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Selected Verse: Philippians 2:8 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Php 2:8 |
King James |
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| being found in fashion as a man--being already, by His "emptying Himself," in the form of a servant, or likeness of man (Rom 8:3), "He humbled Himself (still further by) becoming obedient even unto death (not as English Version, 'He humbled Himself and became,'&c.; the Greek has no 'and,' and has the participle, not the verb), and that the death of the cross." "Fashion" expresses that He had the outward guise, speech, and look. In Phi 2:7, in the Greek, the emphasis is on Himself (which stands before the Greek verb), "He emptied Himself," His divine self, viewed in respect to what He had heretofore been; in Phi 2:8 the emphasis is on "humbled" (which stands before the Greek "Himself"); He not only "emptied Himself" of His previous "form of God," but submitted to positive HUMILIATION. He "became obedient," namely, to God, as His "servant" (Rom 5:19; Heb 5:8). Therefore "God" is said to "exalt" Him (Phi 2:9), even as it was God to whom He became voluntarily "obedient." "Even unto death" expresses the climax of His obedience (Joh 10:18). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And being found - That is, being such, or existing as a man, he humbled himself.
In fashion as a man - The word rendered "fashion" - σχῆμα schēma - means figure, mien, deportment. Here it is the same as state, or condition. The sense is, that when he was reduced to this condition he humbled himself, and obeyed even unto death. He took upon himself all the attributes of a man. He assumed all the innocent infirmities of our nature. He appeared as other people do, was subjected to the necessity of food and clothing, like others, and was made liable to suffering, as other men are. It was still he who had been in the "form of God" who thus appeared; and, though his divine glory had been for a time laid aside, yet it was not extinguished or lost. It is important to remember, in all our meditations on the Saviour, that it was the same Being who had been invested with so much glory in heaven, that appeared on earth in the form of a man.
He humbled himself - Even then, when he appeared as a man. He had not only laid aside the symbols of his glory Phi 2:7, and become a man; but when he was a man, he humbled himself. Humiliation was a constant characteristic of him as a man. He did not aspire to high honors; he did not affect pomp and parade; he did not demand the service of a train of menials; but he condescended to the lowest conditions of life; Luk 22:27. The words here are very carefully chosen. In the former case Phi 2:7, when he became a man, he "emptied himself," or laid aside the symbols of his glory; now, when a man, he humbled himself. That is, though he was God appearing in the form of man - a divine person on earth - yet he did not assume and assert the dignity and prerogatives appropriate to a divine being, but put himself in a condition of obedience. For such a being to obey law, implied voluntary humiliation; and the greatness of his humiliation was shown by his becoming entirely obedient, even until he died on the cross.
And became obedient - He subjected himself to the law of God, and wholly obeyed it; Heb 10:7, Heb 10:9. It was a characteristic of the Redeemer that he yielded perfect obedience to the will of God. Should it be said that, if he was God himself, he must have been himself the lawgiver, we may reply that this rendered his obedience all the more wonderful and all the more meritorious. If a monarch should for an important purpose place himself in a position to obey his own laws, nothing could show in a more striking manner their importance in his view. The highest honor that has been shown to the Law of God on earth was, that it was perfectly observed by him who made the Law - the great Mediator.
Unto death - He obeyed even when obedience terminated in death. The point of this expression is this: One may readily and cheerfully obey another where there is no particular peril. But the case is different where obedience is attended with danger. The child shows a spirit of true obedience when he yields to the commands of a father, though it should expose him to hazard; the servant who obeys his master, when obedience is attended with risk of life; the soldier, when he is morally certain that to obey will be followed by death. Thus, many a company or platoon has been ordered into the "deadly breach," or directed to storm a redoubt, or to scale a wall, or to face a cannon, when it was morally certain that death would be the consequence. No profounder spirit of obedience can be evinced than this. It should be said, however, that the obedience of the soldier is in many cases scarcely voluntary, since, if he did not obey, death would be the penalty. But, in the case of the Redeemer, it was wholly voluntary. He placed himself in the condition of a servant to do the will of God, and then never shrank from what that condition involved.
