Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Philippians 2:8

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

8. found ] as one who presented Himself for inspection and test. See Appendix F.

fashion ] See third note on Php 2:6 above. The Greek word schma denotes appearance with or without underlying reality. It does not negative such reality any more than it asserts it; it emphasizes appearance. In the context, we have the reality of the Lord’s Manhood abundantly given; and in this word accordingly we read, as in the word “likeness” just above, an emphatic statement that ( a) He was Man in guise, not in dis guise; presenting Himself to all the conditions of concrete life as Man with man; and that ( b) all the while the schma had more beneath it than its own corresponding reality: it was the veil of Deity.

as a man ] Better, perhaps, as man, though R.V. retains “ as a man.” As the Second Man, our Lord is rather Man, the Man of men, than a Man, one among men. Yet the assertion here is rather as to what He was pleased to be in relation to those who “found” Him, came into contact with Him, in His earthly walk; and to such He certainly was “a man.” And so, with wonderful condescension, He speaks of Himself as “ a man that hath told you the truth” (Joh 8:40).

he humbled himself ] in “the acts of condescension and humiliation in that human nature which He emptied Himself to assume” (Ellicott). More particularly the reference is to the specially submissive, bearing, life, under the afflictive will of His Father, which He undertook to lead for our sakes; see the next words. The Greek verb is in the aorist, and sums up the holy course of submission either into one idea, or into one initial crisis of will.

and became ] Lit. and better, becoming; an aorist participle coincident in reference with the previous aorist verb.

obedient ] to the Father’s will that He should suffer. The utterance of Gethsemane was but the amazing summary and crown of His whole sacred course as the Man of Sorrows. His “Passion,” standing in some vital respects quite alone in His work, was in other respects only the apex of His “Patience.”

unto death ] R.V. rightly supplies even before these words. “Unto” means (by the Greek) “ to the length of.” He did not “obey” but “abolish” death (2Ti 1:10); He obeyed His Father, “even to the extent of” dying, as the sinner’s Sacrifice, at the demand of the holy Law, and “by the determinate foreknowledge” (Act 2:23) of the Lawgiver.

of the cross ] “Far be the very name of a cross not only from the bodies of Roman citizens, but from their imagination, eyes, and ears” (Cicero, pro Rabirio, c. 5. Cp. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xx.). Every thought of pain and shame was in the word, and was realized in the terrific thing. Combining, as we should do in the case of our Redeemer’s Crucifixion, the significance to the Jew of any death by suspension, with the significance to the Roman of execution on the cross, we must think of this supreme “obedience” as expressing the holy Sufferer’s submission both to “become a curse for us” (Gal 3:13, with Deu 21:23) as before God the Lawgiver, and meanwhile to be “despised and rejected of men ” (Isa 53:3) in the most extreme degree.

On the history of thought and usage in connexion with the Cross, and Crucifixion, see Zckler’s Cross of Christ.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And being found – That is, being such, or existing as a man, he humbled himself.

In fashion as a man – The word rendered fashion – schema – means figure, mien, deportment. Here it is the same as state, or condition. The sense is, that when he was reduced to this condition he humbled himself, and obeyed even unto death. He took upon himself all the attributes of a man. He assumed all the innocent infirmities of our nature. He appeared as other people do, was subjected to the necessity of food and clothing, like others, and was made liable to suffering, as other men are. It was still he who had been in the form of God who thus appeared; and, though his divine glory had been for a time laid aside, yet it was not extinguished or lost. It is important to remember, in all our meditations on the Saviour, that it was the same Being who had been invested with so much glory in heaven, that appeared on earth in the form of a man.

He humbled himself – Even then, when he appeared as a man. He had not only laid aside the symbols of his glory Phi 2:7, and become a man; but when he was a man, he humbled himself. Humiliation was a constant characteristic of him as a man. He did not aspire to high honors; he did not affect pomp and parade; he did not demand the service of a train of menials; but he condescended to the lowest conditions of life; Luk 22:27. The words here are very carefully chosen. In the former case Phi 2:7, when he became a man, he emptied himself, or laid aside the symbols of his glory; now, when a man, he humbled himself. That is, though he was God appearing in the form of man – a divine person on earth – yet he did not assume and assert the dignity and prerogatives appropriate to a divine being, but put himself in a condition of obedience. For such a being to obey law, implied voluntary humiliation; and the greatness of his humiliation was shown by his becoming entirely obedient, even until he died on the cross.

And became obedient – He subjected himself to the law of God, and wholly obeyed it; Heb 10:7, Heb 10:9. It was a characteristic of the Redeemer that he yielded perfect obedience to the will of God. Should it be said that, if he was God himself, he must have been himself the lawgiver, we may reply that this rendered his obedience all the more wonderful and all the more meritorious. If a monarch should for an important purpose place himself in a position to obey his own laws, nothing could show in a more striking manner their importance in his view. The highest honor that has been shown to the Law of God on earth was, that it was perfectly observed by him who made the Law – the great Mediator.

Unto death – He obeyed even when obedience terminated in death. The point of this expression is this: One may readily and cheerfully obey another where there is no particular peril. But the case is different where obedience is attended with danger. The child shows a spirit of true obedience when he yields to the commands of a father, though it should expose him to hazard; the servant who obeys his master, when obedience is attended with risk of life; the soldier, when he is morally certain that to obey will be followed by death. Thus, many a company or platoon has been ordered into the deadly breach, or directed to storm a redoubt, or to scale a wall, or to face a cannon, when it was morally certain that death would be the consequence. No profounder spirit of obedience can be evinced than this. It should be said, however, that the obedience of the soldier is in many cases scarcely voluntary, since, if he did not obey, death would be the penalty. But, in the case of the Redeemer, it was wholly voluntary. He placed himself in the condition of a servant to do the will of God, and then never shrank from what that condition involved.

Even the death of the cross – It was not such a death as a servant might incur by crossing a stream, or by failing among robbers, or by being worn out by toil; it was not such as the soldier meets when he is suddenly cut down, covered with glory as he falls; it was the long lingering, painful, humiliating death of the cross. Many a one might be willing to obey if the death that was suffered was regarded as glorious; but when it is ignominious, and of the most degrading character, and the most torturing that human ingenuity can invent, then the whole character of the obedience is changed. Yet this was the obedience the Lord Jesus evinced; and it was in this way that his remarkable readiness to suffer was shown.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. And being found in fashion as a man] . This clause should be joined to the preceding, and thus translated: Being made in the likeness of man, and was found in fashion as a man.

He humbled himself] Laid himself as low as possible:

1. In emptying himself-laying aside the effulgence of his glory.

2. In being incarnate-taking upon him the human form.

3. In becoming a servant-assuming the lowest innocent character, that of being the servant of all.

4. In condescending to die, to which he was not naturally liable, as having never sinned, and therefore had a right in his human nature to immortality, without passing under the empire of death.

5. In condescending, not only to death, but to the lowest and most ignominious kind of death, the death of the cross; the punishment of the meanest of slaves and worst of felons.

What must sin have been in the sight of God, when it required such abasement in Jesus Christ to make an atonement for it, and undo its influence and malignity!

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

To be found is a mere Hebraism, not unusual in the New Testament, not importing auy question of the thing, but only the thing certainly happening beyond expectation. It notes here, not his being apprehended of the soldiers when betrayed by Judas, being before his humble obedience, but his being, and really appearing to be, (as the Greek word is elsewhere used, Phi 3:9; Gen 5:24; 2Co 5:3; Gal 2:17; Heb 11:5, with 1Pe 1:7), as a man, simply considered, among men, which was before his being scourged, &c. consequent upon his apprehension. Now being made man, not reserved for a time, like the angels, for heaven itself and the view of angels; neither, from the privilege of the first man, (which Adam could not keep), did he reserve himself for the inhabiting of Paradise only: but, after the manner of men, he stayed in this earth amongst and conversed with them, and therefore is said to be in the fashion of men, or as a man; whereby his habit and deportment is more especially expressed, as his essence in the foregoing phrase.

