This is a study of Jesus having the right attitude, and it is the attitude that all believers ae also to have.

1. JESUS WAS EMBODYINGA RIGHT ATTITUDE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
New Living Translation
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
English Standard Version
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Berean Study Bible
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
Berean Literal Bible
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
New American Standard Bible
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Jesus Christ The Supreme Example Of Humble-mindedness
Philippians 2:5-8
T. Croskery Let this mind be in you, which was also in Jesus Christ. The exhortation to mutual
concord is strengthened by a reference to the example of Christ's humiliation on earth.
I. CONSIDER HIS ESSENTIAL PRE-EXISTING GLORY. "Who, subsisting in the form of
God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God."
1. This language evidently describes Christ before his incarnation, in his Divine glory; for the
pregnant expression, "existing in the form of God," can be understood only of Divine existence
with the manifestation of Divine glory. It is similar to the expression, "Who, being the
Brightness of his glory, and the express Image of his person" (Hebrews 1:3). As to be in the form
of a servant implies that he was a servant, so to be in the form of God implies that he was God.
The emphatic thought is that he was in the form of God before he was in the form of a servant.
2. This language exhibits likewise his own consciousness of the relations which subsisted
between him and his Father. "Who counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God." The
expression, "being in the form of God," is the objective exposition of his Divine dignity; the

2. second expression is the subjective delineation of the same thing. It asserts his conscious equality
with God.
II. CONSIDER HIS HUMILIATION. "But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross." There is a double humiliation
here involved, first objectively, then subjectively, described.
1. The first is involved in his becoming man.
(1) "He emptied himself." Of what? He did not cease to be what he was, but he emptied himself
in becoming another; He became man while he was God; a servant while he was Lord of all.
(2) "He took upon him the form of a servant." This marks his spontaneous self-abasement. "O
Israel, then hast made me to serve with thy sins." It is more than an assertion that he assumed
human nature, for it is that nature in a low condition. What condescension! "He who is Master of
all becomes the slave of all!"
(3) "Being made in the likeness of men." He was really the "Word become flesh" (John 1:14),
made "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3), that he might be qualified for his sin-bearing
and curse-bearing career. The language of the text explodes all Docetic notions of a mere
phantom-body.
(4) "Being found in fashion as a man." As the apostle formerly contrasted what he was from the
beginning with what he became at his incarnation, so here he contrasts what he is in himself with
his external appearance before men. In discourse, in conduct, in action, in suffering, he was
found in fashion as a man.
2. The second humiliation is involved in his obedience to death. "He humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." This marks his subjective disposition
in the sphere in which he placed himself as a servant, with all the obligations of his position
(Matthew 20:28). There was the form of a servant and the obedience of a servant.
(1) His abasement took the form of obedience.
(a) It was not an obedience necessitated by obligations natural to himself, but was undertaken
solely for others in virtue of the covenant in which he acted as God's Servant (Isaiah 42:1).
(b) It was a voluntary obedience. The idea of inevitable suffering, in a world altogether out of
joint, is out of the question, for no one could take his life from him, nor inflict suffering of any
sort without his will (John 10:18). His vicarious obedience was perfectly free.
(2) His abasement involved death. "He became obedient unto death." It was an obedience from
his birth to his death, for it was unto death. His obedience was in his death as well as in his life,
and he was equally vicarious in both.
(3) His abasement involved a shameful death, "even the death of the cross." It was a death
reserved for malefactors and slaves. There was pain and shame and curse. Yet "he endured the
cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2). Mark, then, at once, the transcendent love and the
transcendent humility of Jesus Christ! What an example to set before the Christians of Philippi!
"Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." - T.C.

3. Biblical Illustrator
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus
Philippians 2:5-11
Lessons taught by the humiliation and exaltation of Chris
T. Lessey, M. A.t: — The apostle was exhorting the Philippians to imitate the humility and
disinterestedness of the Saviour. But there could have been no force in the example if Jesus
Christ had not been God.
I. A BRIEF ILLUSTRATION OF THIS IMPRESSIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE REDEEMER.
1. Jesus Christ is here presented as subsisting originally in the splendour of Deity. "Form of
God" must not be explained to mean any temporary manifestation such as the Theophanies of the
Old Testament. Fire, e.g., is the symbol of Deity, as was the Shechinah, but not the form. That
has an integral meaning.
2. He humbled Himself. Had He not done so God would never have been seen by His creatures.
Notice the gradation.
(1)Subordination. "He took the form of a servant."
(2)Human subordination.
(3)Obedient subordination.
(4)Self-sacrificing subordination.
3. Elevation.
(1)A name above every name.
(2)A dignity recognized by all.
II. THE ALL IMPORTANT LESSONS.
1. Disinterestedness. "Look not every one on His own things," etc. This is just what Christ did,
and that, not because there was any worthiness in man, but out of love.
2. Self-sacrifice. There is no religion without an imitation of Christ's self abandonment.
3. Perseverance. If anything could have stopped Christ in his work He would have been
stopped.Conclusion: Let, then, this mind be in you. I argue with you on the ground —
1. Of your Christianity. O Christian, from whence did you derive your name.
2. Of gratitude. What do you owe to Christ?
3. Of the intercession of Christ.
4. Of the great worth of the soul.

4. 5. Of the glories of the kingdom of Christ.
(T. Lessey, M. A.)
The humiliation and glory of Christ
A. Raleigh, D. D.I. LET US TRACE THE HUMILIATION AND GLORY OF CHRIST.
1. The point of departure, where is it? On earth or in heaven? In humanity or in Deity? Those
who contend from the simply human view of the nature of Christ say that He began to
condescend somewhere in His earthly lifetime, as if that could be a mighty argument for
humility. No, we must begin where Paul begins. "In the form of God" can only mean possessing
the attributes of God (2 Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 1:3; John 1:1).
2. Being thus Divine, He did not deem His equality with God a thing to grasp at and eagerly
retain. He emptied Himself of His heavenly glory, and having humbled Himself as a common
man He humbled himself yet more, becoming obedient to the death which only the lowest
malefactors could die.
3. Of course there could be no essential change in this humiliation. Jesus could never be less than
Divine. The Divine glory dwelt within the human nature as within a veil. It shone out at times
and then all was dark again. The glory of His boyhood was seen in the temple; of His manhood
on the Mount of Transfiguration; He gave but a look in the garden out of His divinity and the
soldiers fell back.
4. At the lowest point of the humiliation the ascent begins in the worship of the penitent thief, in
the words of the soldier, in the reverence shown to His body, in His resurrection and triumphant
ascension.
5. The name is the character, influence; and to that all creation shall do homage, because in some
way affected by it.
II. THE PRACTICAL PURPOSE.
1. The inculcation of humility. You see what Christ has done. Do likewise; be lowly, go down.
Ah, the contrast between Christ and many who bear His name! He in greatness and glory coming
down so far! We in our blindness and littleness, all struggling to rise.
2. If His life is the model of my own; if His cross repeats itself in the cross I bear for Him; then
there comes to me a truer elevation. "God hath highly exalted Him," and that is a pledge that
those who have been with Christ in His humiliation shall together sit on His throne.
3. Wherefore work out your own salvation — by self-denial, humility, and this with fear and
trembling, because it is the only thing you need fear about.
(A. Raleigh, D. D.)
The supreme example of self-renunciation
W. B. Pope, D. D.These words are the grandest and most profound, and at the same time the
most copious and unrestrained which St. Paul ever used on this subject, his final and finished
formula of the Incarnation. It is wonderful to observe with what tranquillity, ease, and
unconsciousness of effort this amazing subject is introduced. All comes as a matter of course. He
does not say "Behold, I show you a mystery." It flows as naturally from His pen as a simple
motive for Christian duty, as if it were the commonplace of theological truth as familiar to them
as to Himself. So, doubtless, it was.

5. I. THERE IS ONE PERSON HERE AND ONE ONLY. The name Jesus Christ is given to that
Person, who, before the Incarnation, was "in the form of God," and afterwards, "in the form of a
servant." He may be called by any name, "Son of God" or "Son of man," but that name always
signifies His Person as possessed of two natures. Accordingly, that Person may be the subject of
two classes of predicates. The Divine nature never has a human attribute, nor the human a
Divine, but the Divine-human Person may be spoken of as having both. So here St. Paul is
referring to a thought of the Eternal Son which implied that He was not yet man. The example is
that of Christ Jesus in the flesh, but its strength and obligation are based upon the fact that it was
the divinity in Christ that began the mediatorial humiliation.
II. THE PRE-EXISTENT NATURE AND FORM OF BEING is here strikingly described. Paul
uses an expression which indicates the relation of the Second Person of the Trinity to the First,
that of eternal subordination without implying inferiority. As the Father cannot be without the
Son, as being cannot be without its image, so the Godhead in the Second Person had its form —
the essential attributes and glories of Deity which He might lay aside without losing the divinity
of His Eternal generation.
III. THE ACT OF INCARNATION IS ATTRIBUTED TO THAT PRE-EXISTENT PERSON.
He resolved to empty Himself of all the glories, prerogatives, and manifestations of the Godhead
and animate a human nature. This was His own act. There was a concurrence of the Holy Trinity.
The Father by an eternal necessity begetting His Son, begets Him again in indissoluble union
with our nature. The Holy Ghost is the Divine instrument of the Father's will in that office. But it
was the Son's own act to conjoin with Himself this new man. Now, though our human nature is
not an ignoble thing, yet His coming in the likeness of a nature that evil had defiled, was a
condescension which might be termed a humiliation. His Divine repute was for a season
suspended, and He was reputed among the transgressors.
IV. THE REALITY OF HIS ASSUMPTION OF HUMAN NATURE is set forth by three
expressions.
1. "Form of a servant." The entire history of our Saviour's human existence was that of the
mediatorial servant of God (Isaiah 42). As such He proclaimed Himself, and was proclaimed
(Acts 3:26). The term is parallel with "form" of God, and signifies that in His human nature His
manifestation was that of the servitude of redemption. Our human nature was the towel with
which He girded Himself (John 13). He took our humanity only that He might serve in it.
2. "Likeness of men" limits itself to the mere assumption of our nature, and indicates that He
became man otherwise than others become men;, that His human nature was perfect, but it was
representative human nature, "likeness of men." So that the apostle's careful definition leaves
room for all that range of difference between Him and us that theology is constrained in
reverence to establish.
3. "Found in fashion as a man" completes the picture of the Incarnation by realizing it and giving
it location among men. He was all by which a man could be observed, judged, estimated. He was
"found" numbered as one of the descendents of Adam.
V. THE DESIGN OF THE WONDERFUL DESCENT (ver. 8). The emptying ends with the
Incarnation; but the example of self-renunciation is further exhibited.
1. The death of the cross was imposed on Him as a great duty. Much is here omitted because of
the special purpose in view. Paul says nothing about our Lord's birth under the Mosaic, nor His
obligations as under the moral law, nor the endless indignities that He accepted. He singles out

