LESSON 10

Classroom Goals of this time together:
* here to see and meet and learn of Jesus
* not to learn about another book in the Bible, but to MEET HIM...here and now; not to finish another epistle, but to grow in each one of our own personal lives/relationships with Jesus
* to grow in our daily day-to-day JOY IN Him
* to grow in our vision /understanding of Jesus as our SAVIOR and REDEEMER everyday in the midst of our lives in a pagan world

ROE: 
* all questions are encouraged all the time
* we are not obligated to agree with me or each other
* TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER THROUGHOUT OUR TIME TOGETHER, WHETHER WE AGREE OR NOT WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER

SUMMARY:
1:1-11  Greetings and Gratitude

1:12-26  "Pauls Personal Circumstances: the Preaching of Christ"

1:27-2:30  "The Pattern of Christian Life: The Humility of Christ"
1:27-2:4  The Exhortation to Humility  HERE is the Goal
2:5-11  The Epitome of Humility  Jesus - here is the Divine Example
2:12-18 The Exercise of Humility  here is HOW YOU experience this in YOUR daily life
2:10-30  The Examples of Humility  Timothy and Epaphroditis

In the first section:
1:27-2:4  The Exhortation to Humility  HERE is the Goal, the Need, to live in Christ while in a hostile Pagan world;
HOW??? How do the things he presented in this section become a REALITY in the life of a Church and it's believers??

ONLY THROUGH HUMILITY, ONE TO ANOTHER.

This is a KEY concept Paul presented in the previous section: "lowliness" or "humility"; 
Originally, the Greek root word for "lowly" had a BAD NEGATIVE DEGRADING connotation; "lowly" people were the street people of the ancient world; What a terribly difficult concept for this church of proud Roman citizens to accept; people for whom our "modern" concepts of personal glorification, taking care of number one, and get all you can would have seemed very familiar; They would NOT be readily open to this distasteful idea any more than the idea of "humiliation" would appeal to us; we just don't see such a state or situation as being desirable or enviable;
And yet, we WILL have such a heart when we SEE OURSELVES AS WE TRUELY ARE: SINFUL AND HOPELESSLY LOST IN OUR SINS WITHOUT THE LORD TO SAVE US CONSTANTLY; IT IS A POWERFUL WORD FULL OF MEANING CARRYING A PICTURE OF ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE, OF HAVING NOTHING BUT RECEIVING ALL THINGS FROM GOD; 
THIS is the "humility" that Paul wanted them to seek, to LIVE;

And what happens when we really DO see ourselves as we truly ARE? It makes it a heck of a lot easier to "esteem" the other members of our church as better than ourselves, as being WORTHY of consideration ABOVE our OWN perceived position and ambitions; 
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THAT WE VALUE THAT PERSON ABOVE OURSELVES; and that we ACT the truth of that realization; I treasure my Annie more than and above myself; I AM WILLING TO SACRIFICE MYSELF FOR HER; SHE IS MORE IMPORTANT TO ME THAN I AM; NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT SHE HAS OR WHAT SHE CAN DO, BUT BECAUSE OF WHO SHE IS TO ME; We have got to develop that same hearts attitude here for each other; THIS is the "HUMILITY" that Paul desired of them and of US as well; 

2:5-11  NOW Paul goes even deeper into the meaning of what true humility REALLY IS and MEANS; NOW he is going to tell them about the "EPITOME OF HUMILITY"; This can ONLY be our precious Lord Jesus.

2:5  Because the ideas of "lowliness" and "humility" were and are such naturally distastefull concepts, Paul knew that ONLY JESUS could be a sufficient enough basis for imitation; They would have to see it in Him before they would be willing to desire it for themselves;

2:6  (KJV) "...being in the form of God..."; WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??
This "BEING" was NOT something NEW or ADDED at some LATER date, subsequent to His Incarnation, He had it BEFORE HE EVER SHOWED UP HERE AS A MAN; 
To say that Jesus was in the form of God, is to say that He existed as essentially one with God; He was able to express Himself in the SAME MODE AS GOD and only the possesor of that actual essence can express that mode; As the form of God was identified with the being of God, so Christ, being in the form of God, was identified with the being, nature, and personality of God. 

