Jesus was made in human likeness

JESUS WAS MADE IN HUMAN LIKENESS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Philippians2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form
of a servant, being made in human likeness.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Humiliation Of Christ
Philippians 2:6-8
V. Hutton
I. THE HEIGHT FROM WHICH HE. CAME IS THE MEASURE OF THE
DEPTHTO WHICH HE DESCENDED.He was for ever "in the form of
God;" i.e. with the essentialnature of God (cf. John 13:3, 4).
II. HIS HUMILIATION WAS NO LOSS OF GLORY OR ESSENTIAL
WORTH. He is for ever in the form of God; this he could not renounce. He
laid aside for a time his external equality with God. This he considerednot to
be a possessionofany greatimportance. How contrary to ordinary human
ideas, which "catchat" anything which confers external honor!! But to catch
at an external resemblance argues thatwe do not possessthe essential
likeness. Only the truly great canafford to humble themselves.

III. HIS HUMILIATION A REALITY. He takes the" form of a servant;" i.e.
he actually becomes such, as he was actuallyin the "form of God." He
assumes also the "likeness ofa man," becoming in appearance, as in reality,
one of ourselves.
IV. HE ACCEPTS THE TRUE POSITION OF MAN, WHICH IS THAT OF
OBEDIENCE, This is man's truest and essentialglory. The true man cannot
live any other life than that of obedience and service. His obedience is to
death, even to a death of shame, if such is required of him. Our glory is to
acceptwhatevermay be the will of Godfor us. - V.W.H.
Biblical Illustrator
But made Himself of no reputation
Philippians 2:7
The humiliation of Christ
T. Manton, D. D.

I. HOW FAR CHRIST WAS LESSENED.
1. His Godhead was obscuredby the interposing veil of our flesh. He emptied
Himself of the Divine glory, not by ceasing to be what He was, but by
assuming something He was not before.
2. His dignity was lessened. It was a condescensionofGod to take notice of
man's misery (Psalm 113:6), much more to take part in it. Three steps in this
condescensionmay be noted.(1) He who thought it no robbery to be equal
with God is made less than God (John 14:28), as Mediator.(2)He was not only
lesserthan God, but lesserthan the angels (Hebrews 2:7).(3) In the human
nature He was depressedbeyond the ordinary condition of man (Psalm 22:6;
Isaiah53:3; Mark 9:12). Born of a poor virgin, His cradle a manger, etc., lived
a life of poverty, etc.
II. THIS WAS HIS OWN VOLUNTARY ACT. This is in no way inconsistent
with the actionof the Fatherin sending Him.
1. What He was to do and undergo was proposedto Him and willingly
accepted(Hebrews 10:6-7;Isaiah 7:5; Proverbs 8:31).
2. The Scripture assigneththis work to the love and condescensionof Christ
Himself as the immediate cause of His performance of it (Galatians 2:20;
Ephesians 5:25-26;Revelation1:5-6; 2 Corinthians 8:9).
III. THIS WORK WAS FOR OUR SAKES.
1. As our Mediator.(1)He emptied Himself that we might be filled with all
grace.(2)He was born of a woman that we might be born of God (Galatians
4:4-5).(3) He was made a curse that we might have a blessing (Galatians 3:13-
14).(4)He was made poor for us that by His poverty we might be made rich (2
Corinthians 8:9).(5) There are some things in the mediation of Christ which
belong to ministry and others to authority. Those which belong to ministry as
to be in servant's form, and to die; he must be a man for that. Those which
belong to authority as to bring us to Godconvey to us the spirit; and He must
be God for that.

2. As our pattern (ver. 5).(1) The powerof Christ's example is general.(a)It is
perfect, for His life is religion exemplified, a visible commentary on God's
Word.(b) Engaging. Christ's submission to a duty should make it engaging to
us (John 13:14;1 John 2:6). Alexander the Greatachievedmost of his exploits
by his example. When hard beset, he would make the first in every action.(c)
Effectual(2 Corinthians 3:18).(d) Encouraging (Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews
4:15).(e) An armour of proof againstall temptations (ver. 5; 1 Peter4:1).(2)
What He teachethus by making Himself of no reputation.
(a)Patience under indignities undergone for God's sake (1 Peter2:21;
Hebrews 12:2). Considerif Christ had been unwilling to suffer for us what
had been our condition to all eternity! We cannot lose so much for Him as He
hath for us (2 Corinthians 8:9). We are gainers by Him if we love the world
for His sake (Matthew 10:29-30.)
(b)Humility. We are far inferior to Christ, and shall we stand so much on our
reputation (Matthew 11:29; Matthew 20:28;John 13:3).
(c)More exactobedience (ver. 8; Hebrews 5:8-9).
(d)Self-denial (Romans 15:3; John 12:27-28;Philippians 1:20).
(e)Contempt of the world and the glory thereof.
(T. Manton, D. D.)
Took upon Him the form of a servant
The mystery of Christ in the form of a servant
Christ is expresslycalledGod's servant(Isaiah 42:1; cf. Matthew 12:18), and
"bondservant" (Psalm 11:6; cf. Exodus 21:6).
I. TO WHOM He became a servant. To man's greatLord and Master(Isaiah
49:3). It was with His Father He entered into the contractof service (Psalm
40:6). It was His Father's business He was employed in (Luke 2:49; John 9:4).

II. FOR WHOM He became a servant. Forand instead of those who were
bound to service, but utterly unable for it.
III. THE NECESSITYofHis becoming a servant for us for our salvation.
1. Mankind were constituted God's hired servants by the first covenant, viz.,
of works, and extend to that in their head the first Adam. Their work was
perfect obedience to the holy law; their hire was life (Romans 10:1). The
penalty of breaking awayfrom their Masterwas perpetualbondage under the
curse (Galatians 3:10).
2. They never made out their service. Through the solicitationof the great
runaway servant, the devil, they violated the covenant, and broke away from
their Master. So they lostall plea for the hire, and justly became bondmen
under the curse of the broken covenantof works (Galatians 4:24). Their
falling under this curse inferred the loss of their liberty, and constituted them
bondmen (Genesis 9:25; Joshua 9:23).
3. By the breaking of that covenantthey lost all their ability for their service,
and were left without strength (Romans 5:6). They had no suffering strength
to bear their punishment, and so must have perished under it. They had no
working strength, for their work arm, once sufficient, was broken; nay, they
had neither hand nor heart for their work again (Romans 8:7; Joshua 24:19).
4. Howbeit the punishment due to them behoved to be borne, and the service
to be made out according to the original contract, the covenantof works;or
else they could never have life and salvation (Genesis 2:7; Isaiah42:21;
Genesis 28:15).
5. Since all this behoved to be done, and they could not do it, it was necessary
for their life and salvationthat Christ should come under the curse for them,
accepttheir service, and fully serve it out for them (Galatians 3:3-5, 13).
IV. THE CONTRACT ofthe service — the covenantof grace made between
the Fatherand Christ. Heaven's device in this case was thatChrist should be
the workerfor life and salvationto poor sinners; and that they should getlife
and salvation, through Him, by His grace, and so work from life and salvation
received, as sons entitled to the inheritance antecedently to all their working

(Romans 6:23; Romans 4:4, 5). Here consider —(1) The contractwas entered
into from eternity (Titus 1:2).(2) Its designwas —
(a)To illustrate the Divine glory much darkenedby the hired servants of
God's own house by sin (Isaiah 49:3).
(b)To save lost sinners (Isaiah49:6).(3) The service which in this contractHe
undertook to perform was to fulfil the whole law for them (Hebrews 10:9).(4)
The covenantedrewardof the service was a glorious exaltationto Himself,
and eternallife for them (ver. 9; Titus 1:2).
V. THE FULFILLING of the service according to the contract. It was a hard
service, but He went through with it (ver. 8).
1. He entered into this service by His being born holy for us, and remained so
to the end. Thus He answeredthe demand which the law had upon them for
original holiness as a condition of life (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 1:35).
2. He went on in His service in the righteousness ofHis life, being obedient
unto death (ver. 8; John 16:4).
3. Having suffered all His life long, He completed and finished His service in
His death and burial; thus answering for them the law's demand of
satisfactionforsin (John 19:30). The term of His continuance in this state of
servitude was, according to the covenant, till death, but no longer (John 9:4;
Job 3:19; Romans 4:9).
VI. WHEREFORE HE ENGAGED in this service.
1. Love to God and man (Exodus 21:5).
2. He took it on Him for releasing us from that state of bondage into which
our father Adam, by his mismanagement, had brought all mankind. What
Judah offeredto do in the case ofBenjamin (Genesis 44:33), Christ really
performed in the case ofHis brethren.
3. To bring them into a state of adoption in the family of God. He became a
bondservant that they might become sons and daughters (Galatians 4:1-5).
VII. THE USE.

1. To all strangers to Jesus Christ: ye are bondmen under the law, and so —
(1) It lies upon you to fulfil the service to which man was bound by the
covenantof works, viz., perfect obedience under the pain of the curse
(Romans 3:19). As you are unable for this you can never be savedwhile out of
Christ.
2. It lies upon you to bear the punishment due to you for breaking awayfrom
your Lord and Master(Genesis 2:17).
2. Let all be exhorted to flee to Christ, and by faith embrace Him, and the
service performed by Him as their only plea for life and salvation. Surely it
will be glad tidings to the poor broken hearted sinner, who sees that he cannot
serve the Lord according to the demand of the law, to know that there is a
service performed by the Mediator for him which is perfect in the eye of the
law, and that a way of reconciliationis opened.
VIII. IMPROVEMENT.
1. If you have any part or lot in this matter of Christ's service, letit be the
business of your life to serve the Lord Christ. Consider —(1) He was in the
form of God who served for you, and delivered you from the worstof
masters.(2)He has no need of your service, but ye were in absolute need of His
service for you.(3) The service He rendered you was hard service;the yoke He
puts upon you is easy, and the burden light.(4) Christ fulfilled all
righteousness foryou to the end that you might serve Him in holiness and
righteousness.(5)Christ servedyou ungrudgingly, do not grudge what you
give or do for Him.(6) As Christ was highly exaltedafter His service so will
you be after yours. Be faithful therefore.
2. Redeemedby Christ.(1) In what spirit are we to serve Him.
(a)Notas slaves, but as children (Galatians 4:7). This is the only acceptable
service.
(b)Out of love for Him (Hebrews 6:10; 2 Corinthians 5:14; 2 Timothy 1:7).
(c)Universally (Colossians 4:12).
(d)Constantly (Psalm119:112).(2)How are we to serve Him.

(a)By being of a loving disposition towards our brethren.
(b)By doing goodas we have opportunity (Galatians 6:10).
(c)Put on bowels of mercies towards those who are in distress (Colossians
3:12).
(d)Show a strict regard for justice in your dealings with men as Christ did in
His dealings towards God for you.
(e)Be humble (John 13:14-15).
(T. Boston, D. D.)
Christ a slave
J. Vaughan, M. A.
The word "servant" does not convey to us the degree of degradationwhich it
meant centuries ago. Forservice has been dignified since Christ was a servant.
We know nothing now more honourable than Christian service. But He first
taught us to call our servants "friends."
I. Look at SOME OF THE LAWS RESPECTINGJEWISH SLAVES so as to
estimate the humiliation of Jesus;and these were mild compared with those
that obtained among the Romans.
1. No slave could have any right as a citizen. If injured he had no redress. As
for our Saviour, when subjectedto the most outrageous wrong, no arm of the
law was outstretchedfor His defence. "His judgment was takenaway."
2. The slave could hold no property. The Servant of servants had not where to
lay His head; no money to pay His taxes;no clothes but such as privileged
hands had made for Him.
3. The slave, in the eye of the law, was a mere chattel, which could be bought
and sold; for the base sum of less than three pounds Judas sold his Lord.