6. the one tremendous imposition that He should die for sin. Death was the goal of a great
obedience. All other duties tended to this, and found in this their consummation.
2. This great obedience was voluntarily assumed in humility. It was not merely death, but a
humiliating and cursed death. But to this He submitted, passive before men because inwardly
passive before God.
VI. THIS SPONTANEOUS, PERFECT SELF-SACRIFICE IS AN EXAMPLE, the ruling and
regulative principle, indeed, of all Christian devotion and service. That man's salvation required
this is taken for granted, but is not dwelt upon. As an example, however, it may be viewed under
two aspects.
1. As the perfect exhibition of self-renunciation.(1) It is obvious that Paul lays great stress on the
pre-incarnate condescension. He whose Deity was that of the Son's eternal exhibition of the form
of His Father, did not reckon the display of His Divine glory, of the perfections "equal with
God," a thing to hold fast; but let them go for man's salvation, and lived among the conditions of
human nature. This was His self-sacrifice. We dare not attempt to define here: there is a danger
in two directions. We may so dwell upon the unchangeableness of the Divine nature as to reduce
all the condescension to his incarnate estate; or we may so exaggerate the Divine self-sacrifice as
to attribute an impossible abnegation of His Divine attributes. Enough that the New Testament
does not reveal to us a Trinity inaccessible to those sentiments which we regard as the highest
attributes of human virtue. The pattern of our loftiest human excellence is in God Himself.(2)
But we now descend to the exhibition of self-sacrifice in the mediatorial Man of sorrows.
Concerning this the words teach us to mark its absolute perfection in every respect as an
exhibition of self-sacrifice, and its absolute perfection also as a pattern to us. When he has
brought the Redeemer down from His transcendent height, he exhibits Him with reverent joy and
tenderness as the supreme pattern of sacrificing love. But he only refers to the mind that was in
Christ, and that mind was the surrender of all and the endurance of all for the good of man. There
is no detail of the Saviour's sufferings.
2. The reality of the example to us. Elsewhere it is said that Christ in His meek endurance and
self-sacrificing devotion left us an example. Paul shows that all who are Christ's undergo in their
degree His lot and share His destiny. "If any man will serve Me," etc. Those who shall reign with
Christ must first suffer with Him. The spirit of union with Christ imparts this first principle of the
Saviour's consecration; it must become the ruling principle in us also.
(W. B. Pope, D. D.)
The great example
R. Johnstone, LL. B.The apostle enforces the previous counsels to the cultivation of self-denying
love by the argument strongest of all to the Christian heart, the example of the Lord Jesus.
I. GOD CONDESCENDED TO BECOME MAN.
1. Christ did not change His nature, an impossibility, but His "form," and in the surrender of this
Divine dignity for us points to the duty of our surrender of ease, rank, repute, and even life, for
the good of others.
2. The work of love seemed a greater thing than His retention of what was originally His own,
and not an object of mere ambition.

7. 3. So He emptied Himself of this "form," the glory in which He was revealed to the angels, and
to Moses, and Isaiah.(1) By assuming the form of a servant, its opposite. The King became a
subject.(2) How He took that form is explained — "being made in the likeness of men," not of a
man; He was the representative of the race. Here, then, we have the mystery of mysteries. Our
Redeemer is God, or our hope in Him were baseless, but His Deity was veiled in flesh.
II. AS A MAN HE WENT DOWN INTO THE DEPTHS OF HUMILIATION.
1. His obedience exhibits —(1) The reality of His manhood. Subjection is conceivable only in a
created nature.(2) His exemplariness; as a servant of God, he is a member of the class to which
all Christians belong.
2. His obedience led Him to the death of the cross, a death —
(1)The most cruel.
(2)The most disgraceful.
3. All this was voluntary.
III. IN REWARD FOR HIS OBEDIENCE HE WAS CROWNED WITH GLORY AND
HONOUR.
1. This was done by the Father who in the economy of Redemption represents the majesty of the
God head.
2. This was done for the purpose of securing for Christ universal supremacy and homage.
3. The end of all was the glory of God the Father in conformity with the Son's prayer — "Glorify
Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Conclusion: The fitness of the wonderful
paragraph as an argument to enforce the exhortation. All this was out of love for you. Imitate this
love in its devotion, self-forgetfulness, humility.
(R. Johnstone, LL. B.)
An appeal for the cultivation of a right spirit
J. Parker, D. D.This comprehensive passage can be used for theological purposes only by
accommodation. It is a practical exhortation rather than a theological disquisition. Paul is not
arguing a doctrinal point, or rebutting an heresy. There is no evidence that the Philippians were
unsound. It is simply the groundwork for a powerful appeal for the cultivation of a right spirit.
Paul's argument, based on the Messianic history, may be thrown into this shape. You Philippians
have been a great joy to me, but my joy is not quite full. Your unanimity is not perfect. "Let this
mind be in you," etc. That mind was condescending, unselfish, most loving. Some of you
imagine yourselves too elevated to mingle with others. But Christ, who was infinitely elevated,
stooped to servitude and death. Let His mind, then, be in you, and nothing shall be done through
strife and vain-glory. The highest should prove his highness by serving the lowly.
I. EVERY FEATURE IN CHRISTIAN CHARACTER MAY BE CARRIED BACK TO AND
EXAMINED IN THE LIGHT OF THE WHOLE HISTORY OF CHRIST. The Christian is
always representing or misrepresenting Christ.
II. THESE DELINEATIONS OF CHRIST REVEAL THE TRUE METHOD OF RENDERING
SERVICE TO MAN. Human deliverance and progress will remain a theory only until men come
to work on the method here stated. Great philanthropic programmes must begin at Bethlehem,
and comprehend the mysteries of Calvary if they would ascend from Bethany to the heavens. To

8. serve man Christ became man. So in serving others we must identify ourselves with them. This
identification with the race made Christ accessible to all classes. We too must go down.
III. CHRIST'S PIETY WAS NOT A MERE INDEX FINGER. Instead of saying, "That is the
way," He said, "I am the way." Men fail when they say "that" instead of "I," when they give a
pronoun instead of the living substantive of their own sanctified character. Instead of seeing how
the world's misery looks after it has flown from a secretarial pen, and taken form upon the clean
foolscap of a great society we should lay our own white hand on the gashed and quaking heart of
humanity.
IV. CONDESCENSION IS NOTDEGRADATION.
1. Was Christ degraded? Go into the territories of wretchedness and guilt upon any other
business than that of Christ and you will be degraded. Benevolence will come forth unpolluted as
a sunbeam.
2. More: How do you teach a child to read? By beginning at the rudimentary line, and
accompanying Him patiently through all introductory processes. So Christ does in the moral
education of the race.
V. ARE WE TO COME DOWN TO MEN OR ARE MEN TO BE BROUGHT UP TO US?
Both. We have here also a revelation of the glory which is in reserve for those who adopt Christ's
method. Christ had that glory of right: His followers bare it of grace. Christ promises exaltation
to all who overcome. Conclusion:
1. God overrules the most improbable means to the accomplishment of the greatest ends.
2. The true worker is never finally overlooked. "Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the
great." Why? "Because He hath poured out His soul unto death." In apparent weakness may be
the sublimest mystery of power. A man may be conquering when in a very passion of suffering.
(J. Parker, D. D.)
The mind of Christ
J. Lyth, D. D.I. ITS FEATURES. Humble — obedient — loving — self-sacrificing.
II. ITS REWARD. Exaltation — honour — glory.
III. ITS OBLIGATION. We are redeemed by Him — must be conformed to Him.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Christ is our patternIt is said that, thinking to amuse him, his wife read to Dr. Judson some
newspaper notices, in which he was compared to one or other of the apostles. He was
exceedingly distressed: and then he added, "Nor do I want to be like them; I do not want to be
like Paul, nor Apollos, nor Cephas, nor any mere man. I want to be like Christ. We have only one
perfectly safe Exemplar, — only One, who, tempted like as we are in every point, is still without
sin. I want to follow Him only, copy His teachings, drink in His Spirit, place my feet in His
footprints, and measure their shortcomings by these, and these only. Oh, to be more like Christ!"
How to obtain the mind of Christ
C. H. Spurgeon.As certain silk worms have their silk coloured by the leaves on which they feed,
so, if we were to feed on Christ, and nothing else but Christ, we should become pule, holy,
lowly, meek, gentle, humble; in a word, we should be perfect even as He is. What wonderful
meat this must be! O my brethren, if you have ever tried the flesh and blood of Jesus as your