Man, here, is considered according to what is proper unto human nature, not having the article prefixed, as if it connoted the first man, Adam, only man as man; the particle as, here, not intimating only likeness, without reality of nature, (as the Marcionites conceited), but as a confirming and assuring particle, noting certainty, Joh 1:14. Some indeed take fashion more strictly, as noting only the external figure of Christs body; others, more largely and commodiously, for the whole outward species of human nature: whence the truth of the human nature shined out, not only in the figure and matter of the body, with true flesh and bones, the habit of his members, mouth, eyes, &c., that he might be seen and touched, 1Jo 1:1, as he himself allegeth, Luk 24:39; Joh 20:20,27, growing in wisdom and stature, Luk 2:52; but his labouring with hunger, thirst, and weariness, eating, drinking, sleeping, watching, speaking, gestures, being moved with pity, sorrow, joy, weeping, in all which his human nature was evidenced of God, and easily found of men who conversed with him, Joh 4:29; 9:11; 18:22. What the Socinians urge, that this gainsays his being incarnate, from Samsons saying, I shall be weak, and be as another man, Jdg 16:7,11; there is no strength in the allegation, that Samson, of Dans tribe, Jdg 13:2, should be compared with Christ coming from heaven, (as they themselves do not deny), found in fashion as a man: because Samson, being stronger than a hundred men, if he were dealt so and so withal would become as other men, (for that is the import of the words), no stronger than any other man, Jdg 16:17; whereas here, it is not said as one, any, or every, but simply as a man: and from those in power dying as other men, Psa 82:7. When they scoffingly ask: Doth it evidence these to be incarnate? It is answered: Though he who was strong as many became weak as any one man; they who live in power die in weakness, as other men do, and are not said to be incarnate: yet he who, being equal with God, took on him the form of a servant, and was in this world a very man, may very well be said to be incarnate, 1Ti 3:16.

He humbled himself; he doth not say he was humbled or depressed by the just judgment of God, but of himself, voluntarily, on his own accord, without any constraint. He did really submit himself to the will of his Father, unto whom he was a servant, both in regard of the Divine nature, which he veiled, and also the human in his whole life, Luk 1:48, both outwardly and inwardly, Phi 2:5, in thoughts and affections, as well as actions and passions: wholly yielding his own will and appetite to God, by a patient subjection to affliction, not in showing humility only, but really undergoing it. For we find this low degree of his humiliation opposed to his superexaltation, in the following verse, and agreeing with what Isaiah prophesied of him, Isa 53:7, expounded by Philip, Act 8:32.

And became obedient unto death; without the copulative in the Greek, and expressing the manner of his humiliation, being of his own free will, and not by any force; made obedient, i.e. to God, (Not my will, but thine be done), to others, parents and magistrates, for God, according to the prescript of his law and will, in his life-time

unto death, and in death; unto being taken here, not exclusively, but inclusively, for the further amplification of the obedience, Mat 26:42; Joh 4:34; 8:29,46; Heb 10:9. Had he staid in his life for degrees of obedience, his condescension had been admirable, but that he should submit to a penal and painful death, (taking in his burial, and abiding in a separate state till the third day), this is stupendous: aggravated by the shame of dying on the cross, willingly and meekly yielding himself, though a Son, to that ignominious, cursed death, Deu 21:23; Act 5:30; Gal 3:10,13; Heb 12:2; far more reproachful than beheading, hanging, or burning; out of unspeakable love, to bring us nigh unto God, Rom 5:19; Col 2:14; 1Pe 2:24; 3:18. Upon these considerations, how should Christians in mutual love condescend to each other!

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. being found in fashion as amanbeing already, by His “emptying Himself,“in the form of a servant, or likeness of man (Ro8:3), “He humbled Himself (still further by) becomingobedient even unto death (not as English Version, ‘Hehumbled Himself and became,‘c. the Greek has no ‘and,’and has the participle, not the verb), and that the death ofthe cross.” “Fashion” expresses that He had theoutward guise, speech, and look. In Php2:7, in the Greek, the emphasis is on Himself (whichstands before the Greek verb), “He emptied Himself,“His divine self, viewed in respect to what He had heretoforebeen; in Php 2:8 the emphasis ison “humbled” (which stands before the Greek“Himself”); He not only “emptied Himself” of Hisprevious “form of God,” but submitted to positiveHUMILIATION. He “becameobedient,” namely, to God, as His “servant” (Rom 5:19;Heb 5:8). Therefore “God“is said to “exalt” Him (Php2:9), even as it was God to whom He became voluntarily”obedient.” “Even unto death” expresses theclimax of His obedience (Joh10:18).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And being found in fashion as a man,…. Not that he had only the show and appearance of a man, but he was really a man; for “as” here, denotes not merely the likeness of a thing, but the thing itself, as in Mt 14:5, here, answers to the Hebrew

, which is sometimes by the Jews k said to be , and signifies likeness, and sometimes , and designs truth and reality; which is the sense in which the particle is to be taken here: though he was seen and looked upon as a mere man, and therefore charged with blasphemy when he asserted himself to be the Son of God, he was more than a man; and yet found and known by men in common to be no more than a man, than just such a man as other men are; and so far is true, that his scheme, his habit, his fashion, his form, were like that of other men; though he was not begotten as man, but conceived in an extraordinary manner by the power of the Holy Ghost, yet he lay nine months in his mother’s womb, as the human foetus ordinarily does; he was born as children are, was wrapped in swaddling bands when born, as an infant is; grew in stature by degrees, as men do; the shape and size of his body were like other men’s, and he was subject to the same infirmities, as hunger, thirst, weariness, pain, grief, sorrow, and death itself, as follows:

he humbled himself: by becoming man, and by various outward actions in his life; as subjection to his parents, working at the trade of a carpenter, conversing with the meanest of men, washing his disciples’ feet, c. and the whole of his deportment both to God and man, his compliance with his Father’s will, though disagreeable to flesh and blood, his behaviour towards his enemies, and his forbearance of his disciples, showed him to be of a meek and humble spirit he humbled himself both to God and man:

and became obedient unto death, or “until death”; for he was obedient from the cradle to the cross, to God, to men, to his earthly parents, and to magistrates; he was obedient to the ceremonial law, to circumcision, the passover, c. to the moral law, to all the precepts of it, which he punctually fulfilled and to the penalty of it, death, which he voluntarily and cheerfully bore, in the room and stead of his people:

even the death of the cross; which was both painful and shameful; it was an accursed one, and showed that he bore the curse of the law, and was made a curse for us: this was a punishment usually inflicted on servants, and is called a servile punishment l; and such was the form which he took, when he was found in fashion as a man: this is now the great instance of humility the apostle gives, as a pattern of it to the saints, and it is a matchless and unparalleled one.

k Vid. Kimchi in Josh. iii. 4. l Lipsins de Cruce, l. 1. c. 12.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In fashion (). Locative case of , from , to have, to hold. Bengel explains by forma, by similitudo, by habitus. Here with the contrast “is between what He is in Himself, and what He appeared in the eyes of men” (Lightfoot).

He humbled himself ( ). First aorist active of , old verb from . It is a voluntary humiliation on the part of Christ and for this reason Paul is pressing the example of Christ upon the Philippians, this supreme example of renunciation. See Bruce’s masterpiece, The Humiliation of Christ.

Obedient (). Old adjective, giving ear to. See Acts 7:39; 2Cor 2:9.

Unto death ( ). “Until death.” See “until blood” ( , Heb 12:4).

Yea, the death of the cross ( ). The bottom rung in the ladder from the Throne of God. Jesus came all the way down to the most despised death of all, a condemned criminal on the accursed cross.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Being found in fashion as a man [ ] . Some expositors connect these words with the preceding clause, thus : being made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man; a new sentence beginning with He humbled Himself. The general sense is not altered by this change, and there is great force in Meyer’s remark that the preceding thought, in the likeness of men, is thus “emphatically exhausted.” On the other hand, it breaks the connection with the following sentence, which thus enters very abruptly. Notice being found. After He had assumed the conditions of humanity, and men’s attention was drawn to Him, they found Him like a man. Compare Isa 53:2. “If we looked at Him, there was no sightliness that we should delight in Him.”

Fashion [] . That which is purely outward and appeals to the senses. The form of a servant is concerned with the fact that the manifestation as a servant corresponded with the real fact that Christ came as the servant of mankind. In the phrase in the likeness of men the thought is still linked with that of His essential nature which rendered possible a likeness to men, but not an absolute identity with men. In being found in fashion as a man the thought is confined to the outward guise as it appealed to the sense of mankind. Likeness states the fact of real resemblance to men in mode of existence : fashion defines the outward mode and form. As a man. Not being found a man not what He was recognized to be, but as a man, keeping up the idea of semblance expressed in likeness.

He humbled Himself [ ] . Not the same as emptied Himself, ver. 7. It defines that word, showing how the self – emptying manifests itself.