4. At death the slave might be scourgedand tortured as none other might, and
the bitterest and vilest death was assignedto Him. See Jesus under the lash
and on the cross the slave.
5. The law said the slave was nothing less than a dead man; Christ was "a
worm and no man."
II. AS A SLAVE CHRIST HAD TWO DUTIES TO EXECUTE.
1. To His Father.(1) God had made the power of Jesus to do His work depend
on His faithfulness. "By His knowledge shallmy righteous servant justify
many." Had He not been righteous as a servant, He could not have justified
the sinner.(2)But how perfect was His course of servitude, how continuous,
laborious, devoted (Psalm 40;cf. Hebrews 10): The Jewishslave wishing, for
the love he bare his master, to continue in his service, had his ear fastenedfor
a while with an awlto his master's door in token of his abiding always in his
service. So Christ, in the language ofthe slave, loves to say, "Mine ears hast
Thou opened," and adds the reason, "I delight," etc.
2. To His people. His time while He lived on earth was not His own but theirs.
He was at every one's call. His day was all work for the creature;His night
communion with the Creator. The smallestthings were not beneath His
attention (John 13.).
III. INFERENCES.
1. Of all the names a Christian can wearthere is not one which places him so
near his Masteras this — a servantof God. St. Paul put it above his
apostleship.
2. To own that title you must not regard it as a figure of speech.(1)Your time
is not your own.(2)Your possessions — money, talents, power.(3)Be clothed
therefore with humility, and gird yourself with energy.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Made in the likeness ofmen

Christ a man
J. Vaughan, M. A.
1. As soonas the Saviour had resolvedto take upon Him the form of a
servant, it followedthat He should be "made in the likeness of men." Fallen
man is the most servile thing in God's universe — a bond slave of Satan, "Sold
under sin" — the servant of uncleanness. His passions are his masters, his
fears his chains, death his cruel tyrant.
2. We must be carefulnot to suffer our conviction of the Deity of Christ to
weakenour apprehensionof His perfect manhood. Forif Christ be not
absolutely a man, if His divinity come in, in the leastdegree, to qualify His
humanity, then He practicallyceasesto be an example, and, indeed, a
substitute.
I. IT WAS NOT THE BODY OF CHRIST ONLY WHICH WAS HUMAN
WHILE HIS SOUL WAS DIVINE, BUT THAT SOUL AND BODYWERE
EQUALLY IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN.
1. His bodily presence stoodforth always visibly and palpably a man. In the
likeness ofthe infant He lay in the manger, of the boy He sat in the temple, of
the man He walkedthe length and breadth of the land. The labouring man
has the privilege of resemblance, forit is not unlikely that He workedat His
father's trade. Restand clothes and food and warmth He needed like us.
2. Let us trace on the likeness into His spiritual being.(1) It is a law of the
mind that it grows. Jesus "grewin wisdom."(2)That we are conscious ofjoy
and sorrow. Once Christ rejoicedin Spirit, and twice shed tears.(3)That we
must lean on some one, our Godand our friend. So did Jesus.(4)Thatwe
should be tempted. He imitated us in His conflict with the prince of
darkness.(5)In deep thoughts he had the counterpart of ours, the shrinking
back of the obedient and willing spirit as it recoils from nature's throes.(6)He
was utterly blameless;yet He knew sin by experience, for He bore it.
II. THE MANHOOD CHRIST ASSUMED IS FULL OF THE DEEPEST
COMFORT TO HIS CHURCH.

1. All the nature of our race was gatheredand concentratedinto that one
human life. He stood forth as the greatrepresentative man.
2. Thus it was that Christ went down to His grave, and when He rose and was
glorified the greatrepresentative principle went on. He is not the solitary
conqueror enteredinto His rest; but the forerunner and earnestof His saints.
He holds ground for us till, in due time, we shall come.
3. And so long as the needful processesofthe preparation go on He there lives,
and intercedes, and rules, and wears the very form in which He suffered. How
certain, then, His sympathy.
III. THEREFOREREVERENCEMANHOOD. Respecta body which has
such fellowships;be tender to the corporealwants of the members of the body
of Christ.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
J. Flavel.
I. IN HIS INCARNATION. The Ruler of all brought to the state of a creature.
1. To the state of an inferior creature, a man, not an angel,
2. At a time when this nature was stainedby sin.
3. To be scornedby men.
4. Deprived of the joys of heaven.
5. The offspring of a poor woman.
II. IN HIS LIFE.
1. Born in a stable.
2. Tempted of Satan.

3. Inured to poverty.
4. Ungratefully receivedby His own and by the world.
III. IN HIS DEATH — that of a malefactor.
(J. Flavel.)
The possibility of Christ's humiliation
A. Raleigh, D. D.
We have no difficulty in conceiving how a man of highest virtue, and noblest
birth, and clearestintelligence,couldassume an outward garb which would
completely belie or hide his real character. A king need not always wearthe
royal robes and sit on a throne. He may become a shepherd on the him, a
sailorbefore the mast, a servant of his ownservants. Missionaries — and in
this case the moral analogyis more perfect — after learning the language of a
barbarous people, have gone among them, conforming to all their habits as
far as they could, living a dark, rude life, submitting to every kind of trial and
privation, in order to a greatand beneficentend. Is it then to be said, in the
ignorance of our pride, in the supercilious presumption of our poor narrow
thought, that the Infinite One must always be in Divine state and glory, in one
manifestation, in one form of His infinite life, that whatevertranspires in the
history of the world or the universe, He can do nothing exceptwhat He has
been forever doing — speak no new word — make no new revelationof
Himself? The assertionthat God cannot lay aside some of what we may call
the accidents ofHis being, and invest Himself in another way, is almostto
assertthat He is not God at all.
(A. Raleigh, D. D.)
"Emptied Himself
E. B. Pusey, D. D.

All His attributes He veiled and hid; His infinity, to abide, like other unborn
babes, within the virgin's womb; His eternity, to receive birth in time, younger
than His creatures;His unchangeableness, to grow in stature, and (as it would
seem)for His earthly form to decay, and be worn by His sufferings; His
wisdom, "forour sake and among us to be ignorant, as man," "of that which,
as Lord, He knew";His self-sufficingness, thatHe, who had all things, became
as though He had nothing. He forewent not things without Him only; He
forewentHimself He, the Creator, not only made Himself to need the
creatures which He had formed, and was without them — He was hungry and
thirsty, and wearied— but even in the things which He wrought, He
depended not alone on the Godhead within Him but on the Father. His works
were not His own works but His Father's. He came not to do His own will, but
His Father's. He prayed, and praying was heard, though He Himself was God.
He was strengthened as man, by the angel, whom, as God, He created. Again,
how must He have "emptied Himself" of His majesty, who, when, with a
word, He could have destroyedthe ungodly, and "with the breath of His
mouth" have "slainthe wicked," was Himselfsold into their hands for the
price of a bondslave. He "hid not His face from shame and spitting," before
whom angels veil their faces. He "emptied Himself" of His immortality, and
the immortal died. He became subject to death, the penalty of sin. But what
seems yet more amazing, He was content to veil even that, in Himself,
wherein, so to say, God is most God, the glory of the divinity, His holy being,
whereby He hateth all iniquity. He who is "the Truth," was contentedto be
called"that deceiver." He hid His holiness, so that His apostate angelshrank
not from approaching Him, to tempt Him. He veiled the very humility
wherewith He humbled Himself to be obedient, so that Satanthought that He
might be tempted through pride. He was content to he thought able to covet
the creatures whichHe had made, and, like us, to prefer them to the Father;
yea, and the very lowestofthe creatures, whicheven man can despise. They
calledHim "a gluttonous man, and a wine bibber." "We know," saythey,
"that this man is a sinner." They reproachedHim for disobedience to the
Father, and breaking the law which He gave. So wholly was He made like
unto us in all things, sin only excepted, that man could not discern that He, the
holy God, was not (shocking to say)unholy man.

(E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
CondescensionofChrist
M. O. Mackay.
During one of the campaigns in the American Civil War, when the winter
weatherwas very severe, some ofStonewallJackson'smen having crawledout
in the morning from their snow-ladenblankets, half frozen, beganto curse
him as the cause oftheir sufferings. He lay close by under a tree, also snowed
under, and heard all this: but, without noticing it, presently crawledout too,
and, shaking off the snow, made some jocularremark to the nearestmen, who
had no idea he had ridden up in the night and lain down amongstthem! The
incident ran through the army in a few hours, and reconciledhis followers to
all the hardships of the expedition, and fully reestablishedhis popularity.
(M. O. Mackay.)
The humanity of Christ
J. Vaughan, M. A.
From eternity there was the idea and image of a man in the mind of God. That
man was perfect. Adam was createdin his innocence a type or shadow of that
man. When Adam lost the likeness, the greatdesign of God was to restore it.
To this end, Christ, who was always the realoriginal of that man as he lay in
the purposes of God, determined to take our nature. From time to time, in
earnestof His future purpose, He appeared as a man to the Old Testament
saints. At last, when the appointed period arrived, Christ "came afterthe
flesh, born of a woman." He was not at first that perfectman which lay in the
intention of the Father before all ages,but He was like it, as the shadow is to
the substance;and He gradually grew into it. By successive processesHe
attained it. First, He was natural; then, after His resurrection, He was
spiritual; then, after His ascension, He was glorious;and now, still a man,
entirely a man, wearing our framework, and carrying our affections, He is

that very eternalman conceivedin the bosomof God, and of which both
Adam in Paradise and He in Bethlehem were made to be the copy and the
likeness.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
And being found in fashion as a man.
The Saviour's fashion
J. Irons.
I. THE FASHION IN WHICH CHRIST WAS FOUND — that of a man.
1. Real, not in appearance only.
2. Perfect, both body and soul, with all the attributes of our humanity.
3. Sinless. It was needful for Him to assume this fashion.(1)Otherwise our sins
could not be atoned for.(2) Nor could He have become the Head of the
Church. It is impossible to admire this fashion too much.
II. WHAT HE ENDURED IN THAT FASHION.
1. He humbled Himself to teachus the sin and folly of pride and the duty of
humility.
2. He became obedient to teach us passive and active obedience to God's will.
(1)This obedience was perfect — "to death."
(2)Acceptable.
(3)He endured the cross to teachus self-denial.
III. THE PERMANENCEOF THAT FASHION. Other fashions change. This
never. He wears the body that will be His through eternity. Conclusion:
1. This is the only fashion in which salvationcan be found.
2. This is the only pattern for our holiness.

(J. Irons.)
Christ degraded
J. Vaughan, M. A.
1. The expressions which assertChrist's incarnation imply His Deity. Who
would say of any merely human being that he was "found in fashionas a
man."
2. Christ might have been man without humiliation: e.g., had He assumedthe
"glorious body" He now wears.
3. The most beautiful feature about Christ's humiliation was that it was never
prominent, but always self-forgetful. The grace of a humble mind is that it is
too humble to look humble. Our Lord's humiliation may be regardedin four
stages.
I. In HIS INCARNATION. How imperceptible that was. No parade. Never
did infant enter life with less consequence.
II. In HIS PREMINISTERIALLIFE.
1. There was the humiliation of the flight and exile into Egypt.
2. His choice of Nazarethas a home, the name of which fasteneda stigma and
a prejudice upon Him all His days.
3. His life of subjection and labour.
III. In HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY.
1. His submission to baptism. John was struck with the self-abasementofthis
act. Ordinances, howeverprecious, are humbling because the badge of a fallen
state.
2. His temptation. There are things we come in contactwith which, though not
hurtful, leave a feeling of debasement.
3. His poverty and privation.

