Christ, Salvation, God, And The Word Of Life
CHRIST, SALVATION, GOD,
AND THE WORD OF LIFE
In Philippians 2:5-16 we have Christ, salva tion, God, and the word of life. These are the four basic elements of the structure of these verses. In this booklet we shall consider how these four elements are related to one another.
CHRIST AS THE PATTERN
Philippians is a book on the experience of Christ. If we would experience Christ and live Him, we must know Him as our pattern. In 2:5-11 Paul presents Christ as our pattern. We need to be deeply impressed with this pattern and even have it infused into us.
Christ is wonderful; He truly is all-inclusive. This all-inclusive Christ is nothing less than God. But even though He is equal with God, He "emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men" (v. 7). He did not regard His equality with God as a thing to grasp. Rather, He laid aside this equality and emptied Himself. This does not mean, however, that Christ was no longer God. It simply means