9. soul's diet, you will know that I am not speaking vain words! There is no such sustenance for
faith, love, patience, joy, as living daily upon Jesus, our Saviour. You who have never tasted of
this heavenly bread, had better listen to the word, "O taste and see that the Lord is good!"
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The lesson of humility
E. B. Pusey, D. D.The heathen had semblances or images of well-nigh every virtue. He had
many excellences, here and there, which put Christians to shame. Wretchedly corrupt as life was
upon the whole, still not individuals only, but even nations, had great single virtues. The heathen
had self-devotion, contentment, contempt of the world, and of the flesh; he had fortitude,
endurance, self-denial, abstemiousness, temperance, chastity, even a sort of reverence for God
whom he knew not; but he had not humility. The first sin, the wish to be as God, pride, spoiled
them all. Man, in his natural state, claims, as his own, what is God's; and so he displeases God,
whom he robs of His honour. And so the first beginning of Christian virtues is to lay aside pride.
It is to own that we have nothing, that so we may receive all and hold all of God; and when, as
being in Christ and partaking of His riches, we begin to have, still to own that, of our own, we
have nothing. But not only in general or towards God have we need to be humble. It enters in
detail into every Christian grace, so that well-nigh the whole substance of the Christian discipline
is humility. Every mountain of human pride must be brought low, to prepare the Lord's way; and
so shall the lowly valley be exalted. Without humility, there can be no resignation, since humility
alone knows its sufferings and sorrows to be less than it deserves; no contentment, for humility
alone knows that it has more blessings than it deserves; no peace, for contention cometh of want
of humility; no kindness, for pride envieth; and this St. Paul assigns as the very reason why "love
envieth not," that it "is not puffed up," that is, is humble. How shall there, without it, be any
Christian grace, since all are the fruits of God's Holy Spirit, and He "resisteth the proud and
giveth grace unto the lowly?" He "dwelleth in the humble and contrite heart." If love be the
summit of all virtue, humility is the foundation. He humbled Himself, because He loved us: we
must he humble, in order to love Him; for to such only will He impart His love. "The publican
would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven," and God was more pleased with the confession
of sins in the sinner, than in the recounting of the virtues of the righteous. The Canaanitish
woman was content with the portion of the dogs, and she had "the children's bread." The gate of
life is low as well as narrow. Through the lowly portal of repentance, are we brought into the
Church; and humble as little children must we again become, if we would enter the everlasting
gates. Well indeed may the Christian be ashamed not to be humble, for whom God became
humble. But this humility must be deep down in our nature, and so striking root downwards thou
shalt bear fruit upwards; so laying a deep foundation, shall thy house remain. The tree falls with
any gust of wind when the root is near the surface; the house which has a shallow foundation, is
soon shaken. High and wide as the noblest trees spread, so deep and wide their roots are sunk
below; the more majestic and nobler a pile of building, the deeper its foundation; their height is
but an earnest of their lowliness; you see their height, their lowliness is hidden; the use of sinking
thus deep is not plain to sight, yet were they not thus lowly, they could not be thus lofty. Dig
deep then the foundation of humility, so only mayest thou hope to reach the height of charity; for
by humility alone canst thou reach that Rock which shall not be shaken, that is Christ. Founded
by humility on that Rock, the storms of the world shall not shake thee, the torrent of evil custom
shall not bear thee away, the empty winds of vanity shall not cast thee down. Founded deep on
that rock. thou mayest build day by day that tower whose top shall reach unto heaven, to the very

10. presence of God, the sight of God, and shalt be able to finish it; for He shall raise thee thither,
who for thy sake abased Himself to us.
(E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
The mind in Christ
E. P. Ingersoll.The word mind generally denotes that power in man which conceives thought,
weighs it, and forms conclusions. We speak of a "strong mind," a "disordered mind." Again, the
word is used for the will power, as when we say, "I have a mind to do it." At other times it is
used for the heart or affections, e.g., "A mind at rest," "A joy of mind," "A grief of mind." In the
7th of Romans it is used for the principle of grace in the heart. "But I see another law in my
members warring against the law of my mind." Lastly, it is employed in a more comprehensive
way, as in the text, where consecration of intellect, the aim of life, and temper of spirit are
included. Christ Jesus is held up by the apostle as the model after which we should shape our
Lives. As good parents train their children by example, so God our Father trains His children.
Christ the Lord is at first the pattern of heavenly life to us, but becomes more the power of
heavenly life within us. Christ answers all the requirements of an example to us. We need for
such —
I. A BEING OF BOUNDLESS CAPACITY. The Bible represents Christ as God and Creator.
Look to created things and see the power of His being. The drop of water has all the power and
freshness which He gave it on the morning of creation. The effect cannot be greater than the
cause. The sun shines with the same fulness of warmth and light and life as when it waked the
first germ into life, yet it is but "the work of His fingers." But what are these as witnesses
compared with the experiences of pure hearts who, in all generations, have been able to sing,
"The Lord is my light and my salvation?"
II. ONE WHOSE NATURE IS LIKE OURS, AND IS AT THE SAME TIME ABOVE SIN.
Look to the glory and yet the humanity of His nature. Earth did not, it could not, lift itself toward
heaven. He became "Immanuel — God with us." "He took upon Him the form of a servant," etc.
The prostrate vine cannot lift itself again to clasp the tree and climb among its branches; but if
the tree bow itself and unloose the tendrils from the roots and briers, the vine may find its place
of rest and fruitfulness. This the tree cannot do; but God in Christ has thus bowed Himself to
fallen man.
III. ONE WHO PRESENTS TO US FRESHNESS AND VARIETY OF MIND AND SOUL. We
read, "Thou hast the dew of thy youth." "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Selecting as emblems those objects that are most expressive of life and beauty and blessing, the
Saviour takes their name upon Himself. He is the "Sun of Righteousness," "The Star out of
Jacob," "The Morning Star," "The Light of the World." And then coming to things of earth — He
is the sheep that is dumb before her shearers, and is presently "the Good Shepherd." He is the
"Lamb of God," etc. He is the "Fountain Opened," The "Tree of Life," "The Rose of Sharon and
the Lily of the Valley." In short, He is light for the eye, sound for the ear, bread for food, water
for thirst, peace for the troubled, and rest for the weary. Over against every door of the mind and
every window of the soul He stands laden with riches and waiting for admission.
IV. WE NEED IN THE CULTURE OF THE MIND AND SOUL ONE WHO HAS
SURPASSING WISDOM. In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Conclusion: What are we to be like Him in?
1. In our aim in life.

11. 2. In our spirit and temper.
(E. P. Ingersoll.)
The mind in Christ
cf. Lyth, D. D.I.IN HIM.
II.IN YOU.
III.IN YOU BY HIS SPIRIT.
IV.IN YOU AS A MEANS OF HAPPINESS AND SALVATION.
(cf. Lyth, D. D.)
The mind that was in Christ Jesus
C. Girdlestone, M. A., H. B. Rawnsley., J. W. Reeve, M. A.Was —
I. SELF-ABNEGATING. If Christ, being God, for our sakes became man, may we not learn to
forego, for the sake of each other, our own private advantages?
1. The rich may give to the poor, just as Christ for our sakes became poor.
2. The poor, themselves, should be helpful, just as Christ being poor was able to make many rich.
II. CONDESCENDING. He stooped from highest glory to our low estate, thereby teaching those
who have the advantage of ability and attainments to condescend to the ignorance and incapacity
of their less favoured brethren.
III. NON-COMPLAINING. Hence, the poor and ignorant should learn to cease from murmuring
against those who have become better off by diligence, frugality, and sobriety, and to wear with
cheerfulness the garb of poverty He wore, and receive with thankfulness the hardships He bore
before them.
IV. NON-CONTENTIOUS. All, whatever their condition, should learn to contend less for their
ownselves in the pursuit of this world's advantages, and leave more room for their neighbours'
advancement and more cordially promote it. Industry is commendable, but grasping and jealousy
are alien to the mind of Christ. We should let live as well as live.
V. ABHORRENT OF SIN. So much so that He humbled Himself to the death of the cross to
destroy it. The Christian, therefore, should mortify the affections of the flesh.
VI. FEARLESS OF DEATH. He encountered it with joy that He might deliver us from bondage
unto the fear of death.
(C. Girdlestone, M. A.)Christ's was —
I. A FEARLESS mind. He braved —
1. Public opinion.
2. Persecution.
3. Death.
II. A SELF-DENYING mind: and such in us will enable us, like Him, to forego —
1. Present advantage for the good of others.
2. Popularity for the sake of principle.

12. 3. Personal claims, profit and pleasure for usefulness.
III. A LABORIOUS mind. Christ was ever thinking, planning, devising for others.
IV. A BROADLY SYMPATHETIC mind. Helpfulness should be united with tenderness.
V. A PATIENT mind. How He waited those thirty years; how He bore with the ignorance of His
disciples, and the malignity of His murderers.
VI. A HOPEFUL mind. He saw beyond the cross. "He saw of the travail of His soul and was
satisfied."
(H. B. Rawnsley.)
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE MIND OF CHRIST? His view of things, and to have that mind is
to think and feel about things as He did. He came down from heaven to study matters on the
spot, and we can never have right views unless we take His point of view. But He came down
not only to have right views but to rectify what was wrong. Hence, His standpoint was
benevolent. He came not to judge but to save the world.
II. WHAT WAS CHRIST'S MIND WHEN HE BECAME INCARNATE?
1. His view of man. This is seen sufficiently in the fact that He took man's nature. Creation gives
us a high estimate of manhood. The Incarnation one far higher. God made it: God wore it.
2. His view of the soul. He thought it was worth shedding His blood for. How much are we
willing to give to save a soul? We do so little because our estimate is so low.
3. His view of sin. He deemed it an evil so terrible that He must give His life to atone for it
Ought not this to produce in us a due sense of its enormity.
4. His view of the world and its glory. He treated the offer of Satan with contempt, and told
Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. How contrary our own view.
5. His view of the use of time. "I must work the works of Him that sent me," etc. What a lesson
to the indolent and procrastinating.
6. His view of the obligations of religion. In childhood, while obedient to His parents, He
recognized a higher authority than theirs. "Wist ye not," etc. Later on, "If any man love father
and mother more than Me."
7. His view of wealth and poverty — "The foxes have holes," etc.
8. His view of God's Word — "Man shall not live by bread alone."
9. His view in regard to His enemies — "Father, forgive them," is the practical commentary on
"Love your enemies."
III. HOW ARE WE TO ATTAIN THIS MIND?
1. Only by union with Him through faith.
2. This mind is to be cultivated by a diligent study of His precepts and example with the help of
His Spirit.
(J. W. Reeve, M. A.)
The imitableness of Christ's character

