Philippians 2:6 is often quoted when looking for proof of the Trinity because it says he existed in the form of God and that he was equal to God. Is this scriptural proof that Jesus is God?
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,.
Note the world “form”. This word changes everything. e,g., if Eve existed in the form of man/adam), does that make her Adam? Remember that the Hebrew word for man is adam. Well it is correct to say that Eve is adam, but it is not correct to say that Eve is Adam. The first example is talking about Eve’s form. It basically says that Eve is of mankind. So if Jesus was in the form of God, then that is not identifying Jesus as God, rather it is saying that he had the same nature or is for better use of a word, godkind. It is also important to note that God is spirit. But angels are also spirits. So that means that angels are in the same form as God too, yet who says that Angels are actually the Most High God? To be in the form of someone or something doesn’t make you that someone or something. Eve was made in the form of Adam, but she is of course not Adam himself, rather another person entirely. She is her own soul and only shares the same nature.
Further, according to the context of Phillippians 2: 6, we are told that Jesus emptied himself and came as a man. This could be taken to mean that he existed in the form of God, and swapped that for coming in the form of man and thus humbling himself by coming as one of us (lower than the angels) for a time. Regardless of your view here, nature whether that be in the form of God or the form of man is what these verses are talking about. It has nothing to do with Jesus being God himself and everything to do with nature and form.
It also has to be said that having equality with something is in fact an indirect way of saying you are not that thing you are equal to. If two sport teams are equal, that doesn’t mean that they are the same team. No they are by definition of being equal, still two teams. If 5+3=8 and 4+4=8, then by reason of that, we know that 3, 4, or 5 are not the same number, rather they can equal 8 in certain combinations. Similarly, if Jesus is equal to God because he has his nature, then this is actually differentiating him from God. Again, if angels are spirits, and God is a spirit, then that doesn’t make angels God, rather that they are both spirits in kind, but certainly different in identity.
The word “equal” in this verse is the Greek word “isos” which can mean
- similar in amount Or kind
- agree
- equal
- like
This verse is simply saying that Jesus has the nature of God and that he is like God. This is what the rest of the New Testament teaches including John 1:1. Jesus is god by class, not God in identity. God begat a son in his likeness, the likeness of himself, (Image of God, firstborn). Then through his Son he made creation including us. The plan is to unite man with God and his Son in spirit. We are also in God’s likeness, and those born of God have been born through the Logos to live forever with God. So Jesus will call us brothers and we are the Sons of God. In class we may be god including Jesus and the Father as we are referred to as gods and Jesus is the Mighty El. But in person the Father is the one true God. Humans can choose which nature to follow, the flesh or the Spirit.
Romans 8:5
Those who live according to the sinful nature (flesh) have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Now we know that Adam is Man in person and nature, but Eve or Cain for that matter is man in class. Adam was the son of Man, not Eve. So Eve has the nature of man, but Adam was the Man. Flesh is the nature of Man and Deity is the nature of God. Now Jesus is the new Son of Man, the second Adam, but he is also the Son of God. He is of God and he is theos in class, not Theos/God in person, just as Eve is not the Adam/Man in person, but adam/man/mankind in nature.
To understand this I will change the verse with the word ‘man’ instead of God.
“Who (Eve) being in nature man did not consider equality with the Man (Adam) something to be grasped.”
Philippians 2:6 is not a contradiction to the scriptures we have looked at, rather it compliments the other scriptures we have read that show us that Jesus is the Likeness of God or the Image of God. It doesn’t say that Jesus is “The God”, rather it points out that Jesus is like God. To be equal to anything actually means that you are not that thing, but you are like it. Otherwise you would just call yourself that thing. e.g., The Euro is equal to the dollar in value, does not mean that the Euro is the Dollar.
It is interesting to note that Jesus will call us brothers. This truly shows that we will be like him, yet he will still be greater than us, like our older brother. The Father however will not call us brothers, but rather we are his children (offspring) and he is our Father forever and we should call no one Father except our Heavenly Father . This alone shows us that the Father is greater than the Son. Again this scripture reinforces the true pattern, i.e. we will be like Christ and Christ is like God. Our inheritance is in Christ, Jesus inheritance is in God, we will sit with Jesus in his throne and Jesus will sit down with his Father in his throne. We read Revelation 3:21 earlier which says To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
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