Does anyone remember the WWJD bracelets popular in the ’90s and early 2000s? The letters stood for “What would Jesus do?” A lot could be said about those bracelets, some good, some critical.
One of the most intriguing things about these bracelets, however, was their popularity. Even people outside the church were wearing them. It was as if everyone was attempting to answer the question: What would Jesus do?
But here’s the problem: To be able to answer, “What would Jesus do?” you need to previously answer the question, “Who is Jesus?”
After all, if we are to emulate Jesus in word and deed, it means we need to know why he is the person to base our lives on. Otherwise, asking what Jesus would do is pointless and nonsensical.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippian Christians, he encourages them (and us) to “have the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). In other words, continually ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?”
To aid in such a reflection, Paul follows this exhortation with what is known as the Christ Hymn. The Christ Hymn is perhaps the most significant biblical meditation on who Jesus is.
In this poetic section of the letter, Paul outlines what Christians believe about the incarnation, the crucifixion and Resurrection, and the glorification of Jesus of Nazareth.
By detailing who Jesus is, the Christ Hymn, therefore, articulates why he is the person we model our lives after. If we wish to know more about Jesus, reading the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2 is a good place to start.
Below are three things the Christ Hymn teaches about Jesus.
1. Jesus Is Fully Divine and Fully Human
Many critics of the Christian faith suggest that Scripture never assumes divinity for Jesus. They argue that Jesus was nothing more than a wise human teacher whose popularity has been blown out of proportion.
This is fundamentally not true. Paul begins the Christ Hymn by describing Jesus as one who “being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6).
Importantly, Paul uses the Greek word morphe when describing that Jesus is in the nature (or form) of God. The word expresses a mode of being which reveals an essential character.
Paul doesn’t merely suggest that Jesus looked divine or that his miracles made him appear more than human. Jesus was not just some magician well-skilled in illusion and fakery.
When Paul writes that Jesus is the “morphe of God,” he is expressing that Jesus’ essential nature is equal to God Almighty.
This is why Paul can teach that Jesus did not consider his own equality with God as something to be wielded for his own benefit. Paul is claiming that Jesus is the incarnation of Almighty God.
And because he is equal to Almighty God, this assumes a pre-existence. Jesus is co-existent and co-eternal with God the Father.
Claiming the full divinity of Jesus was an astounding claim in the first-century world, one that would have been highly controversial.
Yet astoundingly, the hymn goes on to describe how Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being found in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7).
Just as Paul used the word morphe to describe Jesus’ divinity, he now uses the same word to describe Jesus’ humanity. Jesus is in the morphe of God and the morphe of humanity. Verses six and seven of the Hymn must be read together.
The pairing of Jesus’ divinity and humanity guards against the many heretical teachings that plagued the early church. The early Christians were inundated with false teachers.
Some groups taught that Jesus wasn’t divine, or if he was, he was a created god, a type of “small g god.” Others taught that Jesus wasn’t human and that his humanity was an illusion.
Authentic Christian faith, however, has always held the radical claim that Jesus of Nazareth was both fully God and fully human. To separate the two is to step away from scriptural teaching.
2. Jesus Died for Our Salvation
The fact that Jesus is fully human and fully divine means that what happens within Jesus’ humanity happens within his divinity.
What Jesus undergoes as a human person is what Jesus undergoes as the incarnation of God Almighty. Obviously, this has drastic implications for our understanding of the cross.
Paul describes how Jesus “humbled himself and become obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). On the cross, Jesus took on the full weight of humanity’s humiliation, shame, and curse.
Just consider what the cross represented in the ancient world. For Roman society, the cross represented abject shame and mockery. Crucifixion stripped the individual of their human dignity.
For this reason, death by crucifixion was reserved for the lowest of slaves and deemed unfit for dignified Roman citizens. On the other hand, for Jewish society, the cross was tantamount to declaring one under God’s curse. The cross represented divine rejection.
Deuteronomy 21:23 states that “anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.” When Jesus was crucified, therefore, Jewish law would have rendered him eternally cast off by God Almighty.
The meaning of the cross, however, completely transforms when we consider that the incarnation of God Almighty is the one who endured crucifixion. On the cross, Jesus freely took upon himself the full weight of human sin, mockery, and violence.
Rather than being destroyed by these things, Jesus “scorned its shame” (Hebrews 2:2) and thereby rendered the curse of the cross utterly powerless.
Furthermore, the cross was not some human-born mistake, accident, or divine afterthought. Christ’s death on the cross was the very purpose for which God entered the world in the first place.
Jesus was “obedient” to death on the cross, meaning that his death on the cross was God’s plan from the beginning of time.
Thus, the cross testifies to God’s unyielding love toward sinful humanity and the extent to which God will go to liberate and redeem.
3. Jesus Is the Exclusive Lord of All
Jesus’ death on the cross is not the end of the story. Jesus was raised and “exalted to the highest place” (Philippians 2:9).
Jesus’ resurrection and ascension establish him as the one before whom “every knee shall bow….and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). The eternal Lordship of Jesus is the cry of every Christian person.
This is a radical assertion. When Paul states that every knee will bow before Jesus, and every tongue confesses his Lordship, he is quoting an important Old Testament passage.
In Isaiah 45, Yahweh declares to Israel, “Before me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear and say, “in the Lord alone is righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:23-24).
It is a passage that speaks directly to the exclusivity of God Almighty. God declares, “I created the heavens and the earth…I am the Lord, there is no other” (Isaiah 45:18).
In boldness and audacity, Paul takes an Old Testament text about the exclusive Lordship of Yahweh and now applies it to Jesus.
It is to Jesus that every knee is to bend, and every tongue confess! For a Pharisee like Paul, such an utterance would be blasphemy in the worst way unless Jesus is recognized as the incarnation of God Almighty.
The reason why we endeavor to have the mind of Christ Jesus within us is because Jesus is the fully divine and human incarnation of God Almighty, who humbled himself for our salvation and was raised as Lord of all.
There is simply no other person; our lives are to be lived in allegiance and obedience. Christian life, therefore, is the life-long pursuit of Christ’s presence and will.
For further reading:
Jesus Is Not Who We Think He Is
3 Things to Do When Jesus Appears Silent in Prayer
How Can We Let Jesus Just Be Jesus?
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