(KJV) "...thought it not robbery to be equal with God"
Dr. Ryrie offers this paraphrase: Who, though of the same nature and essence as God, did not think this something to be exploited to His own advantage.
The emphasis of the passage is on His humiliation; the fact of His equality with God is stated as a background, so as to throw the circumstances of His incarnation into stronger contrast; Christ's great objective was to identify Himself with humanity; NOT to appear to men as divine, but as human. Had He come into the world emphasizing His equality with God, the world would have been amazed, BUT NOT SAVED. 

2:7  (KJV) "...made Himself of no reputation..." The lit trans is "emptied himself"; 
The best sense is that He laid aside that FORM of God; The change was a change of STATE; the form of a servant in exchange for the form of God. His personality continued the same; In His humanity He retained the consciousness of Diety, and in His incarnate state carried out the mind which animated Him before His incarnation; So, when He laid aside that "form" and assumed a new "form" as Jesus the Man, He did NOT give up ANY of His Divine Nature, He DID NOT become ANY LESS God; the SAME essence expressed itself in a new form: Jesus.
(KJV) "...was made in the likeness of men..."
Lit trans for "was made" is "BECOMING IN"; The choice of verb was NOT "was", but rather "became": as in "entered into a new state"; 
NOTICE the choice of words: "likeness"; NOT BY ACCIDENT! Was Jesus IDENTICAL to us? NO!! He was like us, Scripture says He shared our human nature in all its frailty and finitude (Ro8:3; Heb2:7, 14) and entered into the restrictions that nature imposes EXCEPT that He was without sin. He had ALL that WE HAVE, BUT HE ALSO HAD MORE! He was all that we ever could or will be; BUT HE ALSO WAS MORE! 
HE WAS ALSO FULLY GOD; Humanly He was like men, but regarded with reference to His WHOLE self, He was NOT IDENTICAL with man, because there was an element of His personality which did NOT dwell in them: HIS EQUALITY WITH GOD; 
To all outward appearances, Jesus was a Man among men; However, His DIVINE stature was concealed in the weakness of His mortality, His glory was veiled in His humanity. 

2:8  (KJV) "...being found in fashion as a man..." The Gr word trans as "fashion" now refers to His outward appearance as it appeared to the world; "likeness" states the FACT of REAL resemblance to men in mode of existance; "fashion" defines the outward mode and form. It is as if Paul was trying to super-emphasize that Jesus was TRULY Man, and not only that He somehow managed to just LOOK like us superficially; 
(KJV) "...He humbled Himself..." from the same word that we covered concerning "lowliness"; It further defines just what Jesus did when He "emptied" Himself; [SEE ISAIAH 53:8]; 
HERE NOW IS THE COMPARISON PAUL IS CALLING OUT TO THE PHILIPIANS FOR IN 2:3; 
(KJV) "...became obedient unto death..." HOW?? Did Jesus actually render obedience to death?? NO!! The Gr trans "unto" means "up to the point of"; see NAS: "...obedient to the point of death" or the AMP: "...carried His obedience to the extreme of death"; 
Rom5:12ff describes the cardinal doctrine of the obedince of Jesus Christ as the ground of His redemptive work; One commentator realized this: Only a divine Being can accept death as OBEDIENCE; for ordinary men it is a NECESSITY. He alone as the obedient Son of His Father could CHOOSE death as His destiny; AND HE DID SO BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR BOTH HIS FATHER AND THE WORLD HE CAME TO SAVE;
(KJV) "...even the death of the cross" The issue of the WAY in which He died, by the Cross, MUST be understood from two VERY KEY points of view: that of a Gentile, and that of a Jew.
For Gentiles, this death posed several problems: To a Roman citizen, death by crucifixion was reserved for malefactors and slaves, for only the worst and lowest of criminals. A Greeks was accustomed to clothing his dieties with every outward attribute of grace and beauty. So to both Greek and Roman the summons to worship a crucified criminal appeared foolish, even distasteful; 
To a Jew, the Mosaic law pronounced a curse against it in Deuteronomy 21:23, which meant that the victim was outside the pale of Israel and under a ban of excommunication from God's covenant. WHAT A STUMBLING BLOCK INDEED TO ISRAEL!! 
But to Paul, this became the very HEART of his doctrine of salvation; Paul saw that the curse of separation from God was endured by the sinless Saviour and thereby removed as the obstacle between God and man. To the Gentile it was a testiment to the REAL LOVE of a God who was willing to so utterly lower Himself in order to save ALL men, not just the "high and mighty", something their often hateful selfish and capricious gods would NEVER do;