Even the death of the cross - It was not such a death as a servant might incur by crossing a stream, or by failing among robbers, or by being worn out by toil; it was not such as the soldier meets when he is suddenly cut down, covered with glory as he falls; it was the long lingering, painful, humiliating death of the cross. Many a one might be willing to obey if the death that was suffered was regarded as glorious; but when it is ignominious, and of the most degrading character, and the most torturing that human ingenuity can invent, then the whole character of the obedience is changed. Yet this was the obedience the Lord Jesus evinced; and it was in this way that his remarkable readiness to suffer was shown. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Being found in fashion as a man (σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος)
Some expositors connect these words with the preceding clause, thus: being made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man; a new sentence beginning with He humbled Himself. The general sense is not altered by this change, and there is great force in Meyer's remark that the preceding thought, in the likeness of men, is thus "emphatically exhausted." On the other hand, it breaks the connection with the following sentence, which thus enters very abruptly. Notice being found. After He had assumed the conditions of humanity, and men's attention was drawn to Him, they found Him like a man. Compare Isa 53:2. "If we looked at Him, there was no sightliness that we should delight in Him."
Fashion (σχήματι). That which is purely outward and appeals to the senses. The form of a servant is concerned with the fact that the manifestation as a servant corresponded with the real fact that Christ came as the servant of mankind. In the phrase in the likeness of men the thought is still linked with that of His essential nature which rendered possible a likeness to men, but not an absolute identity with men. In being found in fashion as a man the thought is confined to the outward guise as it appealed to the sense of mankind. Likeness states the fact of real resemblance to men in mode of existence: fashion defines the outward mode and form. As a man. Not being found a man not what He was recognized to be, but as a man, keeping up the idea of semblance expressed in likeness.
He humbled Himself (ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτόν)
Not the same as emptied Himself, Phi 2:7. It defines that word, showing how the self-emptying manifests itself.
Became obedient unto death (γενόμενος - μέχρι)
Became, compare Rev 1:18. Unto. The Rev. very judiciously inserts even; for the A.V. is open to the interpretation that Christ rendered obedience to death. Unto is up to the point of. Christ's obedience to God was rendered to the extent of laying down His life.
Of the cross
Forming a climax of humiliation. He submitted not only to death, but to the death of a malefactor. The Mosaic law had uttered a curse against it, Deu 21:23, and the Gentiles reserved it for malefactors and slaves. Hence the shame associated with the cross, Heb 12:2. This was the offense or stumbling-block of the cross, which was so often urged by the Jews against the Christians. See on Gal 3:13. To a Greek, accustomed to clothe his divinities with every outward attribute of grace and beauty, the summons to worship a crucified malefactor appealed as foolishness, Co1 1:23. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| And being found in fashion as a man - A common man, without any peculiar excellence or comeliness. He humbled himself - To a still greater depth. Becoming obedient - To God, though equal with him. Even unto death - The greatest instance both of humiliation and obedience. Yea, the death of the cross - Inflicted on few but servants or slaves. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
And being found in fashion as a man - Και σχηματι εὑρεθεις ὡς ανθρωπος. This clause should be joined to the preceding, and thus translated: Being made in the likeness of man, and was found in fashion as a man.
He humbled himself - Laid himself as low as possible:
1. In emptying himself - laying aside the effulgence of his glory.
2. In being incarnate - taking upon him the human form.
3. In becoming a servant - assuming the lowest innocent character, that of being the servant of all.
4. In condescending to die, to which he was not naturally liable, as having never sinned, and therefore had a right in his human nature to immortality, without passing under the empire of death.
5. In condescending, not only to death, but to the lowest and most ignominious kind of death, the death of the cross; the punishment of the meanest of slaves and worst of felons.
What must sin have been in the sight of God, when it required such abasement in Jesus Christ to make an atonement for it, and undo its influence and malignity! |
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
27 For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.