The Form of a Servant

The Son of God was not born in Caesar’s household. Nor in Herod’s. There’s a reason for that.

When the second person of the Trinity came down and took on flesh, he didn't come as royalty. He didn't come down in a way as to display his greatness. (Once he did, on the Mount of Transfiguration.) He wasn't born in Caesar's household. He wasn't born a Roman citizen. He was born into a people who were subjugated by Rome. He was born into a peasant family. The second person of the Trinity took on flesh and became a nobody.

Now of all the translations I looked at, the NIV probably had it the clearest. Take a look at this…

Philippians 2:5-7 NIV - In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Jesus refused to exploit any of the privileges of his deity. That's what Paul is saying. In a world where standing up for rights and demanding rights, and using privileges, and taking advantage of everything out there in order to gain for yourself is the norm, Jesus emptied himself. He took advantage of none of the privileges of deity. He lived as a human, and not a mere human, a servant, not a king.

What a contrast Jesus makes with Adam! Adam was made in the image of God, and given dominion over, told to take dominion of the entire Earth. Adam was king of the world. But that wasn't enough for Adam. Adam reached out and grasped at equality with God. That's what Satan offered him. That's what he thought he was getting when he ate of the fruit.

But Jesus who was God—very God of very God—did not reach out and grasp his godness at all. In contrast to Adam, he was born a servant, not a king. He had no ambition but to serve. He came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). In doing this, he gave us a pattern to follow. We were made to serve God, to trust God, to obey God, to bring glory to God by being like him—not through ambition and pride, but through humility, humble service.

One of the commentaries I was reading spent a lot of time describing the ways in which this has been abused throughout church history—this idea that we are to be like Christ, that Christ is a pattern for us. And that’s because the people that say, “He's our pattern,” tend to turn the gospel into “Jesus was a pattern we are to follow.” That's not the gospel. The gospel is “Jesus was what we could not be, did for us what we could not do for ourselves, and died for our sins, that we might be justified before God.” And then he makes us into his image through his grace, and restores us fully. The gospel is not “follow the pattern of Jesus.” Nevertheless, the idea that we are to follow the pattern of Jesus is there. And he set the perfect pattern. The second line of verse 7 says,

Philippians 2:7c ESV - by taking the form of a servant,

—a doulos, a slave. A slave has no rights. Adam through pride and ambition fell. Jesus through humility and service transcended. That mindset of Christ is what Paul desires the Philippians to have, and it is theirs in Christ if they will but claim it.