Philippians 2:7 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But Or, nevertheless, as αλλα frequently signifies, and is rendered in our version, particularly Mark 14:36; Joh 11:15; 1 Corinthians 9:12; Galatians 4:30; 2 Timothy 1:12. This is mentioned, because the critics, who would render the last clause, he did not covet, or catch at, a likeness to, or equality with God, build much of their argument on the opposition of the two clauses, and the force of this particle αλλα; as if the sense were, He did not affect this equality, but humbled himself; an interpretation which, as Bishop Burnet well observes, “is extremely cold and insipid, as if it were a mighty argument of humility, that though Christ wrought miracles, which they strangely think to be signified by the phrase of being in the form of God, yet he did not set up for Supreme Deity!” But the truth is, the power of working miracles is never, in Scripture, styled the form of God; and, indeed, were this all that was intended by that phrase, both Moses and Elias, and our Lord's apostles, might, upon that account, be said to have been in the form of God; seeing both Moses and Elias wrought many miracles on earth; and Christ declared concerning his disciples, that they should work greater miracles than he had wrought. Made himself of no reputation Greek, εαυτον εκενωσε, literally, he emptied himself; divested himself both of the form of God, and of the worship due to him as God, when he was made in the likeness of men. In other words, he was so far from tenaciously insisting upon, that he willingly relinquished, his claim: he was content to forego the glories of the Creator, and to appear in the form of a creature: nay, to be made in the likeness of the fallen creatures; and not only to share in the disgrace, but to suffer the punishment due to the meanest and vilest of them all. He emptied himself: for though in a sense he remained full, (John 1:14,) yet he appeared as if he had been empty; for he veiled his fulness, at least from the sight of men; yea, he not only veiled, but in some sense renounced the glory which he had before the world was: taking, and by that very act emptying himself, the form of a servant To his Father and to his Father's creatures; yea, to men, even to poor and mean men, being among his disciples as one that served. And was made Or born, as γενομενος may be properly rendered; in the likeness of men Subject to all our wants and infirmities, and resembling us in all things but sin. And hereby he took the form of a servant; and his doing this would have been astonishing humiliation, even if he had appeared possessed of the wealth, power, and glory of the greatest monarch; but it was much more so, as he assumed human nature in a state of poverty, reproach, and suffering. This expression, it must be observed, born in the likeness of men, does not imply that Christ had only the appearance of a man: for the word ομοιωμα, rendered likeness, often denotes sameness of nature. Thus Adam is said, (Genesis 5:3,) to beget a son in his own likeness, after his image; and Christ, ομοιωθηναι, to be made like his brethren in all things, by partaking of flesh and blood, Hebrews 2:14-17. Or, In the likeness of men, may mean in the likeness of sinful men, as it is expressed Romans 8:3; made subject to all those pains, diseases, and evils which sinful men endure. The antithesis in this passage is elegant. Formerly, Christ was in the form of God; but, when born into the world, he appeared in the form of a servant, and in the likeness of men.