Php 2:7-“But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” In explaining how that Jesus, though He was God, emptied Himself of His outward expression of glory and condescended to the level of man, Paul uses three terms in this verse to describe how He did that. Today we will consider-“But made himself of no reputation…” Strong’s Greek Dictionary defines reputation-“… to make empty, that is, (figuratively) to abase, neutralize…make (of none effect, of no reputation, void), be in vain…” He chose to abase Himself, to empty Himself, to humble Himself, and to limit Himself. Hear Marvin Vincent-“…The general sense is that He divested Himself of that peculiar mode of existence which was proper and peculiar to Him as one with God. He laid aside the form of God. In so doing, He did not divest Himself of His divine nature. The change was a change of state: the form of a servant for the form of God. His personality continued the same. His self-emptying was not self-extinction, nor was the divine Being changed into a mere man. In His humanity He retained the consciousness of deity, and in His incarnate state carried out the mind which animated Him before His incarnation. He was not unable to assert equality with God. He was able not to assert it…” Wow! I love the “change of state” clause. He became fully man, but remained fully God. It reminds one of the show-“Undercover Boss”. Of it, Wikipedia declares-“Undercover Boss is a television franchise series created by Stephen Lambert and produced in many countries. It originated in 2009 on the British Channel 4.[1] The show’s format features the experiences of senior executives working undercover in their own companies to investigate how their firms really work and to identify how they can be improved, as well as to reward hard-working employees…” Jesus came as fully God, but went “undercover” if you will, in the form of man. He retained His position, power, prestige, and personality as God, yet many missed it because they only saw His human aspect. Thank you Jesus for “abasing yourself” to become man, fully identifying with us, dying for our sins, and rising for our victory. Hallelujah!
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 10:16:06 +0000
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