Became obedient unto death [ – ] . Became, compare Rev 1:18. Unto. The Rev. very judiciously inserts even; for the A. V. is open to the interpretation that Christ rendered obedience to death. Unto is up to the point of. Christ ‘s obedience to God was rendered to the extent of laying down His life.

Of the cross. Forming a climax of humiliation. He submitted not only to death, but to the death of a malefactor. The Mosaic law had uttered a curse against it, Deu 21:23, and the Gentiles reserved it for malefactors and slaves. Hence the shame associated with the cross, Heb 12:2. This was the offense or stumbling – block of the cross, which was so often urged by the Jews against the Christians. See on Gal 3:13. To a Greek, accustomed to clothe his divinities with every outward attribute of grace and beauty, the summons to worship a crucified malefactor appealed as foolishness, 1Co 1:23.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And being found in fashion as a man” (kai schemati heuretheis hos anthropos) ” And in schematic or fashion of men being found.” In physical flesh, form-fashion, subject to human debilities and limitations, He became, Joh 1:14; Gal 4:4-5; 1Ti 3:16. He hungered, -thirsted, was wearied, grieved, and suffered, being tempted (tested) in all points (parts) of the flesh as we are, yet without sin, Heb 4:15.

2) “He humbled himself” (etapeinosen heauton) “Himself he humbled.” He voluntarily resigned or committed Himself to do the Father’s will in life and in death, while in the fashion, pattern or mold of man, to effect redemption of the lost human race, the universe, and the purchase of the church with His own blood, Psa 40:7-8; Mat 26:39; Joh 4:34; Joh 6:33; Heb 10:7.

3) “Becoming obedient unto death” (genomenos hupekoos mechri thanatou) “Becoming or being obedient until soul-death.” When God made His soul a sacrifice for sin, saw it, and was satisfied, when our Lord triumphantly cried, “it is Finished,” Isa 53:10-12; Joh 17:4; Joh 17:6; Joh 17:8; Joh 17:14; Joh 19:30.

4) “Even the death of the cross” (thanatou de staurou) “Even (the) soul-death of (the) cross; ” or soul-death experienced from the cross, Eph 2:15-16; Col 1:20-22. Note salvation, peace, and reconciliation to and with God were effected through the “body of the flesh,” the cross-body of Christ in His soul death, not through the “church- body,” See also 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18.

Note that in Php_2:5-8 Jesus Christ is revealed in four ways: as God-man-slave-criminal.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8 He became obedient. Even this was great humility — that from being Lord he became a servant; but he says that he went farther than this, because, while he was not only immortal, but the Lord of life and death, he nevertheless became obedient to his Father, even so far as to endure death. This was extreme abasement, especially when we take into view the kind of death, which he immediately adds, with the view of enhancing it. (110) For by dying in this manner he was not only covered with ignominy in the sight of God, but was also accursed in the sight of God. It is assuredly such a pattern of humility as ought to absorb the attention of all mankind; so far is it from being possible to unfold it in words in a manner suitable to its dignity.

(110) “ Pour amplifier et exaggerer la chose;” — “For the sake of amplifying and enhancing the thing.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(8) And being found . . .This should be, And after having been found (or, recognised) in fashion as a man, He [then] humbled Himself, having become obedient even to death. After having been found, &c., clearly refers to the manifestation of Himself to the world in all the weakness of humanity: the outward fashion was all that men could see; and in it they found no form or comeliness, or beauty, that they should desire Him (Isa. 53:2-3). From this St. Paul proceeds to the last act of His self-humiliation in death: He became obedient, that is, to Gods will, even up to death. His death is not here regarded as an atonement, for in that light it could be no pattern to us; but as the completion of the obedience of His life. (See Rom. 5:19.) Of that life as a whole He said, I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me (Joh. 6:38); and the doing that will (see Heb. 10:9-10) ended in the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. In this light His death is the perfection of the suffering which, in consequence of the power of sin in the world, must be faced in doing the will of God (see 2Ti. 3:12); in this light we can follow it, and even fill up what is lacking of the sufferings of Christ (Col. 1:24).

Even the death of the cross.Properly, and that too, the death of the cross; emphasising its peculiar shame and humiliation as an accursed death. (See Gal. 3:13.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even to death, yes, the death of the cross.’

In the same way as Jesus had done they were to choose the way of humility, deliberately electing in their minds to be ‘crucified with Christ’ (Gal 2:20), to as it were die with Him on the cross, reckoning themselves as dead to sin. This was to be the end of all selfish ambition, of any sense of superiority, of any desire to be exalted over others. They were to die to themselves and their own ways and ideas and ambitions in order that they might become true servants of God and live only unto God, in togetherness following only His ways and desires and ambitions, something which would of course deeply affect their relationship with one another.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Php 2:8. And being found in fashion, &c. “And when he was found in the common form and condition of man, as though he had been nothing more, he submitted himself to the lowest degree of service and sufferings; and went into a course of the most humble obedience, as to his parents and magistrates, in all lawful things, so to his heavenly Father, as his servant, to answer all the demands of his holy law; and this obedience he paid even unto death, and all along, till he came to die, yea, and in his dying (Joh 10:18.), not an ordinary death, but the ignominious, painful,and accursed death of the cross, to shew that he stood in the place of transgressors, who were under the curse of the law, and that he came to redeem them from it, by bearing it for them (Gal 3:13.).” It requires some attention to the Apostle’s argument to distinguish rightly between the form, the likeness, and the fashion, which are all in this place applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Php 2:6-7 the Apostle says, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,” or, as some render it, “was not fond,” or “tenacious of appearing as God,” but emptied himself. Now, his nature he could not lay aside; he continued to be the eternal Son of God, though he appeared not like the Son of God; and therefore, the Apostle adds, being man, he was found in fashion as a man; appearing, in respect to his personal manifestation, in no greater majesty or glory than what belonged to him as a man. There are no different orders of beings to whom the form of God belongs; and therefore the Apostle having told us that Christ was in the form of God, there wanted no addition to inform us what kind or manner of being he was: for the form of God belongs to God only. The fashion of a man denotes those distinguishing characters which belong to a man as such, the true and real appearances of a man. Let us proceed then to consider what led St. Paul to this expression, and why he might not as well say, “Being man, he humbled himself,” as “being found in fashion as a man, he humbled,” &c. For this we must look back to the first rise of the Apostle’s argument. The Person here spoken of, the Lord Jesus Christ, was in the form of God, but emptied himselfEmptied himself of what? Not of his being or nature; but of the glories and majesties belonging to him. Whatever he was as to nature and essence when he was in the form of God, that he continued to be still when he became man. But the fashion, or glories of the form of God, he laid down; and though he continued to be the same, yet as to the fashion, or outward dignity and appearance, he was, in his personal manifestation to the world, a mere man; being found, as the Apostle says, in fashion as a man. Had the Apostle conceived Christ, while here on earth, to have been a mere man only, in what tolerable sense could he say of him, being found in fashion as a man? For in what fashion should a man be found? What need was there of this limitation, unless in reality he was something more than a man? But if you consider the man Jesus Christ to be the same person who was in the form of God, and who had, accordingly, a right to appear in the majesty and glory of God; it is proper to ask, How did he appear on earth? And the Apostle’s words are a proper answer to the question; He was found in fashion as a man. The Apostle perhaps had another view in the choice of this expression, with respect to what follows; And became obedient unto death: for it might well seem strange, that any should attempt the life of him, who was himself the Lord of life. He became obedient unto death; but how came he to be called to this obedience? Who was the bold man that laid hands upon this God upon earth, and was vain enough to think of compassing his death? To which the Apostle gives this previous answer: he was found in fashion as a man, as such his life was attempted, and he became obedient unto death. If you allow the Apostle to have had this in view, you must needs suppose that he thoughtChrist more than mortalman, when he is at some pains to assign a reason that could tempt any one to think him liable to death. Let us farther consider, that the Apostle says, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, the death of the cross. Death is common to all mankind; and, if to die be humility, in this respect all are equally humble. How comes Jesus Christ then to be distinguished by this instance of humility? How comes that to be humility in him, which in every body else is necessity? If you speak of mere man, you may as properly say, that he is humble in having two legs or arms, as in submitting unto death, since both are equally the cause and work of nature: and yet you plainly see that the Apostle reckons it great humility in Christ, that he submitted unto death. What manner of person then was Christ Jesus, over whom death had no power, but through his own consent and submission? Mortal he was, or else he could not have died; more than mortal he was, or else he could not have avoided death; in which case, to die had been no humility. You must allow that the Apostle supposes him to be more than mere man. Had he, when he became man, ceased to be what he was before, death had been but the natural and necessary consequence of the change: but though he was a man, yet, being Lord of all things, it was always in his power to take up his life, and lay it down; for, as St. Paul says of those who put Christ to death, they killed the Lord of life, or Prince of life: being then, even whilst on earth, and clothed with human flesh and blood, the very Lord of life, and upholding all things by his power, he was superior to the necessity of human nature, and subject to death only, because he chose to die. To die therefore was humility; to die upon the cross still greater, submitting to those wretches, who, while they were destroying, lived only by his power, who was the Prince of life. It was humility therefore to become man: after he was man, it was humility to die; since the powers of life were in his own hand, and he could both lay down his life, and take it up.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Phi 2:8 . ] is placed with great emphasis at the head of a new sentence (see on Phi 2:7 ), and without any connecting particle: He has humbled Himself. is not prefixed as in Phi 2:7 ; for in Phi 2:7 the stress, according to the object in view, was laid on the reflexive reference of the action, but here on the reflexive action itself . The relation to is climactic, not, however, as if Paul did not regard the self- renunciation (Phi 2:7 ) as being also self- humiliation , but in so far as the former manifested in the most extreme way the character of in the shameful death of Jesus. It is a climactic parallelism (comp. on Phi 4:9 ) in which the two predicates, although the former in the nature of the case already includes the latter (in opposition to Hofmann), are kept apart as respects the essential points of their appearance in historical development. Bengel well remarks: “Status exinanitionis gradatim profundior.” Hoelemann, mistaking this, says: “He humbled Himself even below His dignity as man. ”

