Exploring the Scripture

Scholars believe today’s text was a hymn that may have been used in early Christian worship. The text represents an early reflection on the nature of Christ. Hymns can teach important principles of belief and spiritual formation. They also can help deepen an understanding of the nature and invitation of Christ.

Note the background of this hymn. Paul wrote this letter from jail and chose a hymn with communal resonance to share important messages about life in the Christian community. You might imagine early Christian communities engaging in some early forms of worship. They gathered, using this text, bowing, and singing to a vision of Christ still fresh, relevant, dangerous, and costly.

The poetic line at the beginning of the text has become a familiar invitation to Christian conversion and transformation, “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” What might it be like to let the mind of Christ become the way we think about daily life? Paul delves into what this simple, yet profound, statement implies. He shares a litany of reflections on the nature of Christ, stressing humility and servanthood.

Christ chose “the way of downward mobility” (from theologian Henri Nouwen) and “emptied himself.” The Greek word for empty is kenosis, a central characteristic of gospel life. The self-emptying Christ is a powerful counter-cultural image for the context of the Philippians and for the contexts in which many disciples find themselves today. In cultures of accumulation and excess, where people are bombarded with messages of more, more, more, what is self-emptying Christ’s calling?

Yet, Christ’s emptying nature goes beyond material wants to a deeper invitation of the soul. Personally and communally, disciples can consider what crowds their inward spaces, limiting their capacity to receive and sense God’s movement and call today. What self-emptying is required to live the Christ life today? An emptying of ego? An emptying of resentments? An emptying of cultural expectations of success and upward mobility to embrace the humility of the cross?

Liberation and feminist theologians raise concern over the language of “servanthood” often found in biblical texts. For communities that historically and systematically have been oppressed (including women), the call to servanthood’s deep humility can be problematic.

When interpreting the text today, imagine wide invitations to the kenosis (self-emptying) of Christ that offer possibilities beyond a servant image. Beware scenarios in which humility and obedience may be misinterpreted as self-diminishment or submission to oppression. Such is not the gospel invitation. The gospel is always about life abundant in Christ, honoring every person’s full worth.

The deepest intent of humility is awe and a willingness to see one’s life in the greater web of relationality to one another, the cosmos, and the holy. The end of today’s text proclaims a message of universality and connection, “every knee... every tongue” (v. 10–11).

We are emptied that we may be filled. We take on the mind of Christ to be transformed, so we can see the world in ways that honor the full worth and potential of all. When we begin to see through this Christ lens and resist the cultural temptations suggesting we are “less than,” we embody the humility and self-emptying love at the heart of the gospel invitation. That is the invitation sung through the ages from the earliest Christian communities.

Project Zion Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

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Central Themes

1. Today’s text probably was a hymn sung by the earliest Christian communities to guide one another in the life of Christ.
2. The self-emptying Christ is a powerful counter-cultural image of the Philippians’ environment and the surroundings where many disciples find themselves today. In cultures of accumulation and excess, where people are bombarded with messages of more, more, more, what is the call of the self-emptying Christ?
3. Interpreted today, “servanthood” and “obedience” can be problematic for oppressed communities. Use generous and creative interpretation to reimagine these important ideas in ways that uphold the Worth of All Persons and the deeper intent of their meaning.
4. We take on the mind of Christ to be transformed so we can see the world in ways that honor the full worth and potential of all.

Questions to Consider

1. What might it be like to let the mind of Christ become the way we think and sense in daily life?
2. In cultures of accumulation and excess, where people are bombarded with messages of more, more, more, what is the self-emptying Christ’s call?
3. What self-emptying is required to live the Christ life today?
4. How does your congregation uphold and honor the Worth of All Persons?