4. His intercourse with the coarse andthe sinful.
5. His subjection to the cavil of the unbeliever, and the jest of the profane.
IV. In HIS DEATH.
1. The circumstances ofHis arrestand trial.
2. The characterof His punishment.
3. His dissolution. It was humiliation indeed for God to become man; much
more, being man, to die.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
In the text we have —
1. The depth of Christ's humiliation.
(1)Specified— "death."
(2)Aggravated"deathof the cross."
2. The manner thereof.
(1)Voluntary — "humbled Himself."
(2)"Obedient."The Scripture marks the specialstagesofHis humiliation.
1. He stoopedto become a man. Had Christ been made an angelit had been
infinitely below Himself.
2. He condescendedto put His neck under the yoke of the law. (Galatians 4:4).
A creature is indispensably subjectedto the law of its Maker, by virtue of its
creatureshipand dependence, and is involved in no humiliation. But the Son
of God is the Law Maker. He submitted to the ceremoniallaw in His
circumcision, and to the moral law in His life; all which subjection was not a
debt to God, but a voluntary subscription. "The law is not made," in some

sense, "fora righteous man" (1 Timothy 1:9), but is not made in any sense for
the glorious God.
3. He appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3). He trod not one
step awry in sin, but many of the footsteps of sin appearedupon Him: e.g. —
(1) Poverty. Sin was the greatbankrupt that brought all to beggary, and so
poverty is the likeness ofsin.(2) Sorrow (Isaiah53:3). The same Hebrew word
stands for both.(3) Shame and reproach. Sin was the inlet of shame (Genesis
3:7). So Christ (Isaiah 53:3; Psalm 27:6).(4)The withdrawment of the Father
and clouding the light of His countenance (Matthew 27:46, cf. Isaiah59:2).(4)
Death. In amplification of this, the principal act of Christ's humiliation, note
—
I. WHAT KIND OF DEATH CHRIST HUMBLED HIMSELF UNTO. Not a
natural death, nor a mere violent death, but a violent death having three
embittering circumstances.
1. Pain. The easiestdeathis painful, howeverdowny the bed. The first
mention of Christ's death is that of bruising (Genesis 3:15;Isaiah53:10). So
painful was it in thought that Christ shrunk from it (Matthew 26:39). Three
things made the actual death painful.
(1)The piercing His hands and feet, those sinews and sensitive parts.
(2)The extensionand distortion of His body.
(3)The slownessand gradualapproach of death. Six complete hours in the
heat of the day was Christ in dying (Mark 15:25;cf. ver. 34).
2. Shame. There is nothing so sharp and intolerable, not even pain, to a noble
spirit as shame (Hebrews 12:2). The cross was anignominious death, and
Christ endured it amidst circumstances of aggravatedignominy, nakedness,
and scorn. All his offices were derided: His Priestly (Matthew 27:42); His
prophetical (Luke 22:64); His Kingly (John 19:2-3). Notorious villains were
crucified with Him. He suffered without the gate (Hebrews 12:12;Leviticus
24:14).

3. Curse. Pain was bad, shame worse, curse worstof all (Deuteronomy21:23;
Galatians 3:13; Acts 5:30).
II. IN WHAT MANNER CHRIST UNDERWENT THIS DEATH.
1. Willingly. His sacrifice was a free-wilt offering. Neither the Father's
ordination nor men's violence constituted the sacrifice (Psalm40:7-8; John
10:17-18). He might have avoided it (Matthew 26:53), but so far from that He
anticipated His executioners (John19:33). But He was more than willing
(Luke 12:50).
2. Obediently. It was His will to die; and yet He died not of His own will, but
of His Father's. The two are conjoinedin Hebrews 10:7, and John 10:18. This
obedience was the best part of His sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22;Matthew 26:39).
3. Humbly and meekly— (Isaiah53:7) — from His expostulation with Judas
(Matthew 26:50) to His lastprayer (Luke 23:34) all is that of One who, when
He suffered He threatened not (1 Peter2:23).
III. UPON WHAT GROUNDS CHRIST THUS HUMBLED HIMSELF TO
DEATH.
1. That Scripture prophecies might be accomplished(Isaiah63:1; Genesis
3:15; Luke 24:25, 26).
2. That Scripture types might be fulfilled — Isaac, the offerings, the brazen
serpent, etc.
3. That His will and testamentmight be firm and effectual(Hebrews 9:16, 17;
Luke 22:20).
4. That justice might be satisfied(Hebrews 9:22; Romans 3:25, 26).
5. That He that hath the powerof death might be destroyed (Hebrews 2:14).
6. To take awaythe meritorious cause ofdeath, namely, sin (Romans 8:3;
Romans 6:10-11;Daniel 9:24-26). Application: Three uses may be made of
this doctrine.

1. Forinformation.(1) This lets us see the transcendentand inexpressible love
of Christ to poor sinners (Galatians 2:20).(2)The horrible and cursedevil of
sin to need such a remedy.(3) The exactand impartial justice of God and His
most righteous remedy againstsin. Rather than that sin should go unpunished
He spared not His own Son (Romans 3:25).(4) This is sad and dreadful news
to all impenitent sinners (Hebrews 10:29).
2. Forexhortation. If Christ shed His blood for sin(1) let us shed the blood of
sin (Romans 6:10, 11; Galatians 5:24).(2)Let our lives run out for Christ in a
vigorous activity (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15;Titus 2:14).(3)Let us praise Him
exceedingly, and raise Him in our esteemabove everything and every one else
(1 Peter2:7; 1 Corinthians 2:2; Philippians 3:8; Matthew 10:37).(4)Let us
prize highly our own souls that were purchased at such a price (1 Peter
1:18).(5) Let us be willing, if need be, to shed our blood for Him (Acts 20:24;
Revelation12:11;Hebrews 12:4).(6) By faith and hearty acceptanceofChrist,
let us put in for a share of, and get an interest in Christ's blood (Romans 3:25;
Hebrews 9:14).
3. Forcomfort.(1) Your enemies are foiled. The justice of God is satisfied;the
law is fulfilled; Satanis subdued; sin is abolished as it binds overto
punishment, and is reflectedin the conscience by way of accusation;death is
slain.(2)Your personis accepted.(3)Christ is willing to do anything for
thee.(4)Heaven is opened to thee (Hebrews 10:19).
(J. Meriton, D. D.)
The obedience of Christ
J. Vaughan, M. A.
I. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
1. Producedby the Spirit. He was tempted and overcame by the Holy Ghost.
2. Perfectlyhuman, or it would be no example to us.

3. Progressive. "ThoughHe were a Son," etc. It grew with the growth of
obligations.
4. Active and passive.
II. ITS NATURE.
1. He obeyed the law. "Thy law is within my heart" was the language ofHis
whole life.
(1)As an antitype He fulfilled the whole law of sacrifice.
(2)As a devout Jew, He fulfilled the whole ceremoniallaw.
(3)As citizen of the world He fulfilled the political law by paying taxes.
(4)As a man, He fulfilled the whole moral law.
(5)As a child of GodHe fulfilled the spiritual law.
2. Christ was always obeying inward principle. His outward life was the
reflectionof His sense of duty. How often was "I must" upon His lips.
3. Christ always setHis life to the meridian of Scripture — "It is written."
4. He was the most obedient of Sons to His heavenly Father — "I can of
Myself do nothing."
III. THE HARMONIOUS ADJUSTMENTOF ITS TWO-FOLD
OBLIGATIONS.
1. As a child He was subjectto His mother — but if interfered with in His
work there were the "Woman;what have I to do with thee?" or "Who is My
mother?"
2. As a subject of the state He pays the tribute at the same moment that He
asserts His claim and privilege as the Son of God. "Renderunto Caesar,"etc.
IV. ITS DEVELOPMENT.
1. As an infant He was obedient to circumcision.

2. His childhood and early manhood were subject to parental authority.
3. At thirty His argument for baptism is "Thus it becomethus," etc.
4. In obedience to the Holy Ghost He goes into the desertand conquers by "It
is written," etc.
5. The yoke He imposes on His disciples is His own — obedience.
6. He is Lord of the Sabbath, but obeys the Sabbath.
7. The Transfiguration speaks ofSonship and service.
8. His death was the completion of His life of obedience.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Obedient unto death
R. Jefferey, D. D.
The phrase states the landing place of Christ's careerof humiliation, the
antipodes of the contrast, the nadir below which it was impossible for Him to
go.
I. WHAT IS DEATH — especiallyas expressive of the condition to which
Jesus humbled Himself? Our modern conceptionof death has been so
illumined by the doctrine of Christian immortality that we are inclined to
conceive ofthe death of Christ simply as an analogue of ours. But death, in the
person of Jesus, was the culminating catastrophe in the history of the "Manof
sorrows."To us death is the chalice whose poisonhas been changedby the
chemistry of redeeming love into nectar; to Jesus it was a cup full of the
concentrateddregs of woe. To us it is a shaft whose sting has been removed; to
Him it was an arrow envenomed by the wrath of God againstsin. To us it is a
victory over the last and mightiest form of evil; to Him it was a surrender to
the masterful forces of disorganizationand ruin. To us it is an introduction
into the presence and companionship of God; to Him it was an abandonment
into darkness unrelieved by a ray of Divine light, and whose solitude was

unblessed by a whisper of Divine love. The Atonement was no compromise
betweenthe demands of justice and the pleadings of mercy. Justice was
exactedof Jesus, and mercy was proffered to man. The Deity of Christ gave
inconceivable sensitivenessto the agonizedconsciousnessofJesus;and who
shall say that, in that brief hour, Jesus did not experience a sense of the awful
demerit of sin and of the fierceness ofGod's wrath againstit transcending the
anguish of a lost soul?
II. JESUS BECAME OBEDIENT UNTO DEATHin that —
1. Deathwas the objective end of His mission. He came in order to do. It is
possible to conceive that Jesus might have assumedour nature without
submitting to the law of death. In becoming a man He did not necessarily
become mortal, for mortality is not an essentialcondition of humanity. Adam
was human, but he was not createdmortal. Mortality, with Him, was a
consequence ofdisobedience;and so Jesus, in becoming human, had He seen
fit, might have been exempt from the law of death, or might have passedaway
by a translation, such as is recorded of Enochand Elijah, and such as did
transpire in His own history after He had risen, to die no more. But neither of
these possibilities were consistentwith the mission of Jesus. Without dying,
His objectin coming into the world would have failed of being accomplished.
In this respectHis death differed from ours; we are not brought into this
world simply for the purpose of dying; we die because we cannothelp dying.
But it behoved Jesus to die. He became obedient unto death. If His objectin
coming into the world was to save men by the lustre of His living and by the
splendour of His philosophy, why need He to have died, and why, especially,
need He always have insisted upon the necessityofHis death, in order that by
dying He might accomplishthe objectwhich He had undertaken?
2. By the voluntary surrender of His life. Death, to us, is a surrender to an
inevitable, from which we would prefer to be exempt, and at the bestin most
cases, it is a passive submission to a necessity, but the death of Jesus was Jesus
in action.