. ] The aorist participle is quite, like the participles in Phi 2:7 , simultaneous with the governing verb: so that He became obedient . This is, however, not to be defined by “ capientibus se, damnantibus et interficientibus ” (Grotius); nor is it to be referred to the law , Gal 4:4 (Olshausen), but to God (Rom 5:19 ; Heb 5:8 f.), whose will and counsel (comp. e.g . Mat 26:42 ) formed the ground determining the obedience. Comp. Phi 2:9 : . . . The expression itself glances back to . ; “obedientia servum decet,” Bengel.

] belongs to . ., not to . . (Bengel, Hoelemann) which latter connection is arbitrarily assumed, dismembers the discourse, and would leave a too vague and feeble definition for . . in the mere . . By death is pointed out as the culminating point , as the highest degree, up to which He obeyed, not merely as the temporal goal (van Hengel). Comp. 2Ti 2:9 ; Heb 12:4 ; Act 22:4 ; Mat 26:38 . This extreme height reached by His obedience was, however, just the extreme depth of the humiliation, and thereby at the same time its end; comp. Act 8:33 ; Isa 53:8 . Hofmann groundlessly takes . in the sense of showing obedience (comp. on Gal 4:12 ). The obedience of Christ was an ethical becoming (Heb 5:8 ).

.] (comp. Gal 3:13 ; Heb 12:2 ), , Theophylact. The , with the repetition of the same word (comp. Rom 3:22 ; Rom 9:30 ), presents, just like the German aber , the more precisely defined idea in contradistinction to the idea which is previously left without this special definition: unto death, but what kind of death? unto the most shameful and most painful, unto the death of the cross; see Klotz, ad Devar . p. 361, and Baeumlein, Partik . p. 97; and the examples in Hartung, Partikell . I. p. 168 f.; Ellendt, Lex. Soph . I. p. 388.

REMARK 1.

According to our explanation, Phi 2:6-8 may be thus paraphrased: Jesus Christ, when He found Himself in the heavenly mode of existence of divine glory, did not permit Himself the thought of using His equality with God for the purpose of seizing possessions and honour for Himself on earth: No, He emptied Himself of the divine glory, inasmuch as, notwithstanding His God-equal nature, He took upon Him the mode of existence of a slave of God, so that He entered into the likeness of men, and in His outward bearing and appearance manifested Himself not otherwise than as a man. He humbled Himself, so that He became obedient unto God , etc. According to the explanation of our dogmatic writers, who refer Phi 2:6-8 to the earthly life of Christ, the sense comes to this: “ Christum jam inde a primo conceptionis momento divinam gloriam et majestatem sibi secundum humanam naturam communicatam plena usurpatione exserere et tanquam Deum se gerere potuisse, sed abdicasse se plenario ejus usu et humilem se exhibuisse, patrique suo coelesti obedientem factum esse usque ad mortem crucis ” (Quenstedt). The most thorough exposition of the passage and demonstration in this sense, though mixed with much polemical matter against the Reformed and the Socinians, are given by Calovius. The point of the orthodox view, in the interest of the full Deity of the God-man, lies in the fact that Paul is discoursing, not de humiliatione INCARNATIONIS, but de humiliatione INCARNATI. Among the Reformed theologians, Calvin and Piscator substantially agreed with our [Lutheran] orthodox expositors.

REMARK 2.

On a difference in the dogmatic understanding of Phi 2:6-8 , when men sought to explain more precisely the doctrine of the Church ( Form. Conc . 8), was based the well-known controversy carried on since 1616 between the theologians of Tbingen and those of Giessen . The latter (Feuerborn and Menzer) assigned to Jesus Christ in His state of humiliation the of the divine attributes, but denied to Him their , thus making the a renunciation of the . The Tbingen school, on the other hand (Thummius, Luc. Osiander, and Nicolai), not separating the and , arrived at the conclusion of a hidden and imperceptible use of the divine attributes, and consequently made the a . See the account of all the points of controversy in Dorner, II. 2, p. 661 ff., and especially Thomasius, Christi Pers. u. Werk , II. p. 429 ff. The Saxon Decisio , 1624, taking part with the Giessen divines, rejected the , without thoroughly refuting it, and even without avoiding unnecessary concessions to it according to the Formula Concordiae (pp. 608, 767), so that the disputed questions remained open and the controversy itself only came to a close through final weariness. Among the dogmatic writers of the present day, Philippi is decidedly on the side of the Giessen school. See his Glaubensl . IV. 1, p. 279 ff. Exo 2 . It is certain that, according to our passage, the idea of the is clearly and decidedly to be maintained, and the reducing of it to a rejected. But, since Paul expressly refers the to the , and consequently to the divine mode of appearance, while he makes the to subsist with the assumption of the , just as subsequently the Incarnate One appears only as . and as .; and since, further, in the case of the of the divine attributes thus laid down, the non-use of them because as divine they necessarily cannot remain dormant (Joh 5:17 ; Joh 9:4 ) is in itself inconceivable and incompatible with the Gospel history; the and the must therefore be inseparably kept together. But, setting aside the conception of the as foreign to the N. T., this possession and use of the divine attributes are to be conceived as having, by the renunciation of the in virtue of the incarnation, entered upon a human development, consequently as conditioned, not as absolute, but as theanthropic. At the same time, the self-consciousness of Jesus Christ necessarily remained the self-consciousness of the Son of God developing Himself humanly, or (according to the Johannine phrase) of the Logos that had become flesh, who was the ; see the numerous testimonies in John’s Gospel, as Joh 3:13 , Joh 8:58 , Joh 17:5 , Joh 5:26 . “Considered from a purely exegetical point of view, there is no clearer and more certain result of the interpretation of Scripture than the proposition, that the Ego of Jesus on earth was identical with the Ego which was previously in glory with the Father; any division of the Son speaking on earth into two Egos , one of whom was the eternally glorious Logos, the other the humanly humble Jesus, is rejected by clear testimonies of Scripture, however intimate we may seek to conceive the marriage of the two during the earthly life of Jesus;” Liebner in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol . 1858, p. 362. That which the divine Logos laid aside in the incarnation was, according to our passage, the , that is, the divine as a form of existence, and not the essentially and necessarily constituting His nature, which He retained, [115] and to which belonged, just as essentially and necessarily, the divine and consequently in Him who had become man the divine-human self-consciousness. [116] But as this cannot find its adequate explanation either in the absolute consciousness of God , or in the archetypal character which Schleiermacher assigned to Christ, or in the idea of the religious genius (Al. Schweizer), or in that of the second Adam created free from original sin, whose personal development proceeds as a gradual incarnation of God and deification of man (Rothe), so we must by no means say, with Gess, v. d. Pers. Chr . p. 304 f., that in becoming incarnate the Logos had laid aside His self-consciousness, in order to get it back again only in the gradual course of development of a human soul, and that merely in the form of a human self-consciousness. See, in opposition to this, Thomasius, Christi Pers. u. Werk , II. p. 198 f.; Schoeberlein in the Jahrb. f. D. Th . 1871, p. 471 ff., comp. the latter’s Geheimnisse des Glaubens , 1872, 3. The various views which have been adopted on the part of the more recent Lutheran Christologists, [117] diverging from the doctrine of the Formula Concordiae in setting forth Christ’s humiliation (Dorner: a gradual ethical blending into one another of the divine and human life in immanent development; Thomasius: self-limitation, i.e . partial self-renunciation of the divine Logos; Liebner: the entrance of the Logos into a process of becoming , that is, into a divine-human development), do not fall to be examined here in detail; they belong to the province of Dogmatics. See the discussions on the subject by Dorner, in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol . 1856, 2, 1857, 2, 1858, 3; Broemel, in the Kirchl. Zeitschr . of Kliefoth and Mejer, 1857, p. 144 ff.; Liebner, in the Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theol . 1858, p. 349 ff.; Hasse, ibid . p. 336 ff.; Schoeberlein, l.c . p. 459 ff.; Thomasius, Chr. Pers. u. Werk , II. pp. 192 ff., 542 ff.; Philippi, Dogmat . IV. 1, p. 364 ff.