13. Joseph Fletcher, D. D.1. That character as depicted by the evangelists is the perfection of beauty,
and the more we contemplate it the stronger must be our convictions of the divinity of His
religion.(1) The evangelists were incapable of inventing it. Their history, character, training,
prevented that; and, moreover, they present it artlessly, not as advocates, but as witnesses.(2)
Believing, then, as we must, Christ as thus described by friends and foes alike, perfect and
without sin, the religion He taught must be Divine. No bad man would originate a good cause,
and no good man a bad one.
2. Christ's character is exhibited not for advocacy or admiration, but for imitation, and the best
evidence of our interest in Him is our likeness to Him. Without this our religion is vain. The
mind that was in Him, and is to be in us, was one of —
I. EMINENT HUMILITY. Man fell by pride, and must be raised by humility.
1. Upon this Christ insisted. His first beatitude was on the poor in spirit. The condition of
discipleship is to learn of Him who was "meek and lowly in heart."
2. Christ combined the highest displays of dignity with unaffected lowliness.
3. This humility was uniformly displayed in self-denial, forbearance, forgiveness, gentleness,
patience, submission.
II. SUBLIME BENEVOLENCE. This was exhibited —
1. In the intense solicitude with which He regarded the interests of others; and if we would be
conformed to the mind of Christ we must extirpate selfishness and live for the welfare of men.
2. In the work He undertook and the sacrifice He made. Some people manifest only feeling, but
real charity like Christ's is always practical.
3. In the spirit and temper which marked all His procedure. It did not confine itself to occasional
great efforts.
III. SUPREME DEVOTION. If we want to know what the law of God requires we see it is
Christ whose meat was to do God's will and to finish His work. This principle —
1. Had all the constancy of influence on His mind in every transaction. It did not appear in
peculiar forms or on special occasions.
2. It was manifested in the spirit of prayer.
3. It was marked by uniformity, and not by fits and starts.Conclusion: Various considerations to
enforce the imitation of this bright example.
1. It was the great design of the Saviour to secure this conformity to the virtues of His life, even
by His mediation.
2. It was His command to do as He had done.
3. There is not a doctrine or principle of our religion that does not lead to this and present a
motive.
4. All the tendencies and affections of every renewed mind are in harmony with this important
claim.
5. Heaven will be the perfection of this conformity.
(Joseph Fletcher, D. D.)

14. The obedience of Christ
C. Bradley, M. A.By having the mind of Christ is not meant doing exactly as He did, but having
the disposition so that had we been in His circumstances we should have done what He did, and
so acting in our circumstances as He would act were He in them. Here His obedience is set forth
for our imitation. Notice that it was —
I. VOLUNTARY, not forced or reluctant. "He made Himself," "He took," "He humbled
Himself."
1. There was no compelling power in heaven, earth, or hell.
2. The inspiration of this obedience was love to God and man.
3. Human obedience to be of any value must be the free and joyful outcome of love.
II. HUMILIATING.
1. Obedience is easy when the path is agreeable and the end profit or renown. In Christ's case
the, pathway was the manger and the wilderness, etc., and the goal the cross.
2. There was no species of humiliation, sin only excepted, which Christ did not endure.
3. This is the first step in true human obedience, for before that can be rendered, pride, self-
seeking, self-importance, must be subdued.
4. This can only be effected by the religion of Jesus.
II. PERSEVERING — "unto death."
1. The last term of our Lord's obedience was the hardest and worst. His other trials, heavy
enough, were only preparatory. Our obedience will be worthless unless we endure to the end.
"Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us, arm yourselves with the same mind."
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
The Christian temper
G. Burder.I. HUMILITY.
1. This is important because it is the particular grace here inculcated, and is the root of all other
graces.
2. Pride is natural to man and must be repressed in the believer by three considerations.(1) What
he was — a sinner, enemy of God, heir of hell, etc.(2) What he is — a pardoned sinner, a child of
God, but still imperfect, and with such weakness that he may well be humble (1 Timothy
1:15).(3) What he shall be — "like Christ;" what cause for humble gratitude.
II. PIETY.
1. This was eminently seen in Christ.
2. The natural man is ungodly.
3. The spirit of piety will render those acts of religion natural and pleasant which are intolerably
burdensome to the unconverted.
III. SPIRITUALITY (John 3:6).
1. We derive our fleshly nature from our first parents. Natural men mind earthly things, while the
things of the Spirit of God are foolishness unto them.

15. 2. The believer, born from above, is spiritual, and minds heavenly things.
3. This constitutes the difference between the two, and determines the destiny of each (Romans
8:6).
IV. CONTENTMENT (Philippians 4:11-13). This is —
1. Generated by Divine grace.
2. Sustained by the Divine promises.
V. MEEKNESS (Matthew 5:5; 2 Corinthians 10:1). This meekness is not the effect of
constitution or the calculation of self-interest; it is the gift of God working on the lines of Christ's
example.
VI. MERCY (Hebrews 5:2; Matthew 5:7; Romans 9:23; Colossians 3:12).
1. To the souls of men.
2. To their bodies.
VII. SINCERITY. This is the soul of all religion (2 Corinthians 1:12; John 1:48). Conclusion:
1. See how excellent is the religion of Jesus.
2. Learn the necessity of something more than morality.
3. How vain the profession of the gospel without its temper.
4. How far we come short of this example.
(G. Burder.)
The problem of the age
Pres. D. S. Gregory.(Proverbs 23:17 in connection with text): — Now, while Solomon lays down
the broad general principles concerning the prime importance of one's theory of things, Paul, in
this passage, gives a clear and terse expression to the Christian theory of human life, and urges
its acceptance with the most intense earnestness — "Have this mind," etc. Christ Himself stands
out as the embodiment of the Christian theory. I propose to show that this theory is unique and
contrary to the popular view of this age in —
I. ITS METHOD OF ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF MAN IN THIS WOULD.
1. It estimates him not by what is on him or around him or in his possession, but by what is in
him. Be such in soul as Christ was.
2. I seriously question whether Christ, where He to appear as of old among men, would find
many who would be willing to acknowledge themselves to be of His class in society. Would He
have the shadow of a title to respectability in what the world is pleased to call the "best society."
3. It is hard to gain any adequate conception of how belittling and degrading such modern views
are. But whether we are aware of it or not, society is suffering the disastrous consequences of
this lowering of the estimate of character. We are coveting the same things that made wreck of
the old nations, and forgetting the thing that has distinguished the Christian from them. The only
possible remedy is to be found in making Christ's view our own, and shaping social life and
intercourse according to that. "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
II. The Christian theory of life is unique, and contrary to the popular theory of this age IN THE
SUPREME END THAT IT PROPOSES FOR HUMAN CONDUCT. That end is absolute

16. righteousness in conformity to the will of God. There is no escaping the fact that Christ exalted
righteousness as the governing principle of the universe. Now there are two radically variant
views concerning the supreme end of human conduct — that which finds it in God, and that
which finds it in man. The latter is the outcome of our depraved nature. It may be traced along
the line of heathen and materialistic thought from Epicurus to Herbert Spencer and Paul Janet. In
its grosser form it makes the quest for happiness the supreme thing for man. Its positive rule is,
"Enjoy yourself;" its negative, "Don't get hurt." You cannot make men of breadth and stature on
that basis. The view dwarfs and deadens humanity. The antagonistic view of Christianity finds
the supreme end of human conduct and activity in connection with God. Virtue is righteousness,
conformity to the law of the moral Governor. And yet, is it not true that, as we throw away
Christ's standard of manhood — character — we also cast aside His theory of the supreme rule
of human conduct? Nay, does not the fact that we have repudiated that rule account for our
present view of character? Does net the average man oftener ask the question, Will this make me
comfortable? Will this secure my happiness? or, Will this increase my fortune? or, Will this
enlarge my knowledge or culture? than the question, Is this right? It is this selfish, so called
morality that has brought the degradation of character, the general corruption.
III. The Christian theory is unique and contrary to the popular theory IN THE LAW WHICH IT
PROPOSES FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF THE HIGHEST SUCCESS IN HUMAN LIFE —
the law of self-sacrifice. Man is born into the world the most helpless of animals, and, what is
more, the most selfish of all animals. The problem of human life, for the parent, human and
divine, is how to develop the generous manhood and womanhood out of this intensest of all
animalism. Just here it is that man is most fearfully made. He can only gain by renouncing. He
seeks for himself and his own selfish aims only, at the peril of ,missing all. The law of the gospel
is, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," etc. Seek other things first, and you
lose them all. "He that loseth his life shall find it," etc. If the wretched and unsuccessful man will
look into his heart he will find that he is breaking this great law of life, and is suffering for his
breach of it. He is making too much of self, possessions, success, and is thereby forfeiting the
very things he desires most. The human disappointment and unrest will continue with the
resultant envy and strife until Christ's law of self-sacrifice is accepted. With the mind that was in
Christ Jesus, we shall find the true solution of the dark problem that has led so many into
pessimism.
IV. The Christian theory is unique in THE KIND OF LIFE THAT IT PROPOSES TO MAN
FOR THE SATISFACTION OF HIS ACTIVE NATURE: a life devoted to the glory of God in
redemption. This was the supreme thing in the life of Christ. For this He obeyed, suffered, and
died. On the ground of this God has highly exalted Him. And so in the gospel view, the work for
which man is in the world. We have had our popular theories of moral reform without Christ; but
if anything has been demonstrated by human history, the only universal and effective method of
such reform is that which starts out from Christ and His gospel. When, and only when, you make
the drunkard a real Christian, you make sure that he will be a temperate man. We have had our
popular theories of education without Christ, but nothing now seems more certain than that they
practically end in corruption and crime. We devote our powers with tremendous energy to the
production and acquisition of wealth and the advancement of material civilization, with the
inevitable result of overproduction and periodical depression, in which much of the fancied gain
disappears. If one half the energy were expended in the higher line of gospel effort we might
have steady increase of solid wealth with permanent prosperity, and all this in a world of

17. constantly increasing purity and peace. Living on such principles our souls might grow as rapidly
as our fortunes, instead of being blighted and dwarfed by covetousness.
(Pres. D. S. Gregory.)
Paul's method of exhortation
C. S. Robinson, D. D.Just as some orator, skilfully addressing a company of soldiers on the eve
of battle, begins with admonition and ends with a picture; just as he would appeal to their
manhood, their consistency, their honour, and their courage, as he would play upon their fear of
disgrace and their contempt of poltroonery; just as he would follow up each motive with another
and a more elevated one, until, at the last, he would invoke their patriotism and their love for
their leader, alike and together, by unfurling the national ensign and showing them how he had
caused to be painted across the folds the likeness of the face they knew; so here the apostle seeks
to arouse Christian enthusiasm by quickly exhibiting the very image of the Captain of our
salvation, and bidding us follow Him alone.
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The Attitude of Christ
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
The Christian faith of the first century of Christianity was centered on the person and work of
Jesus Christ. The preeminence of Christ was the focus of the early preaching in the church.
Christianity is Christ, and as in many other passages, Philippians 2:5-11 makes this emphatically
clear.
Even before His incarnation, Jesus was in the form of God and was equal to God. Jesus Christ
eternally possesses all of God’s attributes. He is God. “He existed in the form of God” (v. 6), is
not referring to a bodily appearance, but is a strong way of proclaiming the deity of Jesus Christ.
His deity never alters or changes.
Jesus, in His high priestly prayer the night before His crucifixion, referred to His “glory which I
even had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). He was referring to the glory He enjoys
on par with His heavenly Father. The apostle John wrote of this same pre-incarnate glory in John
1:1-4, 14.

