ON BEING EQUAL WITH GOD

Unless stated otherwise, all Scripture texts are cited from

the King James (Authorised) Version

Q What does Phil. 2: 6-8 really teach about Christ?

6 [Jesus], being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 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.

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

A This passage is usually called on to prove that in His nature and status, Christ is on an equal footing with Jehovah God, or is God Himself, as the second person on the Trinity.

Such a conclusion is at variance with the lesson Paul sets forth in the preceding verses, 3-5:

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

The flow of the argument is that the brethren should not try to gain advantage of each other one-upmanship but that they should submit to one another, regarding one’s compatriot as better than oneself.

Christ’s being ‘in the form of God’ does not mean that Jesus was, is, or ever will be, God Himself who only is always and ever ‘all in all’, the Almighty (1 Cor. 15: 28, KJV).

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