According to Schoeberlein, the Son of God, when He became man, did not give up His operation in governing the world in conjunction with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but continued to exercise it with divine consciousness in heaven . Thus the dilemma cannot be avoided, either of supposing a dual personality of Christ , or of assuming, with Schoeberlein, that heaven is not local . Not only the former, however, but the latter view also, would be opposed to the entire N. T.

[115] Comp. Dsterdieck, Apolog. Abh . III. p. 67 ff.

[116] Paul agrees in substance with the Logos doctrine of John, but has not adopted the form of Alexandrine speculation. That the latter was known to him in its application to the Christology, may at least be regarded as probable from his frequent and long intercourse with Asia, and also from his relation to Apollos. His conception, however, is just as little Apollinarian as that of John; comp. on Rom 1:3 f.; Col 1:15 .

[117] Schenkel’s ideal transference of Christ’s pre-existence simply into the self-consciousness of God, which in the person of Christ found a perfect self-manifestation like to humanity, boldly renounces all the results of historical exegesis during a whole generation, and goes back to the standpoint of Lffler and others, and also further, to that of the Socinians. Comp. on Joh 17:5 . Yet even Beyschlag’s Christology leads no further than to an ideal pre-existence of Christ as archetype of humanity, and that not as a person, but merely as the principle of a person; while Keerl ( d. Gottmensch. das Ebenbild Gottes , 1866), in unperceived direct opposition to our passage and to the entire N. T., puts the Son of God already as Son of man in absolute (not earthly) corporeality as pre-existent into the glory of heaven. From 1Co 15:47 the conception of the pre-existence of Christ as a heavenly, pneumatic man and archetype of humanity (Holsten, Biedermann, and others) can only be obtained through misapprehension of the meaning. See on 1 Cor. l.c ., and Grimm, p. 51 ff.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Ver. 8. He humbled himself ] The Sun of righteousness went 10 degrees back in the dial of his Father, that he might come to us with health in his wings, that is, in his beams.

Became obedient unto death ] That is, to his dying day, saith Beza. He went through many a little death all his life long, and at length underwent that cursed and painful death of the cross, his soul also being heavy to the death, Mat 26:38 , he suffered the insufferable wrath of God for a season. Ne perderet obedientiam, perdidit vitam, he lost his life lest he lose his submission to authority, saith Bernard.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] My interpretation has hitherto come very near to that of Meyer. But here I am compelled to differ from him. He would join . . . to the foregoing, put a period at . , and begin the next sentence by without a copula. The main objection to this with me, is, the word . It seems to denote the taking up afresh of the subject, and introducing a new portion of the history. Hitherto of the act of laying aside the form of God, specified to have consisted in , and . . But now we take Him up again, this having past; we find Him in his human appearance and what then? we have further acts of self-humiliation to relate. So Van Hengel: “duo enim, ut puto, diversa hic tradit Paulus, et quamnam vivendi rationem Christus inierit, et quomodo hanc vivendi rationem ad mortem usque persecutus sit.” And when He was (having been) found in having (guise, outward semblance; e.g. of look, and dress, and speech. is a more specific repetition of . above: and is here emphatic : ‘being found in habit , &c. He did not stop with this outward semblance, but ’) as a man (for He was not a man , but God (in Person), with the humanity taken on Him: , , Thdrt.) He humbled himself (in His humanity: a further act of self-denial. This time, does not precede, because, as Meyer well says, in Php 2:7 the pragmatic weight rested on the reflexive reference of the act, but here on the reflexive act itself) by becoming (see on the aorist participle above. It specifies, wherein the consisted ) obedient (to God; as before in the : not ‘ capientibus se, damnantibus et interficientibus ,’ as Grot. See Rom 5:19 , Heb 5:8 f., and Phi 2:9 , , referring to the here understood) even unto (as far as) death (the climax of His obedience, must not be taken with , as Beng., al., which breaks the sentence awkwardly), and that the death of the cross (on this sense of , see ref., and note there: , , , Thl.).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Phi 2:8 . seems to introduce a break. The Apostle goes on to describe the depth of the self-renunciation. No doubt there is here especially before Paul’s mind the contrast between what Christ “ is in Himself and what He appeared in the eyes of men” (Lft [1] ). . = Lat. habitus , the external bearing or fashion, “the transitory quality of our materiality” (Gore). . Each word in the description emphasises the outward semblance. “Being found, discovered to be.” The verdict of his fellow-creatures upon Him. They classed Him as an . His outward guise was altogether human. . Even as man He endured great humiliation, for He suffered the shameful death of the Cross. For surely . is more than a vivid, lively way of expressing . (as Weiffenb., op. cit. , p. 42). The rest of the verse depicts His humiliation. That consists in His obedience and the terrible issue to which it led. As obedient, He gave Himself wholly up to His Father’s will. And the course of following that will led as far as ( ) death itself, no ordinary death ( bringing into prominence the special nature of it, cf. Rom 3:22 ; Rom 9:30 ), but a death of shame and suffering. Cf. Cic., pro Rabir. , v., 10 (quoted by Moule): Mors si proponitur, in libertate moriamur nomen ipsum crucis absit non modo a corpore civium Romanorum sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus . This would come home with force to the minds of the Philippians who enjoyed the jus Italicum .

[1] Lightfoot.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

fashion. Greek. schema. Only here and 1Co 7:31. The noun morphe; Occurs thrice and is used only of the Lord; here (verses: Php 2:6, Php 2:7), and Mar 16:12, schema Occurs only here and 1Co 7:31, as above. For their compounds see the Notes.

humbled. Greek. tapeinoo. See 2Co 11:7.

and became. Literally becoming.

obedient. Greek. huperkoos. See Act 7:39.

