Philippians 2:7

Philippians 2:7. but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. This literal rendering of the Greek expresses by a figure the act of Christ in the incarnation. But no figure ever exactly represents that for which it is put, and must therefore never be too closely pressed. For the various expositions of the text, see Excursus subjoined to Philippians 2:11. It is, however, certain that St. Paul did not intend us to understand by the word ‘empty,' that from Christ by the incarnation the Divinity was altogether withdrawn. The glory of the Godhead was still there, and manifested itself often in deeds of power. He was still Himself, the Divine in person, though instead of the ‘form of God' He for a time condescended to wear the ‘form of a slave.' ‘Taking the form of a servant,' this was the manner in which the emptying of the text took place, and has suggested for the translation another figure, ‘to divest.' Christ had possessed from eternity all those qualities and attributes which are distinctly Divine; these He now, as it were, puts off, lets them not constantly be seen, and wears the character and manifests the attributes of a servant. But as the figure ‘to empty' might be pressed to say too much, for the Godhead remained though it was veiled; so ‘to divest' is in danger of saying what is inexact in another way, and painting the Divine character as something so distinct from the human, that the God-man would be made not one but two persons. That which the world has only known in Christ, it is no marvel that it has no language to explain.

being made in the likeness of men. The verb signifies ‘the coming into any state of being.' Christ at His incarnation entered on a new manifestation of Himself. He had before been in the form of God, He now assumes a human likeness. And it is said ‘of men,' that we may understand the expression generally of the human race. Thus the apostle's words avoid any sense like that in which the Docetæ of old spake of Christ's human body as a mere phantom, and St. Paul says, He wore on earth the human figure, a form such as is common to men.