The words “so then” indicate that what Paul
The words "so then" indicate that what Paul speaks of in verse 12 is a consequence of taking Christ as the pattern of a crucified life in the pre ceding verses. These words indicate that Christ's crucified life should be our experience. It is also true that Christ's exalting life should be our ex perience. On the one hand, we may speak of Christ's exalted life; on the other hand, of His exalting life. No matter which expression we use, in Philippians 2:9-11 we have a life of exaltation. Such a life should also be part of the salvation worked out by us. The main elements of the sal vation in verse 12 are Christ as the crucified life and Christ in His exaltation. This should be the salvation we work out by God operating in us.
Surely the exaltation of Christ is the highest standard of our salvation. We should not simply be those who are saved, but we should be those who are exalted through Christ's resurrection power. It was not Paul's aim in speaking of the exaltation of Christ to teach doctrine objectively. Like all the other matters covered in this book, this point is related to Christian experience. We need to experience Christ in His humiliation. This means we need to experience Him as the One who emptied Himself and humbled Him self. Now that Christ has been exalted by God