unto = as far as,

cross. That death, the shame of which made it such a stumbling-block to the Jews. Compare Heb 12:2. The seven successive steps of the Lord’s humiliation illustrate the Figure of speech Catabasis. App-6. The seven steps upward in His glorification are given in verses: Php 2:9-11.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] My interpretation has hitherto come very near to that of Meyer. But here I am compelled to differ from him. He would join . . . to the foregoing, put a period at ., and begin the next sentence by without a copula. The main objection to this with me, is, the word . It seems to denote the taking up afresh of the subject, and introducing a new portion of the history. Hitherto of the act of laying aside the form of God, specified to have consisted in , and . . But now we take Him up again, this having past; we find Him in his human appearance-and what then? we have further acts of self-humiliation to relate. So Van Hengel: duo enim, ut puto, diversa hic tradit Paulus, et quamnam vivendi rationem Christus inierit, et quomodo hanc vivendi rationem ad mortem usque persecutus sit. And when He was (having been) found in having (guise, outward semblance; e.g. of look, and dress, and speech. is a more specific repetition of . above: and is here emphatic: being found in habit, &c. He did not stop with this outward semblance, but ) as a man (for He was not a man, but God (in Person), with the humanity taken on Him: – , , Thdrt.) He humbled himself (in His humanity: a further act of self-denial. This time, does not precede, because, as Meyer well says,-in Php 2:7 the pragmatic weight rested on the reflexive reference of the act, but here on the reflexive act itself) by becoming (see on the aorist participle above. It specifies, wherein the consisted) obedient (to God; as before in the : not capientibus se, damnantibus et interficientibus, as Grot. See Rom 5:19, Heb 5:8 f., and Php 2:9,- ,-referring to the here understood) even unto (as far as) death (the climax of His obedience, must not be taken with , as Beng., al., which breaks the sentence awkwardly), and that the death of the cross (on this sense of , see ref., and note there:-, , , Thl.).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Php 2:8. , and in fashion) a distinct and lower degree of emptying. The antitheses are, the form of God, and the form of a servant. Yet such a division of the parts of the sentence remains as joins the two words, emptied, humbled, by and, without an asyndeton.[20] , but, Php 2:7, divides into its two distinct parts the whole antithesis, which, after the , who, in the former part, has two clauses; more clauses in the second.- , being found in fashion as a man) , fashion, dress, clothing, food, gesture, words and actions.-, being found) showing Himself such, and bearing Himself so in reality.- ) as a man, a common man, as if He were nothing else besides, and as if He did not excel other men; He assumed to Himself nothing extraordinary.- , He humbled Himself [Engl. Vers. made Himself of no reputation]) The state of emptying gradually becomes deeper.- ) became obedient, Heb 5:8, viz. to God. This ellipsis expresses , the dutiful condescension of Jesus Christ; obedience becomes a slave.-, even to [as far as to]) construed with humbled, also with obedient. There is the greatest humiliation in death; ch. Php 3:21; Act 8:33; Psa 90:3, LXX.; and the greatest obedience, Joh 10:18.-, of the cross) which was the usual punishment of slaves [servants, whose form He took upon Him].

[20] So Lachm. rightly punctuates with comma after , and – , without asyndeton. But Tisch. joins and by , putting the comma after , so that here is an asyndeton between and .-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Php 2:8

Php 2:8

and being found in fashion as a man,-He still further humbled himself and became subject to death, even the most shameful of all deaths, the death of the cross. [Fashion here refers to the outward appearance of Christ, the appeal that he made to the senses, to human observation-his outward appearance was altogether human.]

he humbled himself,-[This expresses plainly and simply the fact of the humiliation of Christ. In outward fashion he became as one of us, though he ceased not to be on an equality with God. His whole humiliation from the incarnation to the cross was his own voluntary act: I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. (Joh 10:17-18). That stupendous act of selfsacrifice wholly transcends the reach of human thought. The difference between the greatest king and the meanest slave is absolutely nothing compared with the abyss that separates humanity from deity. That abyss beyond measure is the measure of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. He despised not the carpenters shop of Nazareth; he shed a new dignity on labor by his own example; he gave a new glory to humility which had no glory hitherto; he was content to obey. His obedience extended through every detail of his most holy life.]

becoming obedient even unto death,-He still further humbled himself and became subject to death, even the most shameful death of all deaths, the death of the cross. He tasted the depth of human weakness, shame, ignominy, and woe, that he might be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (Heb 4:15). He can bear gently with the ignorant and erring, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. (Heb 5:2). Jesus partook of our nature, clothed himself with flesh and blood, became subject to death, that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Heb 2:14-15). All the humiliation and suffering were endured to rescue man from the consequences of sin, death, and destruction from the presence of God forever.

yea, the death of the cross.-Jesus humbled himself to the end and met death as a condemned criminal with all the shame of the cross. He went down to the bottom of darkness, the very depth of humiliation and shame. The body of one that hung on a tree was accursed according to the Mosaic law (Deu 21:23), and Paul knew this well (Gal 3:13). The Jews stumbled at the cross of Christ, the Greeks thought it foolishness, but Paul came to see in it the wisdom of God. (1Co 1:23-25). Jesus saw the shame of the cross and felt it keenly, but he endured it for the sake of the joy that was set before him when he reached the goal and finished his atoning death. (Heb 12:2). Therefore Jesus despised the shame. The cross has come to be his crown of glory.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

in: Mat 17:2, Mar 9:2, Mar 9:3, Luk 9:29

he: Pro 15:33, Act 8:33, Heb 5:5-7, Heb 12:2

and became: Psa 40:6-8, Isa 50:5, Isa 50:6, Mat 26:39, Mat 26:42, Joh 4:34, Joh 15:10, Heb 5:8, Heb 5:9, Heb 10:7-9

the death: Deu 21:23, Psa 22:16, Joh 10:18, Joh 12:28-32, Joh 14:31, Gal 3:13, Tit 2:14, Heb 12:2, 1Pe 2:24, 1Pe 3:18

Reciprocal: Gen 7:5 – all that Gen 22:9 – bound Deu 21:3 – an Jdg 16:30 – So the dead 1Sa 18:4 – stripped himself 2Sa 6:20 – glorious 1Ch 17:17 – hast regarded Psa 8:5 – thou Psa 109:21 – But do Psa 113:8 – General Isa 52:13 – my servant Isa 53:12 – will I Dan 10:16 – like Mat 3:15 – for Mat 11:29 – for Mar 9:12 – set Mar 14:36 – nevertheless Luk 2:21 – eight Luk 22:27 – General Joh 6:38 – not Joh 19:30 – and he Rom 15:3 – Christ 1Co 3:23 – and Christ 2Co 13:4 – he was Heb 2:14 – he also Heb 2:17 – it Heb 4:15 – we have Rev 1:13 – like

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE HUMILIATION OF CHRIST

He humbled Himself.

Php 2:8

Let me draw your attention to one or two points in the humiliation of Christ.

I. It was all done, in the full sense, all along, that He was Gods child.With the exception of a moment or two, He never lost the fullest conviction that His Father loved Him. It was part of Christs humiliation (it was only one interruptionif it were an interruptionand that but for a moment) to doubt that He was Gods own dear Son! And you will never be really humble until you feel, and are quite sure, that God loves you. It is no humility to doubt that. That abases God, not you.

II. Christ humbled Himself to God before He humbled Himself to man: the beginning of humiliation was the consent in heaven to the Fathers will. It may be, at this moment, there is some providence which you find it very difficult to accept and to bear humbly. Do not try first to humble yourself to it, but go and humble yourself to the God of the providence.

III. Christs humility never paraded itself.It never talked of itself. Once or twice He said to this effect: I am among you as he that serveth. But that was all. Never show you are humbling yourself. Let others discover it; but do you never exhibit it. It loses all its grace and beauty if it is once seen to be stooping. Not only the act, but the humility which hides the act. It must hide itself from going to be proclaimed.

IV. The great humiliation of Christ was sin.He was perfectly and unutterably sinless. He was the immaculate Lamb of God. He could not sin. But He bore sin. He represented sin. He was treated as sin. He was the substitute for sin. He was made sin for us. The most humbling thing in all the world is sin, when it is felt to be sin. Pray that your sins may all turn into abasements.

V. The humility of Jesus was always clothing itself in acts of kindness.It is not humility without that.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

(Php 2:8.) -And having been found in fashion as a man. Winer, 31, 6. The noun , from -, denotes the way in which one holds himself. It sometimes signifies dress-so important in one’s tout-ensemble-but here it comprehends more, namely, that complex variety of things which, taken together, make up a man’s aspect and bearing. The Syriac translator had no equivalent term, and therefore he has introduced the Greek word into his version. It carries neither the notion of dignity nor of its opposite. Nor is it in any case redundant, as some have conjectured. Examples of its use are given by Raphelius and Elsner. Passow, sub voce. But it is not synonymous with the previous and . Perhaps, as to use, the distinction is, that the first is the more comprehensive; the second is modal; while the third still further illustrates and confirms. The form of a servant does not of itself imply humanity, while the likeness of men is only fully evinced by the outer manifestations of this . If He have the , you infer the , and both explain the . Or is in direct contrast with ; has in it an oblique reference to , while the clause depicts the Saviour as He was seen to be, when the form of a servant and the likeness of men could be predicated of Him with equal truth. There is no need whatever to take the particle as representing the Hebrew Caph veritatis, though some of the older commentators do so. It is simply the adverb of manner. The participle is not identical with , as Elsner, Keil, and Rheinwald regard it, for it preserves its own signification. Herodian 2.12; Luk 17:18; Rom 7:10; Gal 2:17; Php 3:9; 1Pe 2:22. This verb, and the verb of simple existence, differ as fully as the English phrases-to be, and to be found to be. Nor is there any warrant for giving to other than its usual and natural signification. The phrase is neither , as the first man, with Grotius; nor as a man vile and despised, according to others. Christ was fully ascertained to be a man. All about Him, His form and fashion, proclaimed it. He was seen to possess a man’s shape and symmetry, to be endowed with a man’s organs, senses, and instincts, to use a man’s food and apparel, and to speak, think, act, and walk, like the other partakers of flesh and blood around him. He showed Himself possessed of a true body and a rational soul -that body no phantom or disguise, but an organism like that of all men born of woman, and within it a soul which grew in wisdom as His body grew in stature, being subject to human emotions, and possessed of the usual powers of thought and will. He was found in fashion as a man by those who lived with Him, who saw Him in all aspects, and in every variety of attitude and circumstance;-His mother and kinsmen; His fellow-villagers and friends; His disciples and followers; His enemies and executioners.