3. In that His dying was the supreme expressionof His submission to the will
of the Father. It was the fitting crownof a life whose explanation was "My
meat is to do the will," etc.
III. WHY, IN THE ECONOMYOF GOD WAS IT NEEDFULTHAT JESUS
SHOULD SUBMIT TO DEATH?
1. BecauseHis subjection to the law of death was the highest, and an
exhaustive testof the absolute subordination of His will to the will of His
Father.
2. The obedience of Jesus unto death became the exhaustive ground on which
God could justly remit the penalty pronounced againstthe sinner.
3. As the rewardof His obedience Jesus was empoweredwith the prerogative
of bestowing the gift of eternal life on all that believe on His name.
(R. Jefferey, D. D.)
The death of the cross was
R. H. Giles, B. A.
I.A VOLUNTARY death.
II.A death of INFINITE LOVE.
III.A death of KINGLY POWER.
IV.A death of TERRIBLE BODILY PAIN AND MYSTERIOUS MENTAL
ANGUISH.
V.A death of CALM ASSURANCE.
(R. H. Giles, B. A.)
The passionof our blessedSaviour

L. Barrow, D. D.
1. When in consequence oforiginal apostasyfrom God man had forfeited the
Divine amity, when having desertedhis natural Lord, other lords had got
dominion over him, when according to an eternal rule of justice he stood
adjudged to destruction, when all the world stoodguilty before God and no
remedy did appear, God out of infinite goodness designedourredemption.
2. How could this happy design be compassedin consistencewith the glory,
justice, and truth of God?
3. God was pleasedto prosecute it, as thereby no wise to impair but rather to
advance His glory. He accordinglywould be sued for mercy, nor would he
grant it without compensation, and so did find us a Mediator and furnish us
with means to satisfyHim.
4. But how? Where was there a Mediatorworthy to intercede on our behalf?
Where amongstmen, one, howeverinnocent, sufficient to do more than satisfy
for himself? Where among angels, seeing thatthey cannot discharge more
than their own debts of gratitude and service?
4. Wherefore seeing that a superabundant dignity of personwas required
God's arm brought salvation.
5. But how could Godundertake the business? Could He become a suitor to
His offended self? No, man must concur in the transaction: some amends must
issue from him as the offending party. So the Eternal Word assumedhuman
flesh and merited God's favour to us by a perfectobedience to the law, and
satisfying Divine justice by pouring forth His blood in sacrifice for our sins. In
this kind of passion(the death of the cross)considerdivers notable adjuncts.
I. ITS BEING IN APPEARANCE CRIMINAL, as in semblance being an
executionof justice on Him. "He was numbered among the transgressors."
"Made sin for us." He was impeachedof the highest crimes, and, although
innocent, for them suffered death. But why such a death, since any would
have been sufficient; and why such a death odious alike to Jew and Gentile?

1. As our Saviour freely undertook a life of the greatestmeanness and
hardship, so we might be pleasedto undergo such a death.(1)It has been well
said that "no man expresses sucha devotion to virtue as he who forfeits the
repute of being a goodman, that he may not lose the conscience ofbeing
such." So our Lord was content not only to expose His life, but His fame, for
the interestof goodness.(2)Had He died otherwise, He might have seemedto
purchase our welfare at a somewhateasierrate. He industriously shunned a
death such as might have brought Him honour when exposedto it by the
malignity of the Pharisees. Accordinglythis death did not fall on Him by
surprise or chance. He foresaw it from the beginning, and regardedit with
satisfaction.
2. This death best suited the characterofHis undertaking. We deserve open
condemnation and exemplary punishment, wherefore He was pleasedto
undergo not only an equivalent pain for us, but in a sort equal blame before
God and man.
3. Seeing that our Lord's death was a satisfactionto Divine justice, it was most
fit that it should be in a way wherein God's right is most nearly concernedand
plainly discernible. All judgment, as Moses says,is God's, or is administered
by authority derived from Him, magistrates being His officers. So our Lord,
as His answerto Pilate testifies, receivedthe human judgment as God's. Had
He suffered by private malice, His obedience had been less remarkable.
4. Our Saviourin any other waycould hardly have displayed so many virtues
to such advantage. His constancy, meekness, charity, etc., were seenby vast
multitudes, and made matters of the greatestnotoriety. Plato says that to
approve a man righteous, he must be scourged, tortured, bound, have his eyes
burnt out, and, at the close, having suffered all evils, must be impaled. The
Greeks, then, in consistencewith their own wisdom, could not reasonably
scornthe Cross, whichChrist freely chose to recommend the most excellent
virtues to imitation.
II. ITS BEING MOST PAINFUL, which demonstrated —
1. The vehemence of His love.

2. The heinousness of our sins.
3. The value of the compensation.
4. The exemplification of the hardest duties of obedience and patience.
III. ITS BEING MOST SHAMEFUL — a Roman punishment reservedfor
slaves, answering to the Jewishpunishment of hanging up dead bodies.
"Cursedis every one that hangeth on a tree."
1. This, ignominious in itself, exposedthe sufferer to the scornof the rude
vulgar.
2. We need not doubt that our Saviour, as a man, endowed with human
sensibilities, felt these indignities; and not only so, but the infinite dignity of
His personand the perfectinnocency of His life must have enhanced His
sufferings. And so we read, "See if there be any sorrow like my sorrow."
3. And further, there was the shameful burden of sin which He bore.
IV. ITS PECULIAR ADVANTAGEOUSNESS TO THE DESIGNS OF OUR
LORD IN SUFFERING.
1. It was very notorious, and lasted a competenttime. Had He been privately
or suddenly dispatched, no great notice would have been taken of it, nor
would it have been so fully proved.
2. The nature of His kingdom was thereby signified. None but a spiritual
kingdom could He have designedwho submitted to this suffering.
3. It was a most convenienttouchstone to prove the genuine disposition and
work of men, so as to discriminate those who can discernand love true
goodness thoughso disfigured, and not be scandalizedby the Cross.
4. By it God's specialprovidence was discovered, and His glory illustrated in
the propagationof the gospel;for how could such a sufferer gain so generalan
opinion in the world of being the Lord of life and glory without God's
miraculous aid?

V. ITS PRACTICALEFFICACY. No point is more fruitful in wholesome
instruction, more forcible to kindle devout affections, more efficacious in
affording incentives to a pious life.
1. We are hence obliged with affectionand gratitude to adore eachpersonin
the blessedTrinity.
(1)The Fathergiving the Son.
(2)The Songiving Himself.
(3)The Spirit assisting the Sonto offer Himself without spot.
2. What surer ground can there be of faith and hope in God "If God spared
not His own Son, etc." Who can doubt of God's goodness, despairof God's
mercy, after this.
3. It should yield greatjoy to know that Christ hung there not only as a
resolute sufferer, but as a noble conquerorover the devil, the world, the flesh,
death, wrath, enmity, and strife, etc.
4. It should give us a humbling sense ofour weaknessandvileness to know
that we needed such succour. Pride is madness in the presence ofHim who
made Himself of no reputation.
5. But as this contemplation doth breed soberhumility, it should also preserve
us from base abjectness ofmind; for had not Godesteemedus, He would not
have debasedHimself.
6. Can we reflecton this event without detestationof sin, which brought such
a death on the Redeemer.
7. What in reasoncanbe more powerful towards working penitential sorrow
and religious fear, and stimulating true obedience?
8. It affords strong engagements to charity, to know that out of compassion
for us Christ suffered.
9. It should breed a disregardfor the world and its vanities, and reconcile us
to even the worstcondition? Forwho can suffer as Christ suffered. 10. It will

incline us to submit cheerfully to God's will to remember that Christ learned
obedience by the things He suffered.
(L. Barrow, D. D.)
The Cross the fountain of merit
W. H. Hutchings, M. A.
I. THE NATURE OF CHRIST'S MERIT.
1. Let us gain a clearidea of a meritorious act.(1)It must be good. Actions
claiming the highestregards of Godare those which have an intrinsic
perfectness, andwhich, when lookedaton all sides, are in entire
correspondence withthe mind and will of God. Christ's actions in perfectness
contrastwith those of the creature. Their peculiar goodness arisesfrom the
absence ofany stain of sin and any material defect: our goodactions have
both these drawbacks.(2)It must be voluntary. Even an heroic action loses its
moral value if necessitated. Personaleffortfreely made lies at the root of all
sacrifice. Christ's actions were of this character(Romans 15:36;Luke
22:42).(3)Our Lord's actions could have obtained no merit, whatevertheir
perfection, had they resulted only from His natural powers. Nature, even
when pure, cannot purchase a supernatural reward. Grace must aid and
enrich the operation of the human faculties. Even in Christ grace imparted
worth to His natural actions (John 5:19). Christ as man had within Himself
the foundations of a true merit, and by His Divine personality communicated
to His actions an infinite value.
2. Yet after all, with this combination of natural, super natural, and Divine
energies in the work of Christ, its claim on Divine retribution must rest on
some covenantor promise. Merit in the sense of an action to which a reward is
due on grounds of justice can only exist where there is some stipulation. The
merit which appeals to goodnesssets up no claim; that which rests on fidelity
involves a promise; that which trusts to the justice of the rewarderimplies a
covenant. Not to reward in the one case may be churlishness; in the other it
would be to break one's word; whilst in the third there would be positive

dishonesty. For God therefore to be liable to any claim, He must have
graciouslycondescendedto involve Himself in an obligation. Such a covenant
was made with Abraham (Hebrews 6:17, 18). The entering into covenant and
confirming by an oath were human types and shadows of the greatcovenant
betweenGod and man in Christ (Hebrews 7:21). God has entered into
covenantwith man in Christ to crown with a rewardthose works which
Christ first wrought in Himself, and after wards by His grace shouldwork
through His members. All is traceable to Divine mercy as its first source
(Psalm 62:12), yet it is the Divine justice which is representedas under an
obligation to repay the services whichare rendered (Hebrews 6:10). There is
nothing derogatoryto the sacredmanhoodof Christ in this covenant. If the
Son could address the Father, and say, "Lo, I come," etc., we canconceive the
human will of Christ in fulfilling the Father's will as resting on the Divine
promise (Psalm 16:10, 11;Acts 1:4).
II. THE CROSS AS ITS FOUNTAIN.
1. The merit of the Cross restedon the whole of His life: as He foresaw His
passion, so He acceptedit.
2. The Cross is the great instrument in the acquirement of merit on two
grounds. Merit may be calculatedby the condition of the person who merits,
or by the difficulty of the action. Thus if Adam in Paradise, and some of His
fallen descendants were to perform the same virtuous action, the act of the
former would have more merit in the one sense;the actof the latter in the
other. In the latter sense the Cross outstrips all other portions of our Saviour's
life in its value. In it the activities of endurance were taxed to the utmost limit.
To bear up under fierce pain for a few hours is a greatertest of moral
strength than the lifelong efforts of a healthy person. Not, however, that
suffering in itself is acceptable to God; the thief suffered; it was the way in
which the purpose for which it was borne which made it acceptable.
3. The Cross completedthe treasure of merit. The Cross was the ultimate limit
of those labours which purchaseda reward. The resurrection, ascension, etc.,
could add nothing. Merit ceasedwith the Cross:what follows is reward (John
19:30).