18. The event that staggers the mind almost beyond comprehension is the fact that the Second
Person of the Trinity laid aside the manifestation of His divine glory and took upon Himself the
form of a common household slave. He became flesh. He is the God-man. He was fully God and
fully man. He is God in the flesh. The Word became flesh, and pitched His tent in our very
midst, testifies the apostle John (1:14,18). The one who enjoyed glory that was inherently His
throughout eternity past “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (v. 7).
Jesus Christ exists eternally as the Second Person of the Godhead, and as such He is equal with
God the Father. Everything the LORD God Almighty is, so is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before He became flesh, Jesus Christ shared to the full the divine nature and was clothed with
the splendor that always surrounded God’s person. He was identical with God both inwardly and
outwardly. When Jesus became flesh, what remained was God’s glory in the inward sense
because even in His flesh Jesus was God and retained that full divine nature.
The Second Person of the Godhead Jesus Christ was not selfish. He did not cling to the outward
glory of His deity, “But emptied Himself,” not of His divinity, but the outward visible
manifestation of it. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He made
nothing of Himself. He was obedient to His heavenly Father as a bond-slave. He only limited
Himself of His outward visible glory because He was still God.
In addition to being God, Jesus took on “the form of a bond servant.”
The essential attributes of God were unchangeable and unchanging. The essential nature of Jesus
Christ is the same as the essential nature of God. The nature of Jesus is the nature of God. The
“form” signifies that which in God never alters and never changes.
Jesus laid aside His divine privileges and became the servant of Jehovah. The Son of God
became the Servant of God. “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (v. 8).
Jesus Christ gave up the glory and honor of heaven to become one of us so He could die as our
substitute and provide a means whereby God could offer us eternal life. "Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone
who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
No one with a spiritually discerning mind can read those words without a deep sense of
thanksgiving gratitude for a humble and obedient Savior. "Have this attitude in yourselves which
was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). He was humble and obedient even unto death.
Do you have this humble attitude of Jesus? When we have that attitude toward ourselves, we
will, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one
another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal
interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). That is the mind of Christ in the
Christian. It is a humble attitude of denying self, bearing the cross of Christ daily, and doing the
will of God at all costs.
COMMENTARIES

19. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers[4.The Doctrine of the Great Humility of Christ
(Philippians 2:5-11).
(1) THE VOLUNTARY HUMILIATION OF THE LORD, first in His incarnation, next in His
passion (Philippians 2:5-8).
(2) THE CORRESPONDING EXALTATION OF HIS HUMANITY, to bear “the Name above
every name,” which all creation must adore (Philippians 2:9-11).]
(5-8) From a practical introduction, in the familiar exhortation to follow the example of our
Lord, St. Paul passes on to what is, perhaps, the most complete and formal statement in all his
Epistles of the doctrine of His “great humility.” In this he marks out, first, the Incarnation, in
which, “being in the form of God, He took on Him the form of a servant,” assuming a sinless but
finite humanity; and next, the Passion, which was made needful by the sins of men, and in which
His human nature was humiliated to the shame and agony of the cross. Inseparable in
themselves, these two great acts of His self-sacrificing love must be distinguished. Ancient
speculation delighted to suggest that the first might have been, even if humanity had remained
sinless, while the second was added because of the fall and its consequences. Such speculations
are, indeed, thoroughly precarious and unsubstantial—for we cannot ask what might have been
in a different dispensation from our own; and, moreover, we read of our Lord as “the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8; see also 1Peter 1:19)—but they at least point
to a true distinction. As “the Word of God” manifested in the Incarnation, our Lord is the
treasure of all humanity as such; as the Saviour through death, He is the especial treasure of us as
sinners.
MacLaren's ExpositionsPhilippians
THE DESCENT OF THE WORD
Php 2:5-8 {R.V.}.
The purpose of the Apostle in this great passage must ever be kept clearly in view. Our Lord’s
example is set forth as the pattern of that unselfish disregard of one’s own things, and devotion to
the things of others, which has just been urged on the Philippians, and the mind which was in
Him is presented as the model on which they are to fashion their minds. This purpose in some
measure explains some of the peculiarities of the language here, and may help to guide us
through some of the intricacies and doubtful points in the interpretation of the words. It explains
why Christ’s death is looked at in them only in its bearing upon Himself, as an act of obedience
and of condescension, and why even that death in which Jesus stands most inimitable and unique
is presented as capable of being imitated by us. The general drift of these verses is clear, but
there are few Scripture passages which have evoked more difference of opinion as to the precise
meaning of nearly every phrase. To enter on the subtle discussions involved in the adequate
exposition of the words would far exceed our limits, and we must perforce content ourselves
with a slight treatment of them, and aim chiefly at bringing out their practical side.
The broad truth which stands sun-clear amid all diverse interpretations is--that the Incarnation,
Life, and Death are the great examples of living humility and self-sacrifice. To be born was His
supreme act of condescension. It was love which made Him assume the vesture of human flesh.
To die was the climax of His voluntary obedience, and of His devotion to us.

20. I. The height from which Jesus descended.
The whole strange conception of birth as being the voluntary act of the Person born, and as being
the most stupendous instance of condescension in the world’s history, necessarily reposes on the
clear conviction that He had a prior existence so lofty that it was an all but infinite descent to
become man. Hence Paul begins with the most emphatic assertion that he who bore the name of
Jesus lived a divine life before He was born. He uses a very strong word which is given in the
margin of the Revised Version, and might well have been in its text. ‘Being originally’ as the
word accurately means, carries our thoughts back not only to a state which preceded Bethlehem
and the cradle, but to that same timeless eternity from which the prologue of the Gospel of John
partially draws the veil when it says, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’ and to which Jesus
Himself more obscurely pointed when He said, ‘Before Abraham was I am.’
Equally emphatic in another direction is Paul’s next expression, ‘In the form of God,’ for ‘form’
means much more than ‘shape.’ I would point out the careful selection in this passage of three
words to express three ideas which are often by hasty thought regarded as identical. We read of
‘the form of God’ {verse 6}, ‘the likeness of men’ {verse 7}, and ‘in fashion as a man.’ Careful
investigation of these two words ‘form’ and ‘fashion’ has established a broad distinction between
them, the former being more fixed, the latter referring to that which is accidental and outward,
which may be fleeting and unsubstantial. The possession of the form involves participation in the
essence also. Here it implies no corporeal idea as if God had a material form, but it implies also
much more than a mere apparent resemblance. He who is in the form of God possesses the
essential divine attributes. Only God can be ‘in the form of God’: man is made in the likeness of
God, but man is not ‘in the form of God.’ Light is thrown on this lofty phrase by its antithesis
with the succeeding expression in the next verse, ‘the form of a servant,’ and as that is
immediately explained to refer to Christ’s assumption of human nature, there is no room for
candid doubt that ‘being originally in the form of God’ is a deliberately asserted claim of the
divinity of Christ in His pre-existent state.
As we have already pointed out, Paul soars here to the same lofty height to which the prologue of
John’s Gospel rises, and he echoes our Lord’s own words about ‘the glory which I had with Thee
before the foundation of the world.’ Our thoughts are carried back before creatures were, and we
become dimly aware of an eternal distinction in the divine nature which only perfects its eternal
oneness. Such an eternal participation in the divine nature before all creation and before time is
the necessary pre-supposition of the worth of Christ’s life as the pattern of humility and self-
sacrifice. That pre-supposition gives all its meaning, its pathos, and its power, to His gentleness,
and love, and death. The facts are different in their significance, and different in their power to
bless and gladden, to purge and sway the soul, according as we contemplate them with or
without the background of His pre-existent divinity. The view which regards Him as simply a
man, like all the rest of us, beginning to be when He was born, takes away from His example its
mightiest constraining force. Only when we with all our hearts believe ‘that the Word became
flesh,’ do we discern the overwhelming depths of condescension manifested in the Birth. If it
was not the incarnation of God, it has no claim on the hearts of men.
II. The wondrous act of descent.