Another verb is now used by the apostle, which is not to be confounded in meaning or application with the preceding –

-He humbled Himself. The position of the verb shows that the emphasis is laid upon the action it represents. In the phrase , the weight, as Meyer remarks, is laid on the reflexive reference of the act, but here on the reflexive act itself. That is to say, in the first case, when the self-emptying is described, the idea of Self predominates, for that Self possessed God’s form and was on a parity with Him; whereas in the latter case, His glory being vailed in human nature, it is the act of humiliation which arrests the attention: His person underwent no further change, but He stooped to extreme obedience and death. We cannot agree in the opinion of Meyer, that the two verbs stand in a climactic relation, nor can we say with Keil that they are synonymous, and surely the paraphrase of van Hengel comes short of the full import-et cum habitu suo deprehenderetur, ut homo quilibet, Dei minister esse, submisse se gessit. Nor can we say, with Wiesinger, that denotes the humiliation which already presupposes. We rather regard the words as quite distinct in reference. By the first verb, , is described the process by which He became man, or laid aside God’s form and took upon Him a servant’s-in other words, the process by which Divinity became incarnate; but in the second, , is described a further act, after the incarnation and dwelling on our world had taken place-something which He did after being in man’s nature. is predicated of Him as being in the form of God, but of Him in the likeness and fashion of man. He emptied Himself in becoming man, but as man He humbled Himself. The reference in this verb is therefore to something posterior to the action implied in . Nor is there a climax in this interpretation, for the descent from the throne to the manger is infinitely greater than the step from the manger to the cross. The self-emptying might have existed without this humiliation, for there might have been life, humanity, and service without it.

We do not separate from the verb , the participle expressing the mode in which this self-humiliation was exemplified; but we connect them with the words , and do not with Bengel and van Hengel join these last terms to the verb . The meaning is not, He humbled Himself unto death, but He humbled Himself having become, or in that He became, obedient unto death. The preposition we regard as one of degree and not of time. 2Ti 2:9; Heb 12:4. That death is further and sharply pointed out as indeed the death of the cross-

, -unto death, the death, ay, of the cross. The particle , from such a position and use, with a repeated word, makes its clause intensive. Winer, 53, 7, b; Hartung, 1.168-169. His obedience reached to the point of death, and not only so, but to show its depth and submissiveness, it reached to the most painful and shameful of deaths-the death of the cross. Verily, in doing so, He humbled Himself.

In the term is implied some one to whom obedience is rendered, and the obvious meaning is, that such obedience is offered to God, for on this account God highly exalted Him. Grotius, however, represents it thus-non opposuit vim illam divinam his capientibus se, damnantibus, interficientibus. Rosenmller and Krause agree with him, but the exegesis is wholly unwarranted by the context. Obedience unto death is thus predicated of Christ in His incarnate state-obedience not merely in action, but in suffering. He obeyed as far as it is possible for man to obey-obeyed to the surrender of His life. Death in its most awful form was calmly encountered and willingly endured. And there was no force compelling Him: it was no dark fate or inscrutable destiny which, turn as He might, He could not shun. Nor was it, on the other hand, the sudden outbreak of a wild enthusiasm, or of an irrepressible gallantry, which would not reflect and could not be guided. With all its heroism in meeting the degradation and shock of a public execution, it was yet a calm and collected obedience to a Higher will, under which He had spontaneously placed Himself.

And this death, the death of the cross, was one of special torture and disgrace. Under Roman law, it was inflicted only on slaves and the vilest class of malefactors, and when carried into any of the provinces, its stigma still followed it. Juvenal, 6.184. A death of glory may excite ardour, but death on a gibbet is revolting. Some forms of violent death are sudden and almost painless, but the cross was the means of intense and protracted torture-a thousand deaths in one; and then, to be treated as a felon, to be hanged on a tree by heathen hands and under a sentence of public law,-the shame was worse than the agony. The sun would not gaze upon the scene, and the sky covered itself in sackcloth. Aaron ascended to the summit of Mount Hor, and calmly expired at God’s bidding. Moses climbed the hills of Moab, and, descending into some lonely inner valley, put off in the Divine presence his earthly tabernacle. But so far did God’s own Son carry His obedience, that He shrank not from scorn and anguish, for He was reviled as a blasphemer and taunted as an impostor and traitor during the trial that led Him to death; ay, and that death was the doom of a felon, and He was stripped and nailed in nakedness to the cross, amidst hooting and execrations, gibes and merriment, as if He had been the veriest wretch and criminal in all Judaea. And this victim of sorrow and persecution, of the fury and sport of men, seized and killed so wantonly and cruelly by them, nay, killed by the cross, as if any other form of death would have been insufficient to mark their sense of His baseness-this man, so hanged upon a tree, was originally in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God.

In this paragraph there are many deep things, and many questions are suggested which we cannot answer. The incarnation is, indeed, a mystery-especially the existence of the two natures in Christ, and their mutual relations and influences. Speculation has always existed on this subject, and the names of Nestorius, Eutyches, Sabellius, Arius, and others, are mingled up from an early period in the controversies. But this passage was especially the theme of keen discussion in Germany in the beginning of the seventeenth century, between the divines of Giessen and Tbingen. The former party, such as Menzer in his Defensio (1621), and Feuerborn in his Sciagraphia (1621), and his (1627), held that Jesus, during His abode on earth, renounced the possession of the divine attributes; while the latter party, such as Nicolai, and Thummius in his (1627), maintained, more in accordance with sound exegesis, that Jesus kept the possession of the divine attributes, but without their use-a without a -and that there was only a , or concealment of them. The contest involved not a few dialectical subtleties (on the unio hypostatica, and the communicatio idiomatum, etc.), as, for example, with regard to Christ’s omnipresence-His immensitas in seipso, and His adessentia, or omnipraesentia operativa. It needs no great dexterity on this mysterious subject, to suggest and press difficulties which seem to imply contradiction, to raise arguments on detached phraseology, and to put questions, the attempt to answer which proves our ignorance of such first principles as are necessary to a full solution. Divinity, in all we are told of it, is so unlike humanity in all we feel of it, that we cannot wonder that the union of these two natures in Christ should present apparent contradictions in development and result. Mystery envelopes us as soon as we think of a human consciousness in personal oneness with a divine essence, for we know not how they coalesce, what reciprocal connection they sustain, or what is the boundary between them. It is easy, and also correct, to employ the ordinary commonplaces, that there is a personal union without mixture or confusion, that the divine is not transmuted into the human, nor the human lifted or expanded into the divine. But the New Testament does not indulge in those distinctions, and He who had these natures premises no such distinction Himself, when in one place He disclaims omniscience, and confesses that He does not know the period of the judgment, and in another gives a promise which implies the possession of omnipresence -Lo, I am with you alway. So that, on the points involved in this discussion, such acute men as Chemnitz, Hollaz, Gerhard, and Quenstedt, could with no great trouble invest an inimical theory with difficulties beyond solution, thrust an opponent into a dilemma, or put the case against him, so as to fasten the charge of inconsistency upon his argument, and heresy upon his conclusions. Recent reviews of this controversy will be found in Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk, vol. ii., Erlangen, 1857; in the second volume of the Entwickelungs-geschichte of Dorner, who does not agree on many points with Thomasius; in Hoffmann’s Schriftbeweis, etc.; in the Christologie of Gess and Liebner; in Lechler’s das Apostol. und nachapostol. Zeitalter, 1857; in Schmid’s Dogmatik der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche, 3rd edit., 1853; in Sartorius; and in Baur’s die Christliche Lehre von der Dreieinigkeit und Menschwerdung Gottes, vol. iii. p. 415, etc.

