Poking around for a catchy image for this post, I came across what you see here, the banner for a satirical comic book critiquing faith in a deity. It’s the perfect illustration of what our faith in Jesus Christ is not about. Our Lord is the God-man, but He did not come to us as an all-powerful deity, wearing His divinity on His sleeve. Instead, as our text for this Sunday, Philippians 2:5-11, states in verse 6, He “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”
Since last fall I’ve been reading in Exploring Kenotic Christology, edited by C. Stephen Evans. The essays consider the theological idea that in becoming human the second person of the Trinity actually “emptied Himself” of at least some divine attributes, like omniscience and omnipotence. Thus Jesus, though the God-man, by His own choice was not all-powerful or all-knowing during His life on earth. Instead, the works of power and knowledge which He exhibits were all the work of the other two persons of the Trinity, the Father and the Spirit. So Jesus did miracles in the way that is possible for other faith-filled human beings, by praying for them or by being the vehicle through which the Spirit operated. His own divine power was voluntarily laid aside.
The theology is complex and a number of Christians can’t see how Jesus could be God if He were not fully in possession of all the divine attributes. But the notion that Jesus’ “emptying” was a very deep and drastic self-limitation captures my heart and imagination. It explains how Jesus can say that He does not know the day or hour of His return and how His temptations and suffering were a genuine human experience such that Hebrews 4:15 is true, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses…”
Whatever the correct interpretation of “emptied” in our text, Paul clearly holds out to us as an example for our own lives the humility of our Savior who in becoming human submitted to being like a slave. That model of abject humility is to govern our relationships with each other in a way that, if practiced, would utterly transform our interactions with each other.