Philippians 2 – Our attitudes

2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,^[b] being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [ESV – anglicised]

I have a few ‘go to’ places in the bible.  If I’m looking for some real foundational insights I find myself drawn to the opening chapters of Genesis, if looking for challenge and insight from Jesus’s earthly life, then clearly the gospels.  If an understanding of Christian theology then Galatians or Romans, if an understanding of the sweep of the OT in the light of Jesus’s mission, then Hebrews, if comfort in the supremacy and final plans of God then Revelation…

But when I want to humble myself and ever find myself struggling to lay aside my pride or vanity – then I turn to this passage.  I’ve done so for many many years – in fact for a wedding present, a dear university friend wrote in calligraphy and framed these verses for us because of their special place in my heart.

Let’s start by considering the words ‘in humility count others more significant than yourselves’, or perhaps ‘ahead of yourself’ – that’s the mindset; Paul follows this with an immediate application in v4 ‘look to the interests of others’.  This is not about putting yourself down, and Paul hasn’t said don’t look to your own interests, it’s about focus and scope of our mindsets – to continually be ‘other focussed’.

To work this point out in more detail, we come to this magisterial hymn of praise to Christ.  It’s like the Alleluia Chorus of the NT – a jewel amongst jewels, a high point of summits.

This hymn serves two purposes, and I think there’s little to be gained in trying to consider which one Paul intended, for it is most likely he intended both.  In fact different translations of the introductory words of v5 tend to point us in one of the two directions.

Firstly Paul has just been exhorting the church (ie us) to consider how we think, how we focus our minds, to be clear about our attitudes and motives – and so he provides us with the perfect example.  The attitude that Christ adopted.

Secondly, Paul knows that we can only be united because of the person and work of Christ and so he gives us this hymn of praise to give us the right focus around who and what it is that enables us to be united and drawn together in fellowship.

So let’s look at these verses through those two lenses.

Firstly – Christ as an example:

Bear in mind that we’re now in the realm of lyric and poetic writing; so allow your mind to play with the images conjured up by the words

We’re told that Christ had the ‘form’ or ‘very nature’ of God.  The Greek word ‘morphe’ is well understood as referring to an outward appearance, and clearly the way to think about this is in terms of Christ as being recognisable both as God and also distinct from God.  I won’t digress into trinitarian doctrine here, but it’s fair to say that this trinitarian language and thinking was evident in the earliest days of the church.

But Paul’s purpose here isn’t to argue for Christ’s divinity (he’s taking that as a given), it’s recognising that whilst Christ is known as having the form/nature which is equal and one with God, he didn’t ‘grasp’ at it.

I find a helpful way to understand this idea, is the concept of human rights.  It’s common these days to talk about what our ‘rights’ are.  The concept of universal human rights is relatively recent and wouldn’t have been accepted in most cultures in most of history, but it’s well ingrained today as part of what it means within western liberal societies, and we’ve grown up being told that there is such a thing as universal human rights.  And there is a continuous debate and argument about how these play out in the real world. 

Indeed this concept of universal human rights is embedded within our society because of our Christian heritage which taught this principle of the value of humanity simply because one is human.

I have no desire to argue against such human rights, but this hymn of praise to Christ does a pretty good job of putting them in a different light to how contemporary society has taken this Christian ideal and twisted and perverted it – for now the focus is not on the value ascribed to others, but the value we ascribe to self.  And self-focus; which is precisely 180° reversal of why this concept was brought to bear.

In particular if one who has all the rights and privileges of God can condescend to not hold onto those for the sake of others, then surely it must follow that there can be no grounds for us to hold onto our ‘human rights’ – but similarly should be prepared to set them aside for the sake of others.

This is a significant element of what it means to put the needs of others ahead of our own.  I.e. that I should endeavour to stand up for your rights, to ensure that you get a fair hearing, respect, dignity etc, but it’s not my place to stand up for my rights and certainly not at the expense of others.

Does this mean I am to be a doormat – used and abused by anyone who so chooses?  Does it mean I should never call the police?  Or use the law & courts to seek justice?  No, not at all – but it does mean that’s not my focus, my heart’s goal – to be asserting my rights, my needs, my perspectives.  We’re very good at centring the universe on ourselves; this passage is a clear rebuke of such a mindset.

