special significance of Jesus Name:
John 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 17:11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.
The many references to the power of the Name of Jesus in prayer; and the important statement above, apropos the new significance of the Name of Jesus: as the Name Yahweh, in the Old Testament.
He claimed the origin of forgiveness of sins – Luke 2:1ff [whereas we speak forgiveness through Christ and the Gospel]
His claims of Divine Sonship, and origins in Heaven
He expected allegiance only Yahweh could ask for (Luke 14:25ff)
He claimed a unique status in relation to the Father, and as the answer to our needs (Matthew 11:25 -30, 12vv6-8)
Sinlessness (1 John 3:3; Hebrews 4:15)
Again: Praised by children: “Matthew 21:16, and Psalm 8:2, Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“ ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?”
Even in His “Emptied” State, there was a glory about Him, as the only sinless human (Adam had known sinlessness for only a brief time – until The Fall).
Resurrection involving Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit
He accepted worship as God (John 20:28)
He will judge all people
Unique Ascension with Eschatological Promise
His Promise to send the Holy Spirit
Promise to be with His followers always
He is eternally changeless:
Lamentations 5:19 You, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
Hebrews 1:8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,’
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Acting as the Advocate in Heaven for His People
We return to Paul’s Epistle:
Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
At any time He could have chosen to betray His mission, and opted out:
Matthew 26:53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
WE DO WELL TO HAVE IN MIND THE STATUS AND ATTRIBUTES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BEFORE THE INCARNATION, AND AFTER IT. HE IS CERTAINLY NOT “EMPTIED” IN THESE TIMES.
Creator of all things: the Cosmos, angels, humans, and all living things: in His Pre-existence. This was followed by the great humbling to become a baby, having left Heaven’s Eternal Throne – to have a beginning.
Following the Resurrection, and the Ascension: exalted to the Throne of Deity, Head of the Church, Head of all Principalities and Powers, sustainer of Creation, and Judge of All.
THERE IS MUCH YOU CAN ADD HERE: ESPECIALLY FROM THE CHRISTOLOGY PASSAGES! [JOHN 1, COLOSSIANS 1: 15-20, HEBREWS 1 ETC.]
THE RESULT OF THIS STUDY IS TO BRING US TO WORSHIP
Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb
Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?
That sleeping child you’re holding is the great I am
EXTRA NOTES
An interesting question: at which point did Jesus become Incarnate? In Luke 1:39-45 Elizabeth focuses on Mary’s part, not the Child she had in her womb. With the description of Adam’s creation, in mind – “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7), I think Jesus did not become Incarnate until the Delivery.
Page 100, ‘IN UNDERSTANDING BE MEN’, by T. C. Hammond, edit. IVP, 1973, UK
3. Divinity and Humanity in the one Person of our Lord
Here we can only touch on the many problems that surround this important subject. They centre chiefly in kenosis, the `self-emptying’ of our Lord (kenosis comes from the Greek for `emptied’ in Philippians 2:7); the hypostatic union, the union of the two natures (of divinity and humanity) in one Person (hypostasis means `person’); and the `Communion of the Properties’ (Latin, communicatio idiomaturn), the interchange and intercommunication of the qualities and experiences of the two natures in view of the unity of the Person.
a. Kenosis
Several alternative theories have been held. The extreme view that He `emptied himself’ of His deity and was limited to the natural knowledge and abilities of an ordinary man is untenable in the light of the narratives. Another states that our Lord, while retaining the possession of all His divine attributes, renounced their use and hid them from the observation of men. There are difficulties in this position, because it demands, for example, an act of will on the part of a baby to refuse to use His omniscience and omnipotence. Other theories are that our Lord suspended His divine consciousness from the time of conception and that He reassumed it in manhood; that the divine fullness was gradually communicated by a series of successive effluxes according as the gradual human development permitted; and that the deity of our Lord underlay His humanity (as a kind of subconsciousness). All of these are open to objection.
The truth is that our Lord’s attributes of deity were at no time laid aside. Any theory which violates the integrity of our Lord’s deity is obviously unsatisfactory. There seems to be no theory which relieves us entirely from objections. The nearest we can get is that our Lord’s perfect divine nature (with the possession of all its attributes) was so united with a perfect human nature that one divine-human Person developed with the divine element (if such a distinction can here be made) controlling the normal development of the human. Beyond this we cannot safely go. (Philippians 2:7, in fact, has nothing to do with questions concerning the divine attributes; it simply indicates the humbling moral self-renunciation involved for one who `was in the form of God’ in `taking the form of a servant.’)
Professor C. C. Ryrie writes in his notes to the New American Standard Translation: 2:7 – emptied Himself. The kenosis (emptying) of Christ during His incarnation does not mean that He surrendered any attributes of deity, but that He took on the limitations of humanity. This involved the veiling of his preincarnate glory (John 17:5) and the voluntary waiving of some of His divine prerogatives during the time He was on earth (Matthew 24:36).
Bible Doctrine 101: A Practical Guide to Studying the Scriptures and Their Teachings 