Philippians 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:… The apostle enforces the previous counsels to the cultivation of self-denying love by the argument strongest of all to the Christian heart, the example of the Lord Jesus. I. GOD CONDESCENDED TO BECOME MAN. 1. Christ did not change His nature, an impossibility, but His "form," and in the surrender of this Divine dignity for us points to the duty of our surrender of ease, rank, repute, and even life, for the good of others. 2. The work of love seemed a greater thing than His retention of what was originally His own, and not an object of mere ambition. 3. So He emptied Himself of this "form," the glory in which He was revealed to the angels, and to Moses, and Isaiah. (1) By assuming the form of a servant, its opposite. The King became a subject. (2) How He took that form is explained — "being made in the likeness of men," not of a man; He was the representative of the race. Here, then, we have the mystery of mysteries. Our Redeemer is God, or our hope in Him were baseless, but His Deity was veiled in flesh. II. AS A MAN HE WENT DOWN INTO THE DEPTHS OF HUMILIATION. 1. His obedience exhibits — (1) The reality of His manhood. Subjection is conceivable only in a created nature. (2) His exemplariness; as a servant of God, he is a member of the class to which all Christians belong. 2. His obedience led Him to the death of the cross, a death — (1) The most cruel. (2) The most disgraceful. 3. All this was voluntary. III. IN REWARD FOR HIS OBEDIENCE HE WAS CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOUR. 1. This was done by the Father who in the economy of Redemption represents the majesty of the God head. 2. This was done for the purpose of securing for Christ universal supremacy and homage. 3. The end of all was the glory of God the Father in conformity with the Son's prayer — "Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Conclusion: The fitness of the wonderful paragraph as an argument to enforce the exhortation. All this was out of love for you. Imitate this love in its devotion, self-forgetfulness, humility. (R. Johnstone, LL. B.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:WEB: Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, |
    |