Sunday, December 27, 2015
1. Abandonment; PHI 2:6. 2. Acceptance; PHI 2:7. 3. Association; PHI 2:8 4. Adoption; PHI 2:8. 5. Ascension; PHI 2:9-11.
(#1) Abandonment in PHI 2:6 when although He existed in the exact form of God, He did not regard His equality with God a thing to be grasped or to claim.
(#2) Acceptance in PHI 2:7 when He accepted the fact that He would deny Himself of the proper functions of His deity or His being equal to God. By taking the form of a bond‑servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
(#3) Association in PHI 2:8 when He associated with humanity by willing to be discovered in outward appearance as a man and was willing to humble Himself by becoming obedient to the point of His spiritual death, that is the death of the cross.
(#4) Adoption -- when He received His new place among God and all of God's creature, both angelic and human, when God exalted Him to the maximum, and bestowed on Him a title, or the name or rank which is above every title, name or rank.
(#5) Ascension when in PHI 2:10-11 when He ascended to His new office, rank and dignity where every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
A paradox can say two things that seem to be opposite or contradictory but there is an important truth or unity in both of them.
PHI 2:1-11, Since therefore there is encouragement in Christ, since there is comfort from virtue-love, [that is love for God; love for self; love for others] since there is fellowship of the Spirit, since there is tendernesses and compassions, Bring to completion my inner happiness [in your life] by thinking the same doctrines, maintaining the same virtue-love, with unity in your soul, concentrating on the same objective [which is the glorification of TLJC]. Doing nothing motivated by contentiousness or ambitious pride, but with humility of mind [by means of grace orientation] let each of you keep on considering one another as more important than himself; do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but also regard or consider the personal interests of others. "Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus," who, although He existed in the form of God, [He was the exact nature of God Himself] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, He did not empty Himself of His deity but it says He denied Himself of the proper functions of His deity or His being equal to God. In fact, although having being discovered in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of spiritual death, that is the death of the cross. Therefore also the God has highly exalted Him to the maximum, and bestowed on Him the name or rank which is above every name, By means of His [onoma- name] the office, rank and dignity belonging to Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth and under the earth. and that every tongue should confess or acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Four important principles concerning confession: 1. Salvation 2. Rebound 3. His exaltation 4. Our rewards
1. Our Lord was and still is the exact representation of God - HEB 1:3 says He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
2. He also possessed the same exact essence of God - JOH 5:23 All judgment has been given to the Son in order that all may honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
The apostle John warned us about a certain group called the Gnostics who said that Jesus Christ was just like a mirage, as it were, and that now He is no longer in human form.
PHI 2:6 who [TLJC], although He existed in the form of God, [The original language says although He was the exact nature of God Himself] He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Our Lord did not cling to the fact that He was God and He did not claim His privileges of being God.....a thing to be grasped or something to hold onto.
PHI 2:7 He denied Himself of the proper functions of His deity or His being equal to God
"The Theology behind Christmas."
We are talking about one who is God, that's how it starts, and He is also Lord, and that's how it ends.
What this section explains to us is the condescension of the Son of God to come to earth to die and then to return in exaltation to glory.
Our Lord abandoned His sovereign position, accepted a slave's place, associated with sinful people, adopted a self-less posture, and He ascended to a supreme prince.
1. He abandoned a sovereign position ; (PHI 2:6).
Though He was God and preexisted with the exact essence of God, He did not think claiming His equality with God something that He wanted or needed or desired to claim or to profess.
2CO 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich."
2CO 5:21 He [God the Father] made Him who knew no sin to be a sin offering on our behalf, so that we might become the very perfect righteousness of God by being in Him.
1PE 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh [His humanity suffering a spiritual death], but made alive spiritually.
2. He ACCEPTED a slave's place in PHI 2:7-8.
PHI 2:7-8 He denied Himself of the proper functions of His deity or of His being equal to God by taking the form of a bond‑servant, [becoming a slave] and being made in the likeness of men. -- in the exact nature of man minus man's OSN.
LUK 19:10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
MAT 20:26 "Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant."
MAT 23:11 "But the greatest among you shall be your servant."
