Jesus Empties himself
When God became man, his divinity didn’t cease but he added
humanity. He emptied himself and took a form of servant. Emptying oneself
doesn’t mean he gave up his divinity i.e. his essence rather he gave up his
glory, power, position, authority, and divine attributes. Jesus is God by his
essence who added humanity and lived a life in full submission and obedience to
God the Father.
Jesus emptying himself to become man is a doctrine called
Kenosis. Our doctrinal forefathers reiterated that Jesus was fully God in line
with what Paul says in Col 2:9:
“For in [Jesus Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily.” – Col 2:9
In the likeness of man, Jesus was unchanged and was separate
neither from his nature as God nor his divine attributes as Paul teaches in 1
Tim 3:16:
“God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received
up into glory.” – 1 Tim 3:16
The King James Bible is correct when it says that Jesus,
being in the form of God, merely “made himself of no reputation” (Phil 2:6-8).
Here the Greek word is ‘kenoō’ which means he laid aside his equality with God.[i] He didn’t give up his
divinity or cease from being God, rather he humbled himself to a level of a
mere servant. He subjected himself to Father’s will. Rather than coming to earth to demand others
serve Him, Jesus "emptied himself." This does not mean Jesus stopped
being God. Rather than coming the first time as a king, Jesus chose not to
exhibit His unlimited powers. He came to serve rather to be served (Matthew
20:28; Mark 10:45). He chose the "form" of a servant rather than the
"form" of God (Philippians 2:6). One-way Jesus came as a servant was
taking on the limitations of a human body.[ii]
Theologian Ware notes that Paul expresses no doubts about
the deity of Christ. The phrase “though he was in the form of God” (Phil. 2:6
ESV) employs the Greek word morphe, which refers to the inner nature or
substance of something, not its external or outward shape. Therefore, Paul’s
point is clear: Jesus, being in the “form” of God, exists in very nature as
God, with the inner divine substance that is God’s alone.[iii]
Theophany
In OT, theophany can be observed where God limits his
manifestation in a way the people can perceive from their finite mind. Let me
give a brief workout for theophany:
1.
Theophany = God + Appearance i.e. visible
display to human that expresses his presence and character. Ex. 3, 19, Gen.
26:2; 28:13; Isa. 6 and so on.
2.
God’s revelation using some mediums such as
fire, clouds, human, etc. Ezek. 1:26-27, Ex. 19:18, etc.
3.
It anticipates and foreshadows the future
permanent coming of God into creation as a human.
4.
God interacts and accomplishes certain tasks
using theophanies.
5.
The character of theophany reflects trinity
nature of God.
For detail: https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-theophanies/
Theophany and incarnation are quite not the same. The former
is God’s specific manifestation in any form for a specific task to accomplish
whereas the latter is God’s permanent indwelling in a human without intermixing
divine and human natures. The former is a mode of revelation while the latter
is mode of union.[iv] Theophany
is concerned with appearance in any ways while incarnation is concerned with
God becoming a true Man. Theophany is not necessarily of human attribute
although fathomable by human mind but incarnation added human attributes to God
the Son except that he had no sin. Theophany was invisible, immortal, without
flesh and blood but in incarnation Jesus was a true human with flesh and blood.[v]
God being Manifested
Likewise, God became human in a way human could interact and
see the manifestation of the invisible God in him. Remember, in the trinity,
all three persons are same in essence. Jesus therefore said who has seen him,
has seen the Father. While adding humanity, he was like us in every way except
that he came as a sinless man in order to be a perfect sacrifice. Only a
perfect human can atone for sins of fallen humanity.
Here let me tell a story to understand better: A Moravian
missionary went to preach the gospel to the slaves in the West Indies. Failing
as a free man to reach them, he became a slave himself, and went with them to
their toils in the field and into all their hardships and sufferings, thus
getting close to them. Then they listened to him. This illustrates Christ’s
condescension to save the world. We couldn’t understand God in His invisible
glory; and Immanuel came, and in human form lived out the Divine life, showing
us God’s thoughts, character, and feelings, especially God’s grace and his love
for sinners. This was one object for incarnation- it revealed in a way which
men could understand the invisible things of God.[vi]
Christ became man also that He might learn life by actual
experience, and thus be fitted to be our Saviour, and to sympathize with us in
all our experiences of temptation, struggle, and sorrow. We are sure now, when
we come to Christ in any need, that He understands our condition and knows how
to help us. We have a High Priest (Jesus Christ) in heaven Who can be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, because He was tried in all points of
temptation as we are. Christ became man also that He might taste death for
every man, thus abolishing death for His people.
The specific purpose of the Incarnation was to reveal God to
humankind and to reconcile lost sinners back to God through Christ’s
sacrificial atonement (see Titus 2:13). In Christ’s hypostatic union, both
divine and human were united in order to bridge the wide gap between God and
human. In him God’s mind, character, power and nature is revealed.
[ii] https://www.bibleref.com/Philippians/2/Philippians-2-7.html,
accessed on 6/19/2021, 3:23 pm
[iv] https://www.rbap.net/the-difference-between-theophany-and-the-incarnation-cameron-g-porter/,
accessed on 6/18/2021, 9 pm
[v] https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/christophany-incarnation-christ/,
accessed on 6/18/2021, 9:21 pm
[vi] https://sites.google.com/site/whoisthisjesus/incarnation,
accessed on 6/18/2021, 10:24 pm
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