A Devotion from D.A. Carson
Exodus 39; John 18; Proverbs 15; Philippians 2
FEW PASSAGES HAVE AS MUCH THEOLOGY and ethics in them as Philippians 2. We can pick up on only a
few of its wonderful themes:
(1) Scholars have translated 2:5–11 in all kinds of creative ways. In large measure the NIV
has it right. Christ Jesus, we are told, “did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped [or possibly “exploited”], but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness” (2:6–7). All that is quite wonderful, a glorious
description of the incarnation that prepares the way for the cross. I might reword the
translation in the first line of verse 6: “Who, being in very nature God.” At the level of raw
literalism, that is a perfectly acceptable translation. But Greek uses participles far more
frequently than does English, and Greek adverbial participles, such as the word being in this
line, have various logical relations with their context—relations that must be determined by the
context. Probably most English readers mentally paraphrase this passage as, “Who, although he
was in very nature God …” Certainly that makes sense and may even be right. But there are
good contextual reasons for thinking that the participle is causal: “Who, because he was in very
nature God.” In other words, because he was in very nature God, not only did he not consider
equality with God something to be exploited, but he made himself a nobody: it was divine to
show that kind of self-emptying, that kind of grace.
(2) “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (2:5), who did not regard his
rights as something to be exploited, but who humbled himself and died a death of odious
ignominy so that we might be saved—and was ultimately vindicated (2:6–11). The exhortation
of 2:5 thus supports the string of exhortations in 2:1–4. Reflect on how this is so.
(3) The verses following the “Christ hymn” (as it is often called) of 2:6–11 emphasize
perseverance. “Therefore” at the beginning of verse 12 establishes the connection. Christ made
himself a nobody and died a shameful death but was finally and gloriously vindicated, and
therefore we too should take the long view and “work out” our salvation “with fear and
trembling” (2:12). Of course, there is all the more incentive when we recall that “it is God who
works in [us] to will and to act according to his good purpose” (2:13). We reject utter passivity,
“letting go and letting God”; rather, we work out our salvation. Yet at the same time we joyfully
acknowledge that both our willing and our doing are evidence of God’s working in us. And he
will vindicate us.