4. The atoning value of the Cross lay in the removal of a hindrance: its
meritoriousness acquireda positive gain. The removal of sin was the
preliminary to Divine communications. Human nature was not left in a state
of neutrality, as if God should look upon it without wrath or favour, hut was
againto become the subject of Divine complacency.
III. THE OBJECT FOR WHOM THIS MERIT WAS ACQUIRED.
1. ForHimself (ver. 9; Hebrews 2:9; Luke 24:26, 46; Psalm110:7; Hebrews
12:2). It was not simply glory for His body that He purchased, but exaltation
and kingly power; a name above every name.
2. Forall. He took the nature of all, and thus merited for all (Hebrews 2:14).
But although He merited for all, all do not receive the grace He purchased. A
fountain is useless to the thirsty unless they drink. What is necessarytherefore
is for us to become the recipients of His grace? We must have union with
Christ for pardon and life (John 15:16; John 1:16; 2 Peter1:4). Christ saves
by becoming a new principle of life in the soulthrough the actionof the Divine
Spirit.
(W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)
Christ's humiliation and exaltation
Bishop Andrewes.
(text and following): —
I. "FOR THIS CAUSE."
1. A cause there is. God ever exalts for a cause. Here on earth it is otherwise.
Some men as Shebna, Haman, Sanballat, are exalted no man knows wherefor.
2. Forwhat cause? His humility. Of all causes notfor that, says the world. The
word was not in the list of heathen virtues. Yet this lastvirtue is the ground of
Christ exulting.(1) "He humbled" — so greata person. For one of mean estate
to be humble is no greatpraise, it were a fault were he not; but for a king, nay
the King of kings to show this greathumility, is a cause indeed.(2) "Himself."

Of His own accord. One may be humbled and not humble. Pharaohwas
humbled by His ten plagues. Simon was compelledto humble his neck under
the Cross. Buthere is true humility.(3) It was not Absalom's humility, in
show, his heart being full of pride and rebellion. And yet it is a glory for
humility that even proud men take a pride to shroud themselves in her
mantle. But it is not humble courtesy, but humble obedience here.(4)But
there is an obedience which comethfrom natural reason;but some other there
be wherein there is no other reasonbut the will of a lawful superior. All look
to the former, very few to the latter; but even so obeyed Christ.(5)The extent
of our obedience is a matter considerable. Obedience in some petty matter is
little worth. How far obedient? Until what? Unto humanity had been enough,
to servitude were more. But Christ's obedience was unto —(a) Death. That
staggersthe bestof us. We love obedience in a whole skin. And why should
obedience come to that? Deathis the wages ofsin. Obedient and yet put to
death? Even so;rather than lose His obedience He lost His life.(b) The worst
death. Nay, if He must die, let Him die a honest fair death. Not so.
II. "GOD HATH HIGHLY EXALTED HIM." This exaltationis —
1. Personal.(1)From whence. Fromdeath. His humiliation had been to the
ground, into the lowestparts of it; His exaltationwas from thence.(2)
Whither. From death to life, from shame to glory, from the form of a servant
to the dignity of a sovereign. Notto Lazarus' life again, but to life immortal;
from shame to the glory of the Father which shall never fade, as all here shall.
2. The exaltation of His name, the amends for the Cross. Without a name what
is exalting? Things that are exaltedseemnot to be so until their name go
abroad in the world. And when men are so high that they cannot gethigher
there is no wayto exalt them but to dilate their names, which every noble
generous spirit had rather have than any dignity. How will they jeopard
dignity and even life but to leave a glorious name behind them. But what
name was given here? "the name of Jesus."(1)Ofthis giving three doubts
arise.(a)How given. Him and others had it also (Hebrews 4:8; Haggai1:1).
They had it of men, He of God. All these Jesuseshadneed of and were glad
"to lay hold of the skirts" of this Jesus to be saved by Him.(b) He had it
before. True, but by a kind of anticipation, for it never had its perfect

verification till after the crucifixion.(c) But if given Him ἐχαρίσατο "ofgrace,"
where is the merit then? Answer. That which is due may be cheerfully parted
with as though it were a gift. But this grace is not the grace of adoption, but
that of union.(2) How is this name above all names.(a)To Him. It is esteemed
more than any other title of Deity by Him; because His glory is in it joined to
our safety.(b) To us. For it is the only name by which we can be saved. With
this name there is comfort in the name of God; without it none at all.
3. "Thatat the name of Jesus," etc. God, though He have so exalted it, yet
reckons it not exalteduntil we exalt it too. So we are to esteemit above every
name, and to show our esteemby bowing with the knee and confessing with
the tongue.(1)These are outward acts:so the exalting of the soul is not
enough. Our body is to afford her part, and not the upper parts, the tongue in
the head, but also the lower, the knee in the leg.(2)"Everyknee" —(a) "Shall
bow," for what better way to exalt Him than by our humility, who for His
humility was exalted. This honour is awardedChrist for the death of the
Cross;shall we, then, rob Him of it? And He will not have us worship Him
like elephants, as if we had no joints in our knees;He will have more honour
of men than of pillars in the Church.(b) Bow to His name. His person is out of
sight, but His name is left behind that we may do reverence to it. But why to
this name rather than to that of Christ? Christ cannot be the name of God, for
God cannot be anointed. Christ was anointed that He might be Jesus —
Saviour. But it is not to the syllables of the name that we are to bow. The
name is not the sound but the sense — Him who is named. Of course a
superstitious use has been made of this act; so there has of hearing sermons.
Shall we therefore abandon hearing as well as kneeling? No! Remove the
superstition and retain both. It is well to drive away superstition, but it will be
well not to drive awayreverence with it.(3) He farther requires somewhat
from the tongue. And reason:that member of all others is our glory (Psalm
57:8), our peculiarity above the beasts;they will be taught to bow, we have
tongues to do something more than they. Besides the knee is only dumb
acknowledgment, but a vocalconfessionutters our mind plainly, and this He
calls ἐξομολόγησις. Three things are in it. λόγος we must saysomewhat;ὀμοῦ,
do it together, not some speak and others keep mute; εξ, speak out, not
whisper. And it was the praise of the primitive Church that they did it jointly

and aloud; that their Amen, as saith, was like a clap of thunder, and their
Hallelujah as the roaring of the sea.(b)Why the knee first — because we
thereby put ourselves in mind of due regard to Him in reverence, and are
therefore the fitter to speak of and to Him with respect.(c)Everyknee and
tongue. They in heaven"castdown their crowns and fall down" and confess
Him singing (Revelation4:10); they under the earth are thrown down and
made His footstool(Psalm110:1);they on earth, as in the midst, partake of
both. The better sort getto their knees gladly, and cheerfully confess Him.
Infidels and Christians little better are forced to "fall backward," andin the
end to cry "VicistiGalilaee," thoughthey guard their tongues when they have
done.(d) See our lot. Exalted He shall be with our wills or without them.
Either fall on our knees now, or be caston our faces then; either confess Him
with saints and angels, or with devils and damned spirits.(e)Every tongue
shall do this, i.e., every speechand dialectin the world. Where are they, then,
who deny any tongue the faculty here granted, or bar any of them the duty
here enjoined, that lock up the public confessionin some one tongue or two?
4. But though thus many tongues, one confessionthat "Jesus Christis
Lord."(1) Lord whereof? (Matthew 16:19;Revelation3:7; Revelation1:18;
Revelation20:2-3).(2)No man can confess this "but by the Holy Ghost."(3)
Confess what? that Jesus is a Lord to save (Matthew 14:30), and a Lord to
serve (Acts 9:6). The first we like well, but the latter not so (Luke 6:46).
5. "To the glory of the Father," whose greatgloryit is that His Son is Lord of
such servants, that men shall say, "see whatservants He hath." How full of
reverence to His name! How free and forward to do His will.
(Bishop Andrewes.)
Humility
J. Vaughan, M. A.
The flowerof humility fills the air with perfume, but its leaves lie hidden in
the shade.

(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Christ's obedience unto death
J. Hutchinson, D. D.
His was no mere resignation, for that is the attitude of the soul toward the
inevitable, h creature may risk his life, indeed, provided the aim be a true and
noble one; but no right is his to throw it away. He is, on the contrary, bound
to conserve it, if he car, do so without the sacrifice ofhigher interests. But
Christ Jesus in His perfectobedience died, because He so willed, and when
and as He willed. There stands in a Strasburg church a monument suggestive
in its sculptured group. It is the figure of a warrior before an open grave.
Deathat his side is touching him with his inevitable dart, and he is
representedas descending with manly step, but saddenedbrow, into the
sepulchre yawning at his feet. Thus is depicted the lot of our common
humanity. "It is appointed unto men once to die," and when death comes, he
comes resistlessly. Thus are depicted, further, the noble submissionand
fortitude with which the brave man, brave because he is good, meets death.
But with the Captain of our salvationit was far otherwise. He had His life
either to give or to keep. He gave His life with all its preciousness,a freewill
offering, a priceless sacrifice"ofa sweet-smelling savourunto God."
(J. Hutchinson, D. D.)
Obedient unto death
W. Harris.
During the wars of the first Napoleon, in a naval engagement, the son of the
captain of a vesselwas placedby his father at a certain post and chargedto
keepit till his return. The captain was killed, and his vesselgivenover to the
enemy. The boy's position became dangerous, and he was urged to quit it.
"No," saidhe, "my father told me to staytill he came back." And so listening

in vain for the voice which alone he would obey, he perished in the explosion
of the ship.
(W. Harris.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(7) But made himself . . .—This verse needs more exacttranslation. It should
be, But emptied (or, stripped) Himself of His glory by having takenon Him
the form of a slave and having been made (or, born) in likeness of men. The
“glory” is the “glorywhich He had with the Father before the world was”
(John 17:5; comp. Philippians 1:14), clearly corresponding to the Shechinah
of the Divine Presence. Ofthis He stripped Himself in the Incarnation, taking
on Him the “form (or, nature) of a servant” of God. He resumed it for a
moment in the Transfiguration;He was crownedwith it anew at the
Ascension.
Made in the likeness ofman.—This clause, atfirst sight, seems to weakenthe
previous clause, for it does not distinctly express our Lord’s true humanity.
But we note that the phrase is “the likeness ofmen,” i.e., of men in general,
men as they actually are. Hence the key to the meaning is to be found in such
passagesas Romans 8:3, God sentHis own Son in “the likeness ofsinful
flesh;” or Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 4:15, “It behoved Him to be made like unto
His brethren,” “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” It would
have been an infinite humiliation to have assumed humanity, even in unique
and visible glory; but our Lord went beyond this, by deigning to seemlike
other men in all things, one only of the multitude, and that, too, in a station,
which confused Him with the commoner types of mankind. The truth of His
humanity is expressedin the phrase “form of a servant;” its unique and ideal
characteris glancedat when it is said to have worn only the “likenessofmen.”

