Philippians 2:6 (NKJV) 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God…
Jesus wasn’t just a man who had God-like characteristics. He was, and always had been, God.
John 1:1 (NKJV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He chose to limit Himself while here on earth, so He could walk among us as a human. So, in Christ, God became man.
If we take the word “form” in the wrong context, it could possibly cause us to think that Jesus wasn’t fully God. But when Paul chose the Greek word for “form”, he chose one of two different possible words.
The word he chose specifically indicates the critical, unchanging, unceasing character of something; its very essence, or what it is in and of itself, not needing anyone or anything else to affirm it, prove it or validate it.
Because Christ was God, He did not consider it robbery to share God’s nature.
The Greek word for “robbery” was translated as such because it was originally part of the phrase “seized by robbery”.
The implication here is that Jesus didn’t feel the need to “seize”, “grasp” or “hold tightly to” His deity, His position, because there was no chance that He could lose it, be disqualified from it or have it taken from Him.
Yet, He was willing to give them up for a season, limiting Himself in such a way that He could become human and walk out the task of the redemption of man through His own death, burial and resurrection.
Colossians 1:15-17 (NKJV) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-315-0902
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