3. He ASSOCIATED with sinful people which means that we begin to see the depth of His slavery in PHI 2:7 when it says, "He was made in the likeness of men."
HEB 2:14 Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same nature as theirs [minus, of course, the OSN],
that through His spiritual death [His spiritual death or His being separated from God] He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;
If TLJC died a physical death "FOR US" or in "IN PLACE OF US" then why would we die physically if He died "FOR US" or "IN PLACE OF US."
He paid a debt He did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay; I needed someone to wash my sins away.
And, now, I sing a brand new song, “Amazing Grace.” Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.
What it does say is that He is going to evaluate our works not judge us for our sins; 1CO 3:11-15; 2CO 5:10.
He was called a friend of tax‑gatherers and sinners; (LUK 7:34).
4. He APOPTED or assumed a self-less posture.
5. Not only did He abandon the sovereign position, accepted a slave's place, approached a sinful people, adopted a selfless posture, and finally He ASCENDED to a supreme prince.
Verses 9 to 11 says, "He ascended, a supreme prince," and then it says, "for this reason also."
The reason of His submission, the reason of his humiliation, the reason of his obedience to death, even to death on the cross. "
"God raised him from the dead as a sign of God's satisfaction over His death and then God exalted him to his own right hand and bestowed on him the name or the title which is above every name or title."
Number 1, He abandoned a sovereign position.
PHI 2:6 identifies His person, His nature, His character, His attributes in eternity before He came.
"He being in the form of God" = denotes the person's essential nature, His essence, who "He really is." It refers to that which is unchangeably true about Him, that He possesses this nature as God.
This refers to his innate, unchangeable, unalterable essence.
He not only reveals Himself as God but He reveals the entire Trinity within Himself as God!
COL 2:9 For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
Does it say who or what is Jesus that thou rememberest Him or the son of God that thou art concerned about him ?
GEN 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Prin-What the first Adam lost as ruler of the world, the last Adam gained back and gave it back to the rulership of man.
harpagmos = to seize something, to snatch something, to take hold of it and pull it away or it can mean to hang onto something, to cling to something, to clutch something so let's look at it both ways.
It means to seize something in the sense of gaining something. A hapax legomena, a word only used once in the Bible.
1. TLJC did not see equality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as something that He had to seize or steal.
2. The pre-incarnate Christ already possessed equality with the Father but resolved not to cling to it.
3. TLJC did not reach for His crown prematurely, as Adam had, but was willing to wait after His sufferings.
The aor-mid-ind of hegeomai which is the verb hegesato which means to think, to regard, to consider, to esteem, to think graciously or grace-thinking.
It means that our Lord and Savior did not think that He couldn't leave Heaven because He might have lost something if He became a member of the human race.
He didn't think that if He became true humanity that He somehow would have been inferior or that something would have been stolen from Him.
He wanted equality with God so Lucifer being equal to God was something to be seized.
He was willing to give it up, so willing that verse 7 says, "He emptied himself" or "He denied Himself of the proper function of His deity."
HEB 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.
JOH 19:32 The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was crucified with Him;
JOH 19:33-34, but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers pierced
His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.
MAT 1:23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us."
ISA 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
1TI 3:16 And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh,
In the book of Isaiah, (ISA 9:6), Isaiah calls Him the Mighty God, not a servant who would be overthrown but a man who would rule the universe.
He is the only God-man: He is not just a man with God inside: He is not a man with the help of God: He is not half God an half man:
He is not a man who became God: He is not God in the appearance of a man: He is not "a" god who changed into a man: HE IS GOD-MAN!
He is the creator but also a creature! He is the Master but also the slave! He was en-fleshed as a man but always is God. (paradox). He was born yet always existed.
He grew yet he was unchanging. He was tempted yet He could not sin. He did not know the day or the hour of His return and yet he knows all things.
He was crucified and bound on a cross while He was holding the universe together.
As a man who grew as God, he is the same yesterday, today and forever. As a man he was weary from His journey, as God He does not faint or become weary!
As man, He was tempted by the devil as God He cannot be tempted by evil! As man He has a human body, as man he dwells in unapproachable light!
As man He died, As God He is life! (paradox) .