BensonCommentary
Php 2:7. But — Or, nevertheless, as αλλα frequently signifies, and is rendered
in our version, particularly Mark 14:36;John 11:15; 1 Corinthians 9:12;
Galatians 4:30; 2 Timothy 1:12. This is mentioned, because the critics, who
would render the lastclause, he did not covet, or catchat, a likeness to, or
equality with God, build much of their argument on the oppositionof the two
clauses, andthe force of this particle αλλα; as if the sense were, He did not
affectthis equality, but humbled himself; an interpretation which, as Bishop
Burnet well observes, “is extremelycold and insipid, as if it were a mighty
argument of humility, that though Christ wrought miracles, which they
strangelythink to be signified by the phrase of being in the form of God, yet
he did not setup for Supreme Deity!” But the truth is, the powerof working
miracles is never, in Scripture, styled the form of God; and, indeed, were this
all that was intended by that phrase, both Mosesand Elias, and our Lord’s
apostles, might, upon that account, be saidto have been in the form of God;
seeing both Moses and Elias wrought many miracles on earth; and Christ
declaredconcerning his disciples, that they should work greatermiracles than
he had wrought. Made himself of no reputation — Greek, εαυτονεκενωσε,
literally, he emptied himself; divested himself both of the form of God, and of
the worship due to him as God, when he was made in the likeness ofmen. In
other words, he was so far from tenaciouslyinsisting upon, that he willingly
relinquished, his claim: he was content to forego the glories of the Creator,
and to appear in the form of a creature:nay, to be made in the likeness ofthe
fallen creatures;and not only to share in the disgrace, but to suffer the
punishment due to the meanestand vilest of them all. He emptied himself: for
though in a sense he remained full, (John 1:14,)yet he appeared as if he had
been empty; for he veiled his fulness, at leastfrom the sight of men; yea, he
not only veiled, but in some sense renouncedthe glory which he had before the
world was:taking, and by that very act emptying himself, the form of a
servant — To his Father and to his Father’s creatures;yea, to men, even to
poor and mean men, being among his disciples as one that served. And was
made — Or born, as γενομενος may be properly rendered; in the likeness of
men — Subject to all our wants and infirmities, and resembling us in all

things but sin. And hereby he took the form of a servant; and his doing this
would have been astonishing humiliation, even if he had appeared possessed
of the wealth, power, and glory of the greatestmonarch;but it was much
more so, as he assumedhuman nature in a state of poverty, reproach, and
suffering. This expression, it must be observed, born in the likeness ofmen,
does not imply that Christ had only the appearance of a man: for the word
ομοιωμα,renderedlikeness, oftendenotes sameness ofnature. Thus Adam is
said, (Genesis 5:3,)to begeta son in his own likeness, afterhis image; and
Christ, ομοιωθηναι,to be made like his brethren in all things, by partaking of
flesh and blood, Hebrews 2:14-17. Or, In the likeness of men, may mean in the
likeness ofsinful men, as it is expressedRomans 8:3; made subject to all those
pains, diseases, andevils which sinful men endure. The antithesis in this
passageis elegant. Formerly, Christ was in the form of God; but, when born
into the world, he appearedin the form of a servant, and in the likeness of
men.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
2:5-11 The example of our Lord Jesus Christ is set before us. We must
resemble him in his life, if we would have the benefit of his death. Notice the
two natures of Christ; his Divine nature, and human nature. Who being in the
form of God, partaking the Divine nature, as the eternaland only-begotten
Son of God, Joh1:1, had not thought it a robbery to be equal with God, and to
receive Divine worship from men. His human nature; herein he became like
us in all things except sin. Thus low, of his own will, he stoopedfrom the glory
he had with the Fatherbefore the world was. Christ's two states, of
humiliation and exaltation, are noticed. Christ not only took upon him the
likeness and fashion, or form of a man, but of one in a low state;not
appearing in splendour. His whole life was a life of poverty and suffering. But
the loweststepwas his dying the death of the cross, the death of a malefactor
and a slave;exposedto public hatred and scorn. The exaltationwas of
Christ's human nature, in union with the Divine. At the name of Jesus, notthe
mere sound of the word, but the authority of Jesus, allshould pay solemn
homage. It is to the glory of God the Father, to confess that Jesus Christis
Lord; for it is his will, that all men should honour the Son as they honour the

Father, Joh 5:23. Here we see such motives to self-denying love as nothing else
can supply. Do we thus love and obey the Son of God?
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
But made himself of no reputation - This translation by no means conveys the
sense ofthe original According to this it would seemthat he consentedto be
without distinction or honor among people; or that he was willing to be
despisedor disregarded. The Greek is ἑαυτονἐκένωσεν heauton ekenōsen.
The word κενόω kenoō means literally, to empty, "to make empty, to make
vain or void." It is rendered: "made void" in Romans 4:14; "made of none
effect," 1 Corinthians 1:17; "make void," 1 Corinthians 9:15; "should be
vain," 2 Corinthians 9:3. The word does not occurelsewhere in the New
Testament, exceptin the passagebefore us. The essentialidea is that of
bringing to emptiness, vanity, or nothingness;and, hence, it is applied to a
case where one lays aside his rank and dignity, and becomes in respectto that
as nothing; that is, he assumes a more humble rank and station. In regard to
its meaning here, we may remark:
(1) that it cannot mean that he literally divested himself of his divine nature
and perfections, for that was impossible. He could not cease to be omnipotent,
and omnipresent, and most holy, and true, and good.
(2) it is conceivable thathe might have laid aside, for a time, the symbols or
the manifestationof his glory, or that the outward expressions ofhis majesty
in heaven might have been withdrawn. It is conceivable for a divine being to
intermit the exercise ofhis almighty power, since it cannotbe supposedthat
God is always exerting his power to the utmost. And in like manner there
might be for a time a laying aside or intermitting of these manifestations or
symbols, which were expressive of the divine glory and perfections. Yet,
(3) this supposes no change in the divine nature, or in the essentialgloryof the
divine perfections. When the sun is obscuredby a cloud, or in an eclipse, there
is no realchange of its glory, nor are his beams extinguished, nor is the sun
himself in any measure changed. His luster is only for a time obscured. So it
might have been in regardto the manifestation of the glory of the Son of God.
Of course there is much in regardto this which is obscure, but the language of

the apostle undoubtedly implies more than that he took an humble place, or
that he demeaned himself in an humble manner. In regard to the actual
change respecting his manifestations in heaven, or the withdrawing of the
symbols of his glory there, the Scriptures are nearly silent, and conjecture is
useless - perhaps improper. The language before us fairly implies that he laid
aside that which was expressive of his being divine - that glory which is
involved in the phrase "being in the form of God" - and took upon himself
another form and manifestationin the condition of a servant.
And took upon him the form of a servant - The phrase "form of a servant,"
should be allowedto explain the phrase "form of God," in Philippians 2:6.
The "form of a servant" is that which indicates the condition of a servant, in
contradistinction from one of higher rank. It means to appearas a servant, to
perform the offices ofa servant, and to be regardedas such. He was made like
a servant in the lowly condition which he assumed. The whole connectionand
force of the argument here demands this interpretation. Storr and
Rosenmullerinterpret this as meaning that he became the servant or minister
of God, and that in doing it, it was necessarythat he should become a man.
But the objection to this is obvious. It greatly weakens the force of the
apostle's argument. His objectis to state the depth of humiliation to which he
descended, and this was bestdone by saying that he descendedto the lowest
condition of humanity and appearedin the most humble garb. The idea of
being a "servantor minister of God" would not express that, for this is a term
which might be applied to the highestangel in heaven. Though the Lord Jesus
was not literally a servant or slave, yet what is here affirmed was true of him
in the following respects:
(1) He occupieda most lowly condition in life.
(2) he condescendedto perform such acts as are appropriate only to those who
are servants. "I am among you as he that serveth;" Luke 22:27;compare
John 13:4-15.
And was made in the likeness ofmen - Margin, habit. The Greek wordmeans
likeness, resemblance. The meaning is, he was made like unto people by
assuming such a body as theirs; see the notes at Romans 8:3.

Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
7. made himself of no reputation, and … and—rather as the Greek, "emptied
Himself, taking upon him the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of
men." The two latter clauses (there being no conjunctions, "and … and," in
the Greek)expressesin what Christ's "emptying of Himself" consists, namely,
in "taking the form of a servant" (see on [2384]Heb10:5; compare Ex 21:5, 6,
and Ps 40:6, proving that it was at the time when He assumeda body, He took
"the form of a servant"), and in order to explain how He took "the form of a
servant," there is added, by "being made in the likeness ofmen." His
subjection to the law (Lu 2:21; Ga 4:4) and to His parents (Lu 2:51), His low
state as a carpenter, and carpenter's reputed son (Mt 13:55; Mr 6:3), His
betrayal for the price of a bond-servant (Ex 21:32), and slave-like deathto
relieve us from the slaveryof sin and death, finally and chiefly, His servant-
like dependence as man on God, while His divinity was not outwardly
manifested (Isa 49:3, 7), are all marks of His "form as a servant." This
proves: (1) He was in the form of a servantas soonas He was made man. (2)
He was "in the form of God" before He was "in the form of a servant." (3) He
did as really subsist in the divine nature, as in the form of a servant, or in the
nature of man. For He was as much "in the form of God" as "in the form of a
servant";and was so in the form of God as "to be on an equality with God";
He therefore could have been none other than God; for God saith, "To whom
will ye liken Me and make Me equal?" (Isa 46:5), [Bishop Pearson]. His
emptying Himself presupposes His previous plenitude of Godhead(Joh 1:14;
Col 1:19; 2:9). He remained full of this; yet He bore Himself as if He were
empty.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
But; some expound this particle as a discretive, others an adversative, or
redditive.
Made himself of no reputation; i.e. most wittingly emptied himself, or abated
himself, of the all fulness of glory he had equally with Godthe Father, that,
considering the disproportion betweenthe creature and the Creator, he, in the

eyes of those amongstwhom he tabernacled, appearedto have nothing of
reputation left him, Daniel9:26. It is not said the form of God was cut off, or
did empty itself; but he who did suffer in the form of God, made himself of no
account, did empty, abate, or abase himself, (so the apostle elsewhere actively
and passivelyuseth the word, 1 Corinthians 11:15, with 2 Corinthians 9:3),
and that indeed while subsisting in the form of God, (according to agreement,
Zechariah 6:15 13:7), not by laying aside the nature of God, but in some other
way, i.e. his own way, kept secrettill he was pleasedto manifest it, Romans
16:25 Colossians1:26;by freely coming in the flesh, 1 Timothy 3:16 Hebrews
10:7; which is such an astonishing wonder, and mysterious abasement, as
gains the greatestvenerationfrom his saints. Thus for a little time laying
aside, at his ownpleasure withdrawing, and going aside from his glorious
majesty, he lessenedhimself for the salvationof his people. He had a liberty
not to show his majesty, fulness, and glory during his pleasure, so that he
could (as to our eyes)contractand shadow it, John 1:14 Colossians2:9. His
condescensionwas free, and unconstrained with the consentof his Father,
John 3:13; so that thongh the Scripture saith: The MostHigh dwelleth not in
temples made with hands, 1 Kings 8:27 Isaiah 66:1 Mark 5:7 Acts 7:48, yet
the Sonof the Highest can, at his own pleasure, show or eclipse his own
glorious brightness, abate or let out his fulness, exalt or abase himself in
respectof us. However, in his ownsimple and absolute nature, he be without
variableness or shadow of turning, Jam 1:17 being his Father’s equal, and so
abides most simple and immutable; yet respectivelyto his state, and what he
had to manage for the redemption of lost man, with regard to the discoveryhe
made of himself in the revelation of his Divine properties, the
acknowledgmentand celebrationof them by the creatures, he emptied
himself, not by ceasing to be what he was before, equal with his Father, or
laying down the essentialform of God, according to which he was equal to
God; but by taking
the form of a servant, wherein he was like to men, i.e. assuming something to
himself he had not before, viz. the human nature; veiling himself, as the sun is
said to be veiled, not in itself but in regard of the intervening cloud, Matthew
27:39-45;what could hinder that he should not manifest his excellencynow

