How does Jesus teach us what it means to be human?
Philippians 2:5-8
The mystery of the incarnation is the deepest in all Christian theology. We will spend eternity seeking to plumb its depths, and even when we have perfected minds in our glorified state, we will never complete our inquiry… there will always be more to learn. In this famous passage, the Apostle Paul uses Christ’s humility as a pattern for all Christians to follow. We should have the same mind as Christ displayed in his willingness to leave the glories of heaven, take on a human body, and then go ever lower in servanthood even to the point of his humiliating and degrading death on the cross for our salvation. That is the point of this passage.
But the actual verbiage is what fascinates me here. The original language, Greek of course, used a key term, morphe, translated by the ESV above as “form.” The word means “outward appearance” or “shape,” having to do with how Jesus appeared to onlooking observers—angels and humans. Jesus “emptied himself” (vs. 7) of the outward appearance of deity—the radiant glory that characterized his position at the right hand of Almighty God. His essence was absolutely unchanged, for he can never cease to be what he actually is—God. The very existence of the universe depends on the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The universe would have instantly ceased to exist if the Second Person of the Trinity had ceased to be God. But Jesus willingly gave up the morphe of God… the appearance, the shape, the presentation, the glory, the look of deity. And he willingly took up the morphe of a servant… the appearance, the trappings, the clothing, the demeanor, the poverty, the apparent weakness. The outward appearance of a servant was essential to his mission of salvation.
“We were created to serve God. It is an illusion to think we can be autonomous, free agents doing whatever we want with our lives.”
And since the exact same Greek word is used for both the deity of Christ and his servanthood, it seems reasonable to conclude that Jesus was as much servant as he was and is God. He doesn’t play act as God—He is truly God. So also, he doesn’t play act as servant—he truly IS servant, through and through. And he was delighted to take on the outward appearance of a servant since that is what he was. Part of that was Jesus being born into such abject poverty and continuing so throughout his life: “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).
It also stands to reason that the essential nature of being human is to be a servant. We were created to serve God. It is an illusion to think we can be autonomous, free agents doing whatever we want with our lives. The essence of Satan’s deception to the entire human race is that we are our own. Jesus modelled that humans are servants if they are living righteously… as much servants as Jesus is God. That is one of the purposes of Jesus’ incarnation, clearly on display in the humility of his birth and the downward journey of his life.
