Chapter 2, Verse 6 “…who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,”
Many think verses six through eleven were the words of a hymn sung in the early church. We have many songs today that are verses set to music so that seems highly probable. It is such a profound statement about Jesus and His relationship within the Godhead that it can easily be viewed as an early church song.
So much is revealed in this verse and the ones aligned with it. We learn that Jesus has always coexisted with God. Jesus is equal with God because He is God. This is a major statement of New Testament doctrine. Compare John 1:1-14. How can we begin to understand how our savior could stop being God and become flesh as a man in order to save man? When Jesus compared the need of humankind for salvation, He did not hold onto His place in the Godhead but left heaven and took on an earthly body.
Jesus knew who He was, where He had come from, and where He was going. Read His words in John 17:5, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” Jesus was not returning to heaven to continue as a man. He was going back to His role in the Godhead.
Task for Today: This is a verse that requires great pondering on our part. You can’t just read through it and move on as if it were an average day bulletin. You know that Jesus died for you and Paul is letting you know that Jesus relinquished His place in heaven for you. Can you have that mind in you? What will you give up?
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