21. The stages in that long descent are marked out with a precision and definiteness which would be
intolerable presumption, if Paul were speaking only his own thoughts, or telling what he had
seen with his own eyes. They begin with what was in the mind of the eternal Word before He
began His descent, and whilst yet He is ‘in the form of God.’ He stands on the lofty level before
the descent begins, and in spirit makes the surrender, which, stage by stage, is afterwards to be
wrought out in act. Before any of these acts there must have been the disposition of mind and
will which Paul describes as ‘counting it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with
God.’ He did not regard the being equal to God as a prey or treasure to be clutched and retained
at all hazards. That sweeps our thoughts into the dim regions far beyond Calvary or Bethlehem,
and is a more overwhelming manifestation of love than are the acts of lowly gentleness and
patient endurance which followed in time. It included and transcended them all.
It was the supreme example of not ‘looking on one’s own things.’ And what made Him so count?
What but infinite love. To rescue men, and win them to Himself and goodness, and finally to lift
them to the place from which He came down for them, seemed to Him to be worth the temporary
surrender of that glory and majesty. We can but bow and adore the perfect love. We look more
deeply into the depths of Deity than unaided eyes could ever penetrate, and what we see is the
movement in that abyss of Godhead of purest surrender which, by beholding, we are to
assimilate.
Then comes the wonder of wonders, ‘He emptied Himself.’ We cannot enter here on the
questions which gather round that phrase, and which give it a factitious importance in regard to
present controversies. All that we would point out now is that while the Apostle distinctly treats
the Incarnation as being a laying aside of what made the Word to be equal with God, he says
nothing, on which an exact determination can be based, of the degree or particulars in which the
divine nature of our Lord was limited by His humanity. The fact he asserts, and that is all. The
scene in the Upper Chamber was but a feeble picture of what had already been done behind the
veil. Unless He had laid aside His garments of divine glory and majesty, He would have had no
human flesh from which to strip the robes. Unless He had willed to take the ‘form of a servant,’
He would not have had a body to gird with the slave’s towel. The Incarnation, which made all
His acts of lowly love possible, was a greater act of lowly love than those which flowed from it.
Looking at it from earth, men say, ‘Jesus was born.’ Looking at it from heaven, Angels say, ‘He
emptied Himself.’
But how did He empty Himself? By taking the form of a slave, that is to God. And how did He
take the form of a slave? By ‘becoming in the likeness of men.’ Here we are specially to note the
remarkable language implying that what is true of none other in all the generations of men is true
of Him. That just as ‘emptying Himself’ was His own act, also the taking the form of a slave by
His being born was His own act, and was more truly described as a ‘becoming.’ We note, too,
the strong contrast between that most remarkable word and the ‘being originally’ which is used
to express the mystery of divine pre-existence.
Whilst His becoming in the likeness of men stands in strong contrast with ‘being originally’ and
energetically expresses the voluntariness of our Lord’s birth, the ‘likeness of men’ does not cast
any doubt on the reality of His manhood, but points to the fact that ‘though certainly perfect

22. man, He was by reason of the divine nature present in Him not simply and merely man.’
Here then the beginning of Christ’s manhood is spoken of in terms which are only explicable, if
it was a second form of being, preceded by a pre-existent form, and was assumed by His own
act. The language, too, demands that that humanity should have been true essential manhood. It
was in ‘the form’ of man and possessed of all essential attributes. It was in ‘the likeness’ of man
possessed of all external characteristics, and yet was something more. It summed up human
nature, and was its representative.
III. The obedience which attended the descent.
It was not merely an act of humiliation and condescension to become man, but all His life was
one long act of lowliness. Just as He ‘emptied Himself’ in the act of becoming in the ‘likeness of
men,’ so He ‘humbled Himself,’ and all along the course of His earthly life He chose constant
lowliness and to be ‘despised and rejected of men.’ It was the result moment by moment of His
own will that to the eyes of men He presented ‘no form nor comeliness,’ and that will was
moment by moment steadied in its unmoved humility, because He perpetually looked ‘not on His
own things, but on the things of others.’ The guise He presented to the eyes of men was ‘the
fashion of a man.’ That word corresponds exactly to Paul’s carefully selected term, and makes
emphatic both its superficial and its transitory character.
The lifelong humbling of Himself was further manifested in His becoming ‘obedient.’ That
obedience was, of course, to God. And here we cannot but pause to ask the question, How comes
it that to the man Jesus obedience to God was an act of humiliation? Surely there is but one
explanation of such a statement. For all men but this one to be God’s slaves is their highest
honour, and to speak of obedience as humiliation is a sheer absurdity.
Not only was the life of Jesus so perfect an example of unbroken obedience that He could safely
front His adversaries with the question, ‘Which of you convinceth Me of sin?’ and with the claim
to ‘do always the things that pleased Him,’ but the obedience to the Father was perfected in His
death. Consider the extraordinary fact that a man’s death is the crowning instance of his
humility, and ask yourselves the question, Who then is this who chose to be born, and stooped in
the act of dying? His death was obedience to God, because by it He carried out the Father’s will
for the salvation of the world, His death is the greatest instance of unselfish self-sacrifice, and the
loftiest example of looking on the ‘things of others’ that the world has ever seen. It dwindles in
significance, in pathos, and in power to move us to imitation unless we clearly see the divine
glory of the eternal Lord as the background of the gentle lowliness of the Man of Sorrows, and
the Cross. No theory of Christ’s life and death but that He was born for us, and died for us, either
explains the facts and the apostolic language concerning them, or leaves them invested with their
full power to melt our hearts and mould our lives. There is a possibility of imitating Him in the
most transcendent of His acts. The mind may be in us which was in Christ Jesus. That it may,
His death must first be the ground of our hope, and then we must make it the pattern of our lives,
and draw from it the power to shape them after His blessed Example.
Benson CommentaryHYPERLINK "/context/philippians/2-5.htm"Php 2:5-6. Let this mind —
The same humble, condescending, benevolent, disinterested, self-denying disposition; be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus — The original expression, τουτο φρονεισθω εν υμιν ο και εν

23. Χριστω Ιησου, is, literally, Be ye minded, or disposed, as Jesus was. The word includes both the
mind and heart, the understanding, will, and affections. Let your judgment and estimation of
things, your choice, desire, intention, determination, and subsequent practice, be like those in
him; who being — Υπαρχων, subsisting; in the form of God — As having been from eternity
possessed of divine perfections and glories; thought it not robbery — Greek, ουκ αρπαγμον
ηγησατο; literally, did not consider it an act of robbery, ειναι ισα Θεω, to be equal things with
God — He and his Father being one, John 10:30; and all things belonging to the Father being his,
John 16:15; the Father also being in him, and he in the Father. Accordingly, the highest divine
names, titles, attributes, and works, are inscribed to him by the inspired writers: and the same
honours and adorations are represented as being due to him, and are actually paid to him, which
are given to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit. “As the apostle,” says Macknight, “is here
speaking of what Christ was before he took the form of a servant, the form of God, in which he is
said to have subsisted, and of which he is said (Php 2:7) to have divested himself when he
became man, cannot be any thing which he possessed during his incarnation, or in his divested
state; consequently, neither Erasmus’s opinion, that the form of God consisted in those sparks of
divinity by which Christ, during his incarnation, manifested his Godhead; nor the opinion of the
Socinians, that it consisted in the power of working miracles, is well founded.” The opinion of
Whitby, Doddridge, and others, “seems better founded, who, by the form of God, understand that
visible glorious light in which the Deity is said to dwell, 1 Timothy 6:16; and by which he
manifested himself to the patriarchs of old, Deuteronomy 5:22; Deuteronomy 5:24; and which
was commonly accompanied with a numerous retinue of angels, Psalm 68:17; and which in
Scripture is called the similitude, Numbers 12:8; the face, Psalm 31:10; the presence, Exodus
33:15; and the shape (John 5:37) of God. This interpretation is supported by the term μορφη,
form, here used, which signifies a person’s external shape or appearance. Thus we are told (Mark
16:12) that Jesus appeared to his disciples in another μορφη, shape, or form: and Matthew 17:2,
Μεταμορφωθη, He was transfigured before them; his outward appearance or form was changed.
Further, this interpretation agrees with the fact. The form of God, that is, the visible glory, and
the attendance of angels above described, the Son of God enjoyed with his Father before the
world was, John 17:5; and on that, as on other accounts, he is the brightness of the Father’s
glory, Hebrews 1:3. But he divested himself thereof when he became flesh. However, having
resumed it after his ascension, he will come with it in the human nature to judge the world. So he
told his disciples, Matthew 16:27. Lastly, this sense of μορφη Θεου, is confirmed by the meaning
of μορφην δουλου, (Php 2:7,) which evidently denotes the appearance and behaviour of a
servant.”
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary2:5-11 The example of our Lord Jesus Christ is set before
us. We must resemble him in his life, if we would have the benefit of his death. Notice the two
natures of Christ; his Divine nature, and human nature. Who being in the form of God, partaking
the Divine nature, as the eternal and only-begotten Son of God, Joh 1:1, had not thought it a
robbery to be equal with God, and to receive Divine worship from men. His human nature;
herein he became like us in all things except sin. Thus low, of his own will, he stooped from the
glory he had with the Father before the world was. Christ's two states, of humiliation and
exaltation, are noticed. Christ not only took upon him the likeness and fashion, or form of a man,
but of one in a low state; not appearing in splendour. His whole life was a life of poverty and
suffering. But the lowest step was his dying the death of the cross, the death of a malefactor and
a slave; exposed to public hatred and scorn. The exaltation was of Christ's human nature, in
union with the Divine. At the name of Jesus, not the mere sound of the word, but the authority of

24. Jesus, all should pay solemn homage. It is to the glory of God the Father, to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord; for it is his will, that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father, Joh
5:23. Here we see such motives to self-denying love as nothing else can supply. Do we thus love
and obey the Son of God?
Barnes' Notes on the BibleLet this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus - The object of
this reference to the example of the Saviour is particularly to enforce the duty of humility. This
was the highest example which could be furnished, and it would illustrate and confirm all the
apostle had said of this virtue. The principle in the case is, that we are to make the Lord Jesus our
model, and are in all respects to frame our lives, as far as possible, in accordance with this great
example. The point here is, that he left a state of inexpressible glory, and took upon him the most
humble form of humanity, and performed the most lowly offices, that he might benefit us.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary5. The oldest manuscripts read, "Have this mind in
you," &c. He does not put forward himself (see on [2383]Php 2:4, and Php 1:24) as an example,
but Christ, THE ONE pre-eminently who sought not His own, but "humbled Himself" (Php 2:8),
first in taking on Him our nature, secondly, in humbling Himself further in that nature (Ro 15:3).
Matthew Poole's CommentarySee Poole on "Philippians 2:5"
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleLet this mind be in you,.... The Arabic version renders it, "let
that humility be perceived in you". The apostle proposes Christ as the great pattern and exemplar
of humility; and instances in his assumption of human nature, and in his subjection to all that
meanness, and death itself, even the death of the cross in it; and which he mentions with this
view, to engage the saints to lowliness of mind, in imitation of him; to show forth the same
temper and disposition of mind in their practice,
which also was in Christ Jesus; or as the Syriac version, "think ye the same thing as Jesus
Christ"; let the same condescending spirit and humble deportment appear in you as in him. This
mind, affection, and conduct of Christ, may refer both to his early affection to his people, the
love he bore to them from everlasting, the resolution and determination of his mind in
consequence of it; and his agreement with his Father to take upon him their nature in the fulness
of time, and to do his will, by obeying, suffering, and dying in their room and stead; and also the
open exhibition and execution of all this in time, when he appeared in human nature, poor, mean,
and abject; condescending to the lowest offices, and behaving in the most meek and humble
manner, throughout the whole of his life, to the moment of his death.
Geneva Study Bible{2} Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
(2) He sets before them a most perfect example of all modesty and sweet conduct, Christ Jesus,
whom we ought to follow with all our might: who abased himself so much for our sakes,
although he is above all, that he took upon himself the form of a servant, that is, our flesh,
willingly subject to all weaknesses, even to the death of the cross.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/philippians/2-5.htm"Php 2:5. Enforcement of the
precept contained in Php 2:3 f. by the example of Jesus (comp. Romans 15:3; 1 Peter 2:21; Clem.
Cor. I. 16), who, full of humility, kept not His own interest in view, but in self-renunciation and
self-humiliation sacrificed it, even to the endurance of the death of the cross, and was therefore
exalted by God to the highest glory;[90] this extends to Php 2:12. See on this passage Kesler in
Thes. nov. ex mus. Has. et Iken. II. p. 947 f.; Schultens, Dissertatt. philol. I. p. 443 ff.; Keil, two