more, then less clearly;men one while acknowledging and praising it, another
while neither acknowledging nor praising of it, then againpraising of it, yet
more sparingly? He, by taking the form of a mean man, might so obscure the
dignity of his person, as to the acknowledgmentof him to be the Sonof God,
equal with his Father, that in vouching himself to be so he might be accounted
a blasphemer; John 10:36; and, during that appearance, notseemto be the
MostHigh; even as a king, by laying aside the tokens of his royalty, and
putting on the habit of a merchant, when all the while he ceasethnot to be
king, or the highest in his own dominions. Hence the MostHigh may be
considered, either in regard of his nature, wherein he holdeth the highest
degree of perfection, or in regardof those personalacts he performs in the
business of our salvation. In the former, Christ is the MostHigh; in the latter,
our Mediator. So the form of God was the term from which, and the form of a
servant the term to which, he moved in his demission, or abasement;which
did not simply lie in an assumption or union of the human nature to the
Divine, for this doth abide still in Christ highly exalted, but in taking the form
of a servant, which with the human nature he took, by being sentforth, made
of a woman, under the law, Galatians 4:4, but by his resurrectionand
glorification, lestthat relation or habit of a servant, (being such a one who was
also a Son, and a Lord, Hebrews 1:2, with Hebrews 3:6), when yet he retains
the human nature still. As therefore he was of the seedof David according to
the flesh, Romans 1:3, though before he had not flesh; so he took the form of a
servant in the likeness ofman, according to his human nature, although
before he took that form he could not have human nature: he did not
annihilate any thing he was before, only, of his own accord, boweddown
himself, and veiled his own glory, in taking our nature, therein to be a servant
unto death.
And took upon him the form of a servant; taking, (in the Greek, without any
copulative and before it), in opposition to being, or subsisting; he was in the
form of God, which he had before, and took this, which he had not then, into
the unity of his subsistence, by a personal union, Hebrews 2:16. He was the
servant of God, Isaiah42:1 Matthew 20:28, in the whole work of his

condescension, whichwas gradual, else the apostle’s art to engage the
Philippians to condescensionhad not been cogentfrom Christ’s example. For:
1. He being increate, did assume to himself a created(not angelical, but)
human nature with no reputation, in that regard taking the form of a servant,
wherein he was like a man, as the next clause explains this. It was an infinite,
inconceivable condescensionof the Son of God, to take our nature into union
with himself, whereby he who was very God, in all things like unto his Father,
became like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, Romans 8:3 Hebrews 2:17.
Hence:
2. He did not immediately advance the nature he took into glory, but became a
servant in it to his Father, to perform the most difficult service that ever God
had to do in the world; he was not only
in the likeness ofsinful flesh, as soonas a man, Romans 8:3, of the seedof
Abraham, Hebrews 2:11-16;but subject to the law, Luke 2:42,51 Ga 4:4, in a
mean condition from his birth, despicable in the judgment of the world, his
mother poor, &c., Isaiah 53:2,3 Mt 2:14 8:20 13:55 Mark 6:3 Luke 2:7,22,24
22:27;so that in finishing his work he was exposedto scorn, Psalm22:6,7 Isa
53:1,2;however, all the relation of his service was to God the Father, as his
antecedentcorrelate.
To the further clearing of what went before, the apostle adds, in the likeness,
or habit, of men, without any copulative particle, by apposition for fuller
explication, (compare forecitedparallel places), connoting his employment,
(rather than condition), having a true body and a reasonable soulfor this
purpose, according to the prophecy, to be servantto his Father, Isaiah 42:1.
And if the adversaries say:He only took on him the form of a servant, when
he suffered himself to be beaten, &c.;it is easily answered:These were only

consequents upon the form of a servant; one may be a servant, and yet not
beaten; and when they so treated our Saviour, he acconntedit dealing with
him as a malefactor, Luke 22:52. Christ obeyed not men, but God the Father,
to whom alone he was servant, when made man, Psalm40:6-8. It is the nature
of lord and servant, to relate to eachother. Every servant is a man (brutes are
not servants). Labouring in service accompanies the human nature, which is
common to Christ with other men, on whom it crept by the fall: Christ
regards none others’ will but the will of his Father, how hard soeverit was,
even to the laying down of his life for the reconciling of his church to him. And
be sure he died as a man, and not only in the habit of a servant. Only in
human nature could he (as it follows without a particle in the Greek)be made
like unto men, or in the likeness and habit of men. The Hellenists do use words
of similitude, when they designsameness,orthe thing itself, and that indeed
essentially. Forhoweverit be urged, that likeness be opposedto the same, and
that which is true, John 9:9, yet not always;as one egg is like to another, there
is convenience in quality, and that in substance is included. Christ is like to
other men in human properties, and an afflicted state, so that sameness of
nature cannotbe denied, Romans 8:3 Hebrews 2:16,17;or rather sameness of
kind, though not of number, it being by a synecdoche to be understood
generally, Genesis 1:3 Matthew 1:16 John 1:14 Hebrews 4:15 1Jo 1:1 1Jo
4:2,3. The properties of human nature are of the essence he took, who was
found in habit as a man, when yet he was separate from sinners, 2 Corinthians
5:21, with Hebrews 7:26; yet the apostle’s business here, is not of Christ’s
sinlessnessin that condition, but of his condescending love, in taking on him
that condition, being sent in the likeness ofsinful flesh, yet without sin. It is a
likeness ofnature to all men, and not a likeness ofinnocency only to the first,
Genesis 5:1, that Paul here speaks of:And as it is said, John 1:14: The Word
was made flesh; so here, Christ is made in the likeness ofmen, that we may
understand it is the same numerical person, who was in the form of God, that
was made man; the abasementof God-man being so great, that he was made
like to man, i.e. to mere and bare man, though he was more. Nor only did he
appear in many forms, (as might be under the Old Testament), or was joined
to man, but personallyassumeda true body and a reasonable soul, and so was
very man, as well as very God. For when it is not said simply made man, but
with that addition, in the likeness, it is done to a notable limitation of his

station on eachpart; on God’s part it imports, Christ did not lay aside the
Divine nature, but only (veiled) his majesty and power; on man’s, to exclude
sin, viz. that he was true man, yet only like to all other men. But what is now
the natural affection of all men from the fall of Adam, and is an infirmity and
abatement, as to that, he was without sin, and only in the likeness ofsinful
flesh.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
But made himself of no reputation,.... Or "nevertheless emptiedhimself"; not
of that fulness of grace which was laid up in him from everlasting, for with
this he appearedwhen he was made flesh, and dwelt among men; nor of the
perfections of his divine nature, which were not in the leastdiminished by his
assumption of human nature, for all the fulness of the Godheaddwelt in him
bodily; though he took that which he had not before, he lost nothing of what
he had; the glory of his divine nature was covered, and out of sight; and
though some rays and beams of it broke out through his works and miracles,
yet his glory, as the only begottenof the Father, was beheld only by a few; the
minds of the far greaterpart were blinded, and their hearts hardened, and
they saw no form nor comeliness in him to desire him; the form of God in
which he was, was hid from them; they reputed him as a mere man, yea, as a
sinful man, even as a worm, and no man: and to be thus esteemed, and had in
such account, he voluntarily subjectedhimself, though infinitely greatand
glorious;as he did not assume deity by rapine, he was not thrust down into
this low estate by force;as the angels that sinned when they affectedto be as
God, were drove from their seats ofglory, and castdown into hell; and when
man, through the instigation of Satan, was desirous of the same, he was
turned out of Eden, and became like the beasts that perish; but this was
Christ's own actand deed, he willingly assentedto it, to lay aside as it were his
glory for a while, to have it veiled and hid, and be reckonedanything, a mere
man, yea, to have a devil, and not be God: O wondrous humility! astonishing
condescension!
and took upon him the form of a servant; this also was voluntary; he "took
upon him", was not obliged, or forced to be in the form of a servant; he
appearedas one in human nature, and was really such; a servantto his

Father, who chose, called, sent, upheld, and regardedhim as a servant; and a
very prudent, diligent, and faithful one he was unto him: and he was also a
servant to his people, and ministered to men; partly by preaching the Gospel
to them, and partly by working miracles, healing their diseases,and going
about to do good, both to the bodies and souls of men; and chiefly by
obtaining eternal redemption for his chosenones, by being made sin and a
curse for them; which though a very toilsome and laborious piece of service,
yet as he cheerfully engaged in it, he diligently attended it, until he had
finished it: so he was often prophesied of as a servant, in Isaiah42:1, in which
severalplaces he is calledin the Targum, , "my servantthe Messiah":put
these two together, "the form of God", and "the form of a servant", and
admire the amazing stoop!
and was made in the likeness ofmen; not of the first Adam, for though, as he,
he was without sin, knew none, nor did any; yet he was rather like to sinful
men, and was sent in the likeness ofsinful flesh, and was traduced and treated
as a sinner, and numbered among transgressors;he was like to men, the most
mean and abject, such as were poor, and in lowerlife, and were of the least
esteemand accountamong men, on any score:or he was like to men in
common, and particularly to his brethren the seedof Abraham, and children
of God that were given him; he partook of the same flesh and blood, he had a
true body, and a reasonable soul, as they; he was subject to the like sorrows
and griefs, temptations, reproaches, and persecutions;and was like them in
everything, excepting sin: a strange and surprising difference this, that he who
was "equalto God", should be "like to sinful men!"
Geneva Study Bible
But made himself of {g} no reputation, and took upon him the {h} form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness ofmen:
(g) He brought himself from all things, as it were to nothing.
(h) By taking our manhood upon him.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary

Php 2:7. Ἀλλʼ ἑαυτὸνἐκένωσε] The emphatically prefixed ἑαυτόνis
correlative to the likewise emphatic ἁρπαγμόνin Php 2:6. Instead of the
ἁρπάζειν, by which he would have entered upon a foreign domain, He has, on
the contrary, emptied Himself, and that, as the context places beyond doubt,
of the divine μορφή, which He possessedbut now exchangedfor a μορφὴ
δούλου;He renounced the divine glorious form which, prior to His
incarnation, was the form of appearance of His God-equal existence, took
instead of it the form of a servant, and became as a man. Those who have
already takenPhp 2:6 as referring to the incarnate Christ (see on ὅς, Php 2:6)
are at once placedin a difficulty by ἐκένωσε, and explain awayits simple and
distinct literal meaning; as, for instance, Calvin: “supprimendo … deposuit;”
Calovius (comp. Form. Conc. pp. 608, 767):“veluti (?) deposuit, quatenus eam
(gloriam div.) non perpetuo manifestavit atque exseruit;” Clericus:“non
magis ea usus est, quam si ea destitutus fuisset;” comp. Quenstedt, Bos, Wolf,
Bengel, Rheinwald, and many others. Beyschlag also finds expressedhere
merely the idea of the self-denialexercisedon principle by Christ in His
earthly life, consequentlysubstituting the N. T. idea of ἀπαρνεῖσθαι ἑαυτόν.
De Wette, in accordancewith his distinction betweenμορφὴ Θεοῦ and εἶναι
ἴσα Θεῷ (comp. Schneckenburger, p. 336), referring it only to the latter (so
also Corn. Müller, Philippi, Beyschlag, and others), would have this εἶναι ἴσα
Θεῷ meant merely in so far as it would have stoodin Jesus’power, not in so
far as He actually possessedit, so that the ἑαυτ. ἐκέν. amounts only to a
renunciation of the εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ, which He might have appropriated to
Himself; while others, like Grotius, alter the signification of κενοῦνitself,
some making it mean: He led a life of poverty (Grotius, Baumgarten-Crusius),
and others:depressit (van Hengel, Corn. Müller, following Tittmann, Opusc.
p. 642 f., Keil, comp. Chrysostom, Theodoret, and others). Augustine: “Non
amittens quod erat, sedaccipiens quod non erat; forma servi accessit, non
forma Dei discessit.”But ἐκένωσε means nothing but exinanivit (Vulgate) (see
Romans 4:14; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 9:15; 2 Corinthians 9:3; and
the passagesin the LXX. cited by Schleusner;Plat. Conv. p. 197 C, Rep. p.
560 D, Phil. p. 35 E; Soph. O. R. 29; Eur. Rhes. 914;Thuc. viii. 57. 1; Xen.
Oec. 8. 7),[111]and is here purposely selected, because itcorresponds with the
idea of the ἁρπαγμός (Php 2:6) all the more, that the latter also falls under the
conceptionof ΚΕΝΟῦΝ (as emptying of that which is affectedby the

