The Pattern And The Standard
THE PATTERN AND THE STANDARD
Although we cannot share in Christ's redemp tion, we need to be partners with Him in His human living, especially in His emptying Him self, humbling Himself, and in His not grasping equality with God as a treasure. Although the Lord subsisted in the form of God and was equal to God, He did not consider this equality a treas ure to be grasped and retained. He did not insist on holding onto the form of God, but was will ing to empty Himself by laying aside the form of God and putting on the form of a slave. We all should be partners with Christ in this self- emptying. This means that instead of grasping what we have, we should lay these things aside and empty ourselves.
After Christ emptied Himself, becoming in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself to such an extent that He was obedient even unto the death of the cross. Then God raised Him from among the dead and highly exalted Him. Here we have not only a pattern for our constant salvation, but also the standard for this salvation. The pattern includes Christ's experience from incarnation through crucifixion; the standard includes His