25. Commentat. 1803 (Opusc. p. 172 ff.); Martini, in Gabler’s Journ. f. auserl. theol. Lit. IV. p. 34
ff.; von Ammon, Magaz. f. Pred. II. 1, p. 7 ff.; Kraussold in the Annal. d. gesammt. Theol. 1835,
II. p. 273 ff.; Stein in the Stud. u. Krit. 1837, p. 165 ff.; Philippi, d. thätige Gehors. Chr. Berl.
1841, p. 1 ff.; Tholuck, Disp. Christol. de l. Php 2:6-9, Halle 1848; Ernesti in the Stud. u. Krit.
1848, p. 858 ff., and 1851, p. 595 ff.; Baur in the theol. Jahrb. 1849, p. 502 ff., and 1852, p. 133
ff., and in his Paulus, II. p. 51 ff. ed. 2; Liebner, Christol. p. 325 ff.; Raebiger, Christol. Paulin. p.
76 ff.; Lechler, Apost. u. nachapost. Zeitalt. p. 58 ff.; Schneckenburger in the Deutsch. Zeitschr.
1855, p. 333 ff; Wetzel in the Monatschr. f. d. Luth. Kirche Preuss. 1857; Kähler in the Stud. u.
Krit. 1857, p. 99 ff.; Beyschlag in the Stud. u. Krit. 1860, p. 431 ff., and his Christol. d. N. T.
1866, p. 233 ff.; Rich. Schmidt, Paul. Christol. 1870, p. 163 ff.; J. B. Lightfoot’s Excursus, p.
125 ff.; Pfleiderer in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr. 1871, p. 519 ff.; Grimm in the same Zeitschr. 1873,
p. 33 ff. Among the more recent dogmatic writers, Thomasius, II. p. 148 ff.; Philippi, IV. 1, p.
469 ff.; Kahnis, I. p. 458 ff.
φρονείσθω ἐν ὑμ.] sentiatur in animis vestris. The parallelism with the ἐν which follows prohibits
our interpreting it intra vestrum caetum (Hoelemann, comp. Matthies). The passive mode of
expression is unusual elsewhere, though logically unassailable. Hofmann, rejecting the passive
reading, as also the passive supplement afterwards, has sadly misunderstood the entire
passage.[91]
ὃ καὶ ἐν Χ. Ἰ.] sc. ἐφρονήθη. On ἘΝ, comp. the Homeric ἘΝῚ ΦΡΕΣΊ, ἘΝῚ ΘΥΜῶ, which
often occurs with ΦΡΟΝΕῖΝ, Od. xiv. 82, vi. 313; Il. xxiv. 173. καί is not cum maxime, but the
simple also of the comparison (in opposition to van Hengel), namely, of the pattern of Christ.
[90] Christ’s example, therefore, in this passage is one of self-denial, and not of obedience to
God (Ernesti), in which, in truth, the self-denial only manifested itself along with other things. It
is, however, shown by the very addition of καί, that Paul really intended to adduce the example
of Christ (in opposition to Hofmann’s view); comp. Romans 15:3. Christ’s example is the moral,
ideal, historically realized. Comp. Wuttke, Sittenl. II. § 224; Schmid, Sittenl. p. 355 ff.; and as
early as Chrysostom.
[91] Reading φρονεῖτε, and subsequently explaining the ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ as a frequent
expression with Paul for the ethical Christian quality (like ἐν κυρίῳ in Php 4:2), Hofmann makes
the apostle say that the readers are to have their mind so directed within them, that it shall not be
lacking in this definite quality which makes it Christian. Thus there would be evolved, when
expressed in simple words, merely the thought: “Have in you the mind which is also the
Christian one.” As if the grand outburst, which immediately follows, would be in harmony with
such a general idea! This outburst has its very ground in the lofty example of the Lord. And
what, according to Hofmann’s view, is the purpose of the significant καί? It would be entirely
without correlation in the text; for in ἐν ὑμίν the ἐν would have to be taken as local, and in the ἐν
Χριστῷ, according to that misinterpretation, it would have to be taken in the sense of ethical
fellowship, and thus relations not at all analogous would be marked.
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK "/context/philippians/2-5.htm"Php 2:5-11. THE
CONDESCENSION AND EXALTATION OF CHRIST. As to form, Php 2:5-10 appear to be
constructed in carefully chosen groups of parallel clauses, having an impressive rhythm (see J.
Weiss, Beitr., pp. 28–29).

26. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges5. Let this mind be] R.V., Have this mind; adopting a
reading different in form but scarcely so in import from that taken for the A.V., which fairly
represents either reading.
In the great passage which follows we have a suggestive example of Christian moral teaching.
One of the simplest and most primary elements of duty is being enforced, and it is enforced by
appealing to the inmost secrets of the truth of the Person and Work of Christ. The spiritual and
eternal, in deep continuity, descends into the practical. At the present time a powerful drift of
thought goes in the direction of separating Christian theology from practical Christianity; the
mysteries of our Lord’s Person and Work from the greatness of His Example. It may at least
check hasty speculations in this direction to remember that such a theory rends asunder the
teaching of the New Testament as to its most characteristic and vital elements. The anti-doctrinal
view of Christianity is a theory of it started strictly and properly de novo. See further Appendix
E.
which was] The verb is not in the Greek, but is necessarily implied. Meanwhile the sacred
character which came out in the mysterious past (“was”) of the Lord’s pre-temporal glory, still
and for ever is His character, His “mind.”
in Christ Jesus] It is observable that he calls the Lord not only “Christ” but “Jesus,” though
referring to a time before Incarnation. Historically, He had yet to be “anointed” (Christ), and to
be marked with His human Name (Jesus). But on the one hand the Person who willed to descend
and save us is identically the Person who actually did so; and on the other hand what is already
decreed in the Eternal Mind is to It already fact. Cp. the language of Revelation 13:8.
E. CHRISTOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY (Ch. Php 2:5)
“A Christianity without Christ is no Christianity; and a Christ not Divine is one other than the
Christ on whom the souls of Christians have habitually fed. What virtue, what piety, have existed
outside of Christianity, is a question totally distinct. But to hold that, since the great controversy
of the early time was wound up at Chalcedon, the question of our Lord’s Divinity has generated
all the storms of the Christian atmosphere, would be simply an historical untruth.
“Christianity … produced a type of character wholly new to the Roman world, and it
fundamentally altered the laws and institutions, the tone, temper and tradition of that world. For
example, it changed profoundly the relation of the poor to the rich … It abolished slavery, and a
multitude of other horrors. It restored the position of woman in society. It made peace, instead of
war, the normal and presumed relation between human societies. It exhibited life as a discipline
… in all its parts, and changed essentially the place and function of suffering in human
experience … All this has been done not by eclectic and arbitrary fancies, but by the creed of the
Homoousion, in which the philosophy of modern times sometimes appears to find a favourite
theme of ridicule. The whole fabric, social as well as personal, rests on the new type of character
which the Gospel brought into life and action.”
W. E. Gladstone (‘Nineteenth Century,’ May 1888; pp. 780–784).

27. F. ROBERT HALL ON Php 2:5-8. BAUR’S THEORY
The Rev. Robert Hall (1764–1831), one of the greatest of Christian preachers, was in early life
much influenced by the Socinian theology. His later testimony to a true Christology is the more
remarkable. The following extract is from a sermon “preached at the (Baptist) Chapel in Dean
Street, Southwark, June 27, 1813” (Works, ed. 1833; vol. vi., p. 112):
“He was found in fashion as a man: it was a wonderful discovery, an astonishing spectacle in the
view of angels, that He who was in the form of God, and adored from eternity, should be made in
fashion as a man. But why is it not said that He was a man? For the same reason that the Apostle
wishes to dwell upon the appearance of our Saviour, not as excluding the reality, but as
exemplifying His condescension. His being in the form of God did not prove that He was not
God, but rather that He was God, and entitled to supreme honour. So, His assuming the form of a
servant and being in the likeness of man, does not prove that He was not man, but, on the
contrary, includes it; at the same time including a manifestation of Himself, agreeably to His
design of purchasing the salvation of His people, and dying for the sins of the world, by
sacrificing Himself upon the Cross.”
Baur (Paulus, pp. 458–464) goes at length into the Christological passage, and actually contends
for the view that it is written by one who had before him the developed Gnosticism of cent. 2,
and was not uninfluenced by it. In the words of Php 2:6, a consciousness of the Gnostic teaching
about the Æon Sophia, striving for an absolute union with the absolute being of the Unknowable
Supreme; and again about the Æons in general, striving similarly, to “grasp” the plerôma of
Absolute Being and discovering only the more deeply in their effort this kenôma of their own
relativity and dependence.
The best refutation of such expositions is the repeated perusal of the Epistle itself, with its noon-
day practicality of precept and purity of affections, and not least its high language (ch. 3) about
the sanctity of the body—an idea wholly foreign to the Gnostic sphere of thought. It is true that
Schrader, a critic earlier than Baur (see Alford, N. T. iii. p. 27), supposed the passage Php 3:1 to
Php 4:9 to be an interpolation. But, not to speak of the total absence of any historical or
documentary support for such a theory, the careful reader will find in that section just those
minute touches of harmony with the rest of the Epistle, e.g. in the indicated need of internal
union at Philippi, which are the surest signs of homogeneity.
5–11. The appeal enforced by the supreme Example of the Saviour in His Incarnation,
Obedience, and Exaltation
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK "/philippians/2-5.htm"Php 2:5. Φρονεῖσθω, let the mind be) He
does not say φρονεῖτε, think ye, but φρονείσθω, cherish this mind.—ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, in Christ
Jesus) Paul also was one who had regard to what belonged to others, not merely what belonged
to himself: ch. Php 1:24 : and this circumstance furnished him with the occasion of this
admonition. He does not, however, propose himself, but Christ, as an example, who did not seek
His own, but humbled Himself. [Even the very order of the words, as the name Christ is put first,
indicates the immense weight of this example.—V. g.]
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; literally,
according to the reading of the best manuscripts, mind this in you which was also (minded) in