ἁρπαγμός;comp. LXX. Jeremiah 15:9; Plat. Rep. p. 560 D; Sir 13:5; Sir 13:7).
The specific reference ofthe meaning to making poor (Grotius) must have
been suggestedby the context (comp. 2 Corinthians 8:9; Ecclus. l.c.), as if
some such expressionas ἐν πλούτῳ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχ. had been previously used.
Figuratively, the renunciation of the divine μορφή might have been described
as a putting it off (ἐκδύεσθαι).
The more precise, positive definition of the mode in which He emptied
Himself, is supplied by μορφὴνδούλου λαβών, and the latter then receives
through ἘΝ ὉΜ. ἈΝΘΡ. ΓΕΝΌΜΕΝΟς ΚΑῚ ΣΧΉΜ. ΕὙΡ. Ὡς ἌΝΘΡ. its
specificationofmode, correlative to ΕἾΝΑΙ ἼΣΑ ΘΕῷ. This specificationis
not co-ordinate (de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Weiss, Schenkel), but
subordinate to ΜΟΡΦῊΝ ΔΟΎΛ. ΛΑΒΏΝ, hence no connecting particle is
placed before ἘΝ ὉΜ., and no punctuation is to be placed before ΚΑῚ
ΣΧΉΜΑΤΙ, but a new topic is to be entered upon with ἘΤΑΠΕΊΝΩΣΕΝ in
Php 2:8 (comp. Luther). The division, by which a stop is placed before ΚΑῚ
ΣΧΉΜΑΤΙ … ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟς, and these words are joined to ἘΤΑΠΕΊΝΩΣΕΝ
Κ.Τ.Λ. (Castalio, Beza, Bengel, and others;including Hoelemann, Rilliet, van
Hengel, Lachmann, Wiesinger, Ewald, Rich. Schmidt, J. B. Lightfoot,
Grimm), is at variance with the purposely-chosenexpressions ΣΧΉΜΑΤΙand
ΕὙΡΕΘΕΊς, bothof which correspondto the idea of ΜΟΡΦΉ, and thereby
show that Κ. ΣΧ. ΕὙΡ. Ὡς ἌΝΘΡ. is still a portion of the modal definition of
ΜΟΡΦῊΝ ΔΟΎΛΟΥΛΑΒΏΝ. Noris the ΣΧΉΜ. ΕὙΡ. Ὡς ἌΝΘΡ.
something following the ΚΈΝΩΣΙς (Grimm), but the empirical appearance,
which was an integralpart of the manner in which the act of self-emptying
was completed. Besides, ἘΤΑΠΕΊΝΩΣΕΝ ἙΑΥΤΌΝ has its ownmore
precise definition following; hence by the proposedconnectionthe symmetry
of structure in the two statements, governedrespectivelyby ἑαυτὸνἐκένωσε
and ἘΤΑΠΕΊΝΩΣΕΝ ἙΑΥΤΌΝ, wouldbe unnecessarilydisturbed. This
applies also in oppositionto Hofmann, who (comp. Grotius) even connects ἘΝ
ὉΜΟΙΏΜΑΤΙἌΝΘΡ. ΓΕΝΌΜ. withἘΤΑΠΕΊΝΩΣΕΝ ἙΑΥΤΌΝ, whereby
no less than three participial definitions are heaped upon the latter. And when
Hofmann discovers in ἘΝ ὉΜΟΙΏΜΑΤΙΚ.Τ.Λ. a secondhalf of the relative
sentence attachedto ΧΡΙΣΤῷ ἸΗΣΟῦ, it is at variance with the fact, that Paul

does not by the intervention of a particle (or by Ὃς ΚΑΊ, or even by the bare
Ὅς) supply any warrant for such a division, which is made, therefore,
abruptly and arbitrarily, simply to support the scheme of thought which
Hofmann groundlessly assumes:(1) that Jesus, whenHe was in the divine
μορφή, emptied Himself; and (2) when He had become man, humbled
Himself. Comp. in opposition to this, Grimm, p. 46, and Kolbe in the Luther.
Zeitschr. 1873, p. 314.
μορφὴνδούλου λαβών] so that He took slave-form, now making this lowly
form of existence and condition His own, instead of the divine form, which He
had hitherto possessed. How this was done, is stated in the sequel. The aorist
participle denotes, not what was previous to the ἑαυτ. ἐκέν., but what was
contemporaneous with it. See on Ephesians 1:9. So also do the two following
participles, which are, however, subordinated to the μορφὴνδούλου λαβών, as
definitions of manner. That Paul, in the word ΔΟΎΛΟΥ, thought not of the
relation of one serving in general(with reference to God and men, Matthies,
Rheinwald, Rilliet, de Wette, comp. Calvin and others), or that of a servant of
others, as in Matthew 20:28 (Schneckenburger, Beyschlag,Christol. p. 236,
following Luther and others), or, indefinitely, that of one subject to the will of
another (Hofmann), but of a slave of God (comp. Acts 3:13; Isaiah52), as is
self-evident from the relationto God describedin Php 2:6, is plain, partly
from the factthat subsequently the assumption of the slave-form is more
preciselydefined by ἐν ὁμοιώμ. ἀνθρ. γενόμ. (which, regarded in itself, puts
Jesus only on the same line with men, but in the relation of service towards
God), and partly from ὑπήκοος in Php 2:8. To generalize the definite
expression, and one which corresponds so well to the connection, into
“miseramsortem, qualis esse servorumsolet” (Heinrichs, comp. Hoelemann;
and already, Beza, Piscator, Calovius, Wolf, Wetstein, and others), is pure
caprice, which Erasmus, following Ambrosiaster (comp. Beyschlag,1860, p.
471), carries further by the arbitrary paraphrase:“servi nocentis, cum ipsa
essetinnocentia,” comp. Romans 8:3.

ἐν ὁμοιώμ. ἀνθρ. γενόμ. κ.τ.λ.]the manner of this ΜΟΡΦ. ΔΟΎΛΟΥ
ΛΑΒΕῖΝ:so that He came in the likeness of man, that is, so that He entered
into a form of existence, whichwas not different from that which men have. In
opposition to Hofmann, who connects ἐν ὁμοιώματι κ.τ.λ. with
ἘΤΑΠΕΊΝΩΣΕΝ Κ.Τ.Λ., seeabove. On ΓΊΝΕΣΘΑΙἘΝ, in the sense, to
come into a position, into a state, comp. 2 Corinthians 3:7; 1 Timothy 2:14;
Luke 22:44; Acts 22:17;1Ma 1:27; 2Ma 7:9; Sir 44:20; and frequently in
Greek authors after Homer (Xen. Anab. i. 9. 1; Herodian, iii. 7. 19, ii. 13. 21);
see Nägelsbach, zur Ilias, p. 295 f. ed. 3. This entrance into an existence like
that of men was certainly brought about by human birth; still it would not be
appropriate to explain γενόμ. by natus (Galatians 4:4; Rilliet; comp. Gess, p.
295;Lechler, p. 66), or as an expressionfor the “beginning of existence”
(Hofmann), since this fact, in connectionwith which the miraculous
conceptionis, notwithstanding Romans 1:3, also thought to be included, was
really human, as it is also describedin Galatians 4:4. Paul justly says:ἐν
ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρ., because,in fact, Christ, although certainly perfect man
(Romans 5:15; 1 Corinthians 15:21;1 Timothy 2:5), was, by reasonof the
divine nature (the ἼΣΑ ΕἾΝΑΙ ΘΕῷ) presentin Him, not simply and merely
man, not a purus putus homo, but the incarnate Sonof God(comp. Romans
1:3; Galatians 4:4; and the Johannine ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο), ὃς ἐφανερώθη ἐν
σαρκί (1 Timothy 3:16), so that the power of the higher divine nature was
united in Him with the human appearance, whichwas not the case in other
men. The nature of Him who had become man was, so far, not fully identical
with, but substantially conform (ἐν ὁμοιώμ.)to, that which belongs to
man.[112]Comp. on Romans 8:3; Romans 1:3 f., and respecting the idea of
ὁμοίωμα,whichdoes not convey merely the conceptionof analogy, see on
Romans 1:23; Romans 5:14; Romans 6:5; Romans 8:3. The expressionis
based, not upon the conceptionof a quasi-man, but upon the fact that in the
man Jesus Christ (Romans 5:15) there was the superhuman life-basis of divine
ἰσότης, the ΕἾΝΑΙ ἼΣΑ ΘΕῷ not indwelling in other men. Justice, however,
is not done to the intentionally used ὉΜΟΙΏΜΑΤΙ(comp. afterwards
ΣΧΉΜΑΤΙ), if, with de Wette, we find merely the sense that He (not
appearing as divine Ruler) was found in a human condition,—a consequence
of the fact that even Php 2:6 was referred to the time after the incarnation.
This drove also the ancientdogmatic expositors to adopt the gloss, which is

here out of place, that Christ assumedthe accidentalesinfirmitates corporis
(yet without sin), not ex naturae necessitate, but ex οἰκονομίαςlibertate
(Calovius).[113]Byothers, the characteristic ofdebile et abjectum
(Hoelemann, following older expositors)is obtruded upon the word
ἀνθρώπων, which is here to be takenin a purely generic sense;while Grotius
understood ἀνθρ. as referring to the first human beings, and believed that the
sinlessnessofJesus was meant. It is not at all speciallythis (in opposition also
to Castalio, Lünemann, Schenkel, and others), but the whole divine nature of
Jesus, the μορφή of which He laid aside at His incarnation, which constitutes
the point of difference that lies at the bottom of the expressionἐν ὁμοιώματι
(ΔΙᾺ ΤῸ ΜῊ ΨΙΛῸΝ ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΝ ΕἾΝΑΙ, Theophylact, comp.
Chrysostom), and gives to it the definite reference ofits meaning. The
explanation of the expressionby the unique position of Christ as the second
Adam (Weiss)is alien from the context, which presents to us the relation, not
of the secondman to the first man, but of the God-man to ordinary humanity.
καὶ σχήμ. εὑρ. ὡς ἄνθρωπ.] to be closelyconnectedwith the preceding
participial affirmation, the thought of which is emphatically exhausted: “and
in fashion was found as a man,” so that the divine nature (the Logos-nature)
was not perceived in Him. σχῆμα, habitus, which receives its more precise
reference from the context (Pflugk, ad Eur. Hec. 619), denotes here the entire
outwardly perceptible mode and form, the whole shape of the phenomenon
apparent to the senses, 1 Corinthians 7:31
Expositor's Greek Testament
Php 2:7. A question arises as to punctuation. W.H. punctuate as in the text.
Calvin, Weiffenb. and Haupt would place a comma after γενόμ. and a colon
after ἄνθρωπος of Php 2:8. This would coordinate these three clauses and
make a new sentence beginwith ἐταπείνωσεν. The division does not seem
natural or necessary.—μ.δούλου λ. The clause defines ἐκένωσε. Christ’s
assumption of the “form” of a δοῦλος does not imply that the innermost basis
of His personality, His “ego,”was changed, although, indeed, “there was more
in this emptying of Himself than we can think or say” (Rainy, op. cit., p. 119).

Jesus was made in human likeness

Jesus was made in human likeness

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