So if I’m not going to stand for my rights who will?  Hopefully other people will as they seek to put me before themselves – and so I become dependent on the right thinking and right behaviour of others, and that humbles me to be reliant on others.  It moves us away from a world in which each person scraps and fights for their own interests, and towards a world where we’re continually looking out for the needs and interests of others.

But more so, it means I rely on God – maybe it’ll mean no vindication in this life.  Even a cursory look at history will show that many of God’s servants have lost wealth or position or power or even their lives and loved ones in their service of God.  But like Christ, they have not sought to protect their own status or rights, but rather have been prepared to give those up, to sacrifice them in order to have as their primary focus the love of God and his gospel saving work.

If Christ was prepared to give up all the rights and privileges of his divinity and rule in heaven in order to take on human form and suffer death – an odious death of pain and torture as a criminal, jeered and mocked by those he came to save….  If he can do that; then there is nothing that I shouldn’t be prepared to give up or leave for the sake of loving God and loving neighbour.  It hardly need be said, that where Jesus succeeded in this, I frequently fail.

But this is why I said that this passage is my ‘go to’ passage whenever I’m feeling proud, or defensive, or grumbling – because it so clearly and powerfully brings to mind in an instant the sheer magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice.  Not in simply dying on the cross, but becoming man in the first place.  In fully trusting in, and serving his Father.  And ultimately no-one did, or was able to, stand up for his heavenly ‘rights’ except God – who did indeed vindicate and justify his Son.  He exalted him, and gave him the greatest name, and seated him in the throne room of heaven.  God can and will always stand up for, and justify those who lay aside their own rights.

Jesus said the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  Those who seek to save their lives will lose it, but those who lose their lives will gain eternal life.  Blessed are the poor etc etc etc  Time and time again the NT shows us that if we play by the rules of this world we’ll only receive in terms of what this world can give.  But if we take on Kingdom values then there is nothing in all of heaven and creation that God will withhold from us, and that he has promised to make all things new, to wipe away every tear – do we trust him in his word?  Do we trust he has both the power and the will do what he’s said he’d do?  If so, then be like Christ and do nothing out of selfish ambition and vain conceit, but in humility consider others ahead of yourself.

Secondly – this hymn isn’t just an example; this is also providing the basis for how and why we can live like this.

The world cannot in any way provide a means of uniting humanity.  There is no religion, philosophy or political structure which can in any way at all achieve unity.  All are doomed to failure to varying degrees.  Some are utterly evil and brutal in their approach; others have good intent but just lack the means to achieve the goal.  We cannot rely on these things to bring about peace and unity, now or ever.

In this hymn Paul provides a summary of the gospel message of hope and salvation.  And that we can only have any hope of living as we ought because of Christ’s work through his incarnation, life, death and resurrection.  In these few verses we are given the summary of the entire Christian hope and message. 

God and man were separated by sin; God’s love for mankind was such that he desired to restore and redeem – only God could initiate such an action; so it’s imperative that Jesus is God.  But if we think of salvation as being the opening of a pathway from humanity to God, then a human needed to walk that path and create the trail – so Jesus had to be human.  But how can we know that this God become human had succeeded?  Well God raised him from the dead and caused him to ascend to heaven – the resurrection and ascension.

In this hymn Paul isn’t making an argument as to why this is true (he does that elsewhere – you can read his other letters for such a treatment and argument, or look at the gospels); here he’s simply stating in poetic form the foundational truths of Christianity, and in so doing is providing the reason for our hope, the basis of our confidence, the foreshadowing of our own resurrection and hence underpinning the reason why we can aspire to follow in Jesus’s footsteps and put aside our selfish ambition and vain conceit, why we can believe in the possibility of a loving harmonious unity.

For sure, the reality of sin and death this side of eternity is that we’ll fall short – but it’s in the moments we succeed that we’re building with the precious metals things that are of eternal worth and value, things which will last beyond the petty, moth eaten, rusting forms and fading glories of this passing age.  Let them go, let go of your pride and vanity, stand aside from your own rights, and serve others in love and unity.

It’s a high calling, it’s a frightening, scary and heart-wrenching calling – but it’s a holy calling, and it’s the same calling which enabled our salvation in Christ Jesus.