28. Christ Jesus. Many manuscripts take the words "every man" (ἕκαστοι) of Ver. 4 with Ver. 5: "All
of you mind this." The words, "in Christ Jesus," show that the corresponding words, "in you,"
cannot mean "among you," but in yourselves, in your heart. The apostle refers us to the supreme
example of unselfishness and humility, the Lord Jesus Christ. He bids us mind (comp. Romans
8:5) the things which the Lord Jesus minded, to love what he loved, to hate what he hated; the
thoughts, desires, motives, of the Christian should be the thoughts, desires, motives, which filled
the sacred heart of Jesus Christ our Lord. We must strive to imitate him, to reproduce his image,
not only in the outward, but even in the inner life. Especially here we are biddcn to follow his
unselfishness and humility.
Vincent's Word StudiesLet this mind be in you (τοῦτο φρονείσθω ἐν ὑμιν)
Lit., let this be thought in you. The correct reading, however, is φρονεῖτε, lit., "think this in
yourselves." Rev., have this mind in you.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Philippians 2:5 Commentary
Philippians 2 Resources
Updated: Fri, 12/28/2018 - 18:35 By admin
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Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude (2PPAM) in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
(NASB: Lockman)
Greek: touto phroneite (2PPAM) en humin o kai en Christo Iesou,
Amplified: Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in
Christ Jesus: (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: Have within yourselves the same disposition of mind as was in Christ Jesus
(Philippians 2 Commentary)
KJV: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
KJV Bible Commentary: Keep on thinking this in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Lightfoot: Reflect in your own minds, the mind of Christ Jesus. Be humble, as he also
was humble
Phillips: Let Christ himself be your example as to what your attitude should be. (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: This mind be constantly having in you which was also in Christ Jesus
Young's Literal: For, let this mind be in you that is also in Christ Jesus,
HAVE (habitually, as your lifestyle) THIS ATTITUDE IN YOURSELVES WHICH WAS
ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS: touto phroneite (2PPAM) en humin ho kai en Christo Iesous:
• Mt 11:29; 20:26-28; Lk 22:27; John 13:14,15; Acts 10:38; 20:35; Ro 14:15; 15:3,5; 1Co
10:33; 11:1; Eph 5:2; 1Pet 2:21; 4:1; 1Jn 2:6)

29. • Excellent discussion of the doctrine John MacArthur's Humiliation of Christ
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (ASV)
and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought (CEV)
Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus (Weymouth)
this mind be constantly having in you which was also in Christ Jesus (Wuest),
Let Christ himself be your example as to what your attitude should be (Phillips)
Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the
Messiah Yeshua: (Jewish NT)
/files/images/christhumiliation.png
/files/images/christhumiliation.png
Source: Christ-Centered Exposition - Philippians
CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE
Paul applies the lesson before he states it. In other words in Php 2:5 we have the exhortation (that
flows naturally from Php 2:1-4) and in Php 2:6-11 we have the example of the "mind of Christ"
which we as a church and individually are to practice as our lifestyle. As Guzik says "Paul will,
in wonderful detail, describe for us the mind of Jesus in the following verses. But here, before he
describes the mind of Jesus, he tells us what we must do with the information. Remember also
that this mind is something granted to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:16-note says that we have the
mind of Christ. But let this mind shows us that it is also something we must choose to walk in.
You have to let it be so."
Vine introduces this section writing that "In order to enforce the earnest exhortations just given
as to lowliness of mind and unselfish consideration of the things of others, the apostle sets forth
the Lord Jesus Christ as the supreme example of this, and in doing so declares the outstanding
doctrines of the faith, “the deep things of Christ,” His voluntary self-abasement, His incarnation,
His obedience even unto the death of the cross. The passage combines Christian doctrine and
Christian practice. The immediate connection is between the principle in Phil 2:4, of having
regard to the condition and needs of others, and this sublime example of Christ. For all that now
follows declares how He looked upon our dire needs as sinners. We are the “others” whose
“needs” were the great object of His actings of grace. And it is His mind, as thus expressed, that
is to be our mind. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
The KJV renders it Let this mind be in you" which gives one the impression that Paul is giving
them an exhortation that is optional. As most of the modern versions convey more accurately,
this instruction by Paul is a command. Paul is making it very clear that, if one is to be a child of
God in whom the Father takes great delight, this command will be lovingly obeyed.
And so Paul proceeds to lift up before the eyes of the Philippians the example of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

30. Spurgeon - What an example we have set before us in the Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus is the divine
example of love and self-denial, and as we hope to be saved by Him we must diligently copy
Him. He is now exalted to the highest glory as the reward of His voluntary humiliation, and by
the same means must His disciples rise to honor. We must stoop to conquer. He who is willing to
be nothing shall be possessor of all things.
What kind of attitude did He exhibit? What characterized His behavior toward others? One has
summed up the mind of the Christ as:
(1) The selfless mind;
(2) The sacrificial mind;
(3) The serving mind.
The Lord Jesus consistently thought of others. Now literally Paul commands the saints at
Philippi "This be ye constantly thinking in you which also was in Christ Jesus”
Kenneth Wuest - After exhorting the Philippian saints in Phil 2:2–4 to think the same thing, to
have the same love, to be in heart agreement, and in lowliness of mind to consider one another as
excelling themselves, Paul says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
This exhortation reaches back to Phil 2:2–4 for its definition and ahead to Phil 2:6–8 for its
illustration. Paul does not give all that is in the mind of Christ in these verses. He selects those
qualities of our Lord which fit the needs of the Philippians at that moment. That which Paul
speaks of as being in the mind of Christ and which the Philippians were to include in their own
spiritual lives consisted of a spirit of humility and of self-abnegation and an interest in the
welfare of others. These graces were illustrated in our Lord’s act of becoming incarnate in the
human race and becoming the substitutionary atonement for sin. This lack of unity among the
Philippian saints became the occasion for perhaps the greatest Christological passage in the New
Testament that sounds the depths of the incarnation. Among scholars it is known as the Kenosis
passage, speaking of the self-emptying of the Son of God as He became incarnate in humanity,
the word kenosis being the Greek word meaning “to empty.”
Wuest goes on to write "The Greek word order for the expression just noted is, “This be ye
constantly thinking in you which also was in Christ Jesus.”The position of the pronoun
“this” is emphatic and shows that the exhortation reaches back basically to Phil 2:2–4, while the
pronoun “who” in Phil 2:6 connects the exhortation with the illustration in Phil 2:5–8. The words
“let mind be” are the translation of one Greek word which means, “to have understanding, to be
wise, to direct one’s mind to a thing, to seek or strive for.” The word seems always to keep in
view the direction which thought of a practical kind takes. The expression could be translated in
a number of ways, each of which while holding to the main idea, yet brings out a slightly
different shade of meaning. For instance: “Be constantly thinking this in yourselves;” “Be having
this mind in you;” “Reflect in your own minds, the mind of Christ Jesus” (Lightfoot); “Let the
same purpose inspire you as was in Christ Jesus” (Way). The sum total of the thought in the
exhortation seems to be that of urging the Philippians to emulate in their own lives, the
distinctive virtues of the Lord Jesus spoken of in Phil 2:2–4. It is the habitual direction of our
Lord’s mind with reference to self that is in the apostle’s thinking, an attitude of humility and
self-abnegation for the benefit of others, which should be true also of the Philippians. This gives
us the key to unlock the rich treasures of the great doctrinal portion of the letter we are now to
study. As to the translation of the verse, we might say that the verb of being is not in the Greek
text. It is often left out by the writer, and supplied by the reader. In the case of the Authorized

31. Version, we have the word “was.” It could just as well be “is,” for the Lord Jesus still has that
same mind. But the past tense verb “was” suits the context better since the apostle is speaking of
the past act of supreme renunciation performed by our Lord in His incarnation and atoning
sacrifice. (Philippians Commentary - Verse by Verse)
Gromacki: "Paradoxically, he illustrated exhortation with doctrine, whereas most preachers try
to make their doctrinal sermons practical."
Frank Thielman, Philippians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 1995), p. 115, explains: Paul says literally, however, “Think this in you,” and the
words “in you” (en hymin) are a common idiom in Greek for “among yourselves.” Paul’s
primary concern, then, is social rather than cerebral: He wants the Philippians to adopt in their
mutual relations the same attitude that characterized Jesus.
Constable - This paragraph is the most important one in the epistle and the most difficult to
interpret.“By anyone’s reckoning, Php 2:6–11 constitutes the single most significant block of
material in Philippians.”
This (5124) (touto) is emphatic (placed first in the Greek text for emphasis) and shows that the
command relates refers to the what Paul has just instructed in the preceding passages Philippians
2:3-4.
May the Mind of Christ, My Savior
May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.
May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.
May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.
May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.
May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.
May His beauty rest upon me,