So vivid is the apostle’s picture of the mind which was in Christ. So intently did He look at the things of others, so little was He bound up in His own, that He threw a vail of flesh over His glory and descended to earth; and not only so, but when on earth He humbled Himself to yet a lower degree, and suffered the ignominy and death of a public execution. But such self-denial and generosity, involving of infinite extent, a subsequent of unfathomed depth, with a parallel of more than human compass, are not to pass unrewarded. The exaltation is in proportion to the depth of the earlier self-devotion.

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians

Php 2:8. Being found or appearing on earth in fashion (form and manner of life physically) as a man. Humbled himself means Christ subjected himself to voluntary humiliation, which will be made clear by further comments on this verse. Obedience implies a commander giving law to be obeyed, and Jesus was subject only to his Father. Unto means “as far as, to the extent of,” and it is used here to denote that Jesus obeyed his Father to the extent of submitting to death. Even used in connection with death of the cross is more significant than is generally realized. Jesus not only submitted to die in obedience to his Father and for the benefit of sinful man. but to die the most horrible and humiliating form of death. Smith’s Bible Dictionary gives a description of this performance, which I shall quote for the information of the reader: “Crucifixion was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death. Among the Romans [by whom Jesus was crucified] the degradation [disgrace] was also a part of the infliction, and the punishment if applied to freemen was only used in the case of the vilest criminals. The one to be crucified was stripped naked of all his clothes, and then followed the most awful moment of all. He was laid down upon the implement of torture. His arms were stretched along the cross-beams, and at the center of the open palms the point of a huge iron nail was placed, which, by the blow of a mallet, was driven home into the wood. Then through either foot separately, or possibly through both together, as they were placed one over the other, another huge nail tore its way through the quivering flesh.” A. little farther on in the article the author says: “A death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of the horrible and ghastly,–dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic [shock] fever, tetanus [spasm caused by infection], publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of unattended wounds . . . the unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and cry shed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish,” etc. Besides this historical description of the physical suffering, we have the statements in the Bible of the shame attached to crucifixion (Deu 21:22-23; Gal 3:13; Heb 12:2). From all the foregoing information, the reader can realize the reason for Paul’s use of the word even in connection with Christ’s death on the cross.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Php 2:8. and being found in fashion as a man. Being found, that is of those by whom he was seen and known. This was constantly expressed by those who saw and heard Him: Never man spake like this man; and even the centurion (Mar 15:39), while styling Him Son of God, speaks of Him as this man, and St. Peter in his Pentecostal sermon calls Him Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you.

in fashion, in all those outward particulars which the eye can note as in human growth and human needs, human sense of pain and human capacity for death, in every way and manner resembling the usual type of mankind.

as a man. He was more than man, but the Divine in His nature He deigned to shroud and keep out of sight on most occasions, so that to the people of Nazareth, whose want of faith checked Him from mighty works, He seemed but as the son of the carpenter.

he humbled himself. As though it were not enough to lay aside the Divine and consent to wear the human form, His self-abasement went still farther, and went, too, of His own will.

becoming obedient even onto death, yea, the death of the cross. He became obedient, for He had taken the form of a slave. His obedience was yielded to the Father, as we may learn from the agonized language in Gethsemane: Not my will, but Thine, be done. The scheme for mans redemption was framed in the counsels of the Godhead from all eternity, and the consent of the Son of God made one part of that counsel. So that of His own will lie suffered, and yet the Divine was so far veiled, the human in Him so far manifest in His agony, that He can speak to His Father of the coming death as Thy will. And in Him obedience was carried to its farthest limit. Even in the slaves lot there comes a point at which resistance may be expected and justified. Toil and pain He may endure and not rebel, but to accept death when it might be avoided is the extreme of humiliation. Yet even this Christ chose to do for men, and to the humiliation was added degradation, for He died upon the cross, a death reserved only for the worst criminals and malefactors.

Now we may see how the whole picture of Christs humiliation fits into the apostles argument He looked also on the things of others. He beheld mans fallen state, man made in the likeness of God, and to rescue him, came down from His eternal glory and dwelt as a man among men, and fathomed the lowest depths of humiliation and of suffering.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Php 2:8. And being found in fashion as a man A common man, without any peculiar excellence or comeliness. The word , rendered fashion, includes all the particulars of a persons outward appearance; such as his figure, air, looks, clothing, and gait. The word is also applied to things inanimate, as, (1Co 7:31,) the fashion of this world passeth away. He humbled himself To a still greater depth: for his condescension to the rank of low life among sinful mortals, wonderful as it was, did not content him; but he became obedient To his Father; even unto death The greatest instance both of humiliation and obedience: and to no common form of dissolution, but to the ignominious, as well as painful death of the cross, inflicted on few but slaves, or the vilest malefactors. The reasoning in this passage is beautiful. The Son of God did not proudly continue in his high station, but descended from it for a while, and placed himself in the lowest condition among men, serving every one with the humility and assiduity of a servant, or bondman, as signifies. Then, in obedience to his Father, (Joh 6:38,) he finished his services by suffering the painful and ignominious death of the cross as a malefactor, for the salvation of the world. Having this great example of humility and benevolence set before them by their Master, his disciples, who are above their brethren in station, should not on every occasion behave as their superiors; but, laying aside their dignity, they should cheerfully perform in person to their inferiors those offices of kindness and humanity which their distress requires; especially when the assistance wanted by their inferiors is of such an urgent nature that it admits of no delay. Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jesus Christ appeared to other people just as any other man. This was another mark of His humility. There were no visual clues in His appearance that He was sinless or divine.

". . . having said that Christ came in the ’likeness’ of human beings (Php 2:7 b), Paul now moves the narrative on to its next point, by saying he ’appeared’ in a way that was clearly recognizable as human. Together the two phrases accent the reality of his humanity, just as the first two phrases in the preceding sentence accent his deity." [Note: Fee, Paul’s Letter . . ., p. 215.]

Jesus further humbled Himself by becoming obedient to His Father’s will to the point of laying down His life in death (cf. Isa 53:12; Heb 5:8).

Beyond that, He was willing to undergo death by crucifixion, a form of execution that was without equal in its pain and humiliation.

"It is difficult after sixteen centuries and more during which the cross has been a sacred symbol, to realize the unspeakable horror and loathing which the very mention or thought of the cross provoked in Paul’s day. The word crux was unmentionable in polite Roman society (Cicero, Pro Rabirio 16); even when one was being condemned to death by crucifixion the sentence used an archaic formula which served as a sort of euphemism: arbori infelici suspendito, ’hang him on the unlucky tree’ (Cicero, ibid. 13)." [Note: F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, p. 271.]

The Phoenicians and Persians practiced crucifixion before the Greeks and Romans adopted it. It was a form of execution from which Roman citizens were exempt. Only the worst criminals among the slaves and foreigners underwent crucifixion. [Note: See The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Crucifixion," by D. H. Wheaton.] Hanging on a tree was a sign to the Jews that the person so disgraced was under the curse of God (Deu 21:23; cf. Gal 3:13).

The advance on Christ’s example in this verse is the extent to which He was willing to go in humble submissiveness in obedience to His Father’s will. All believers should be willing to do the same (Php 2:5).

"Several years ago, while I was engaged in a study of the Philippian Epistle, a letter come to me bearing news of the death of a friend and former classmate who had laid down his life for Christ in foreign missionary service. He had been a brilliant student, was wealthy in his own right, and at the completion of the seminary course he was married to a beautiful and talented young woman. In this country he might have had everything ordinarily desirable to men-business success, comfort, ease, and luxury. But there was in him the mind of Christ; if I may dare to use the word reverently, he freely ’emptied himself’ of all these prospects, becoming a servant of the cross in Egypt. There, having given what he could in service, he was obedient ’unto death.’" [Note: Alva J. McClain, "The Doctrine of the Kenosis in Philippians 2:5-8," Biblical Review 13:4 (October 1928):524-25.]

"The test of the submissive mind is not just how much we are willing to take in terms of suffering, but how much we are willing to give in terms of sacrifice." [Note: Wiersbe, The Bible . . ., 2:76. See also David J. MacLeod, "Imitating the Incarnation of Christ: An Exposition of Philippians 2:5-8," Bibliotheca Sacra 158:631 (July-September 2001):308-30.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)