The Lordship Of Christ
THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11
Christ’s humility is the supreme illustration of humble service.
Paul finds in the humility demonstrated by Jesus Christ the supreme illustration of what he has been urging. “Let this attitude be yours which is appropriate to those who are in Christ Jesus” (2:5). What follows is a hymn in honor of Christ. Its relevance to what Paul has just been saying lies in the willingness of the Lord to climb down from his throne and to assume the position of a slave who placed the interests of others above his own (see 2:4).
The language of the hymn must have had a great emotional impact on those proud to belong to a Roman colony and possess Roman citizenship. It describes in vivid terms the humiliation of Jesus who assumed the form of a slave and in obedience to God suffered crucifixion, one of the forms of death reserved by Roman law for slaves condemned to die (2:6-8). Although executed in a way that filled every citizen with horror, he was vindicated by God (2:9-11). The last lines of the hymn describe an enthronement in which the church is caught up to share in Christ’s triumph. The confession forced from all of the cosmic powers which tyrannize life is none other than that made by believers in baptism, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Urged to acknowledge that Caesar is Lord by the officials of the imperial cult, the church is called by God to live and suffer under the lordship of Christ.
The hymn presents dramatically the redemption on which Paul’s moral instructions ultimately depend. The confession, “Jesus Christ is Lord,” leads believers back to their baptism and calls on them to affirm submission to Christ and the others in the fellowship they acknowledged on that occasion. Humility and obedience have real meaning if Christ is Lord.