(1) В¶ If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, (2) Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (3) Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. (5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The opening of this Chapter, in several of the first verses of it, is abundantly sweet and interesting; and I could find subject matter to say much, yea, to fill many pages, in dwelling on those great and unanswerable arguments for following up what the Apostle so affectionately recommends. Who indeed can need more than the consolation of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, and the bowels and mercies of God, to endear, and enforce everything that he enjoins. But while I hope the Reader will feel grace to all that Paul hath said on this ground; (as I pray for grace to feel the same motives myself) I must beg to pass over all these things, as the fruits and effects in the divine life, to attend to the grand cause of the whole, in the Person and work of Jesus, as here set forth by the Apostle. Never surely was there exhibited, before the world, such a representation as Paul hath here drawn of his Lord and Master. All subjects in comparison of it are light and uninteresting. Cold and insensible indeed must be that man's soul that can hear, or read, what Paul hath here said of the Lord Jesus Christ, and hear, or read it, unmoved. I lament the shortness I am constrained to prescribe to myself, in a work of this kind, when the subject itself is endless. But the Reader will I hope indulge me, while glancing at some of the great points of it.
The Apostle begins the relation he hath here set forth of his divine Master, in marking down the first, and leading feature of all in his essential nature and Godhead. Who being in the form of God, and with whom it was no robbery to be equal with God. If there were no other portions in the Scriptures, which openly and fully declare the essential divinity of Christ, this one most plainly reveals it. This glory of the Godhead of Christ, as the Son of God, is spoken of substantially, and essentially, as his nature, his own; underived, equal with God. Reader observe this; for it is most blessed.
The second volume Paul marks, in this world of mystery, Christ's Person, is, his making himself of no reputation. This is the great point in the beginning of Christ's humiliation. The Son of God vacating his glory; emptying himself of it, as the word in the original means. And here begins also, as standing towards the Church, the wonders of his Person. For when the Son of God condescended, for the vast purposes contained in the design, to take into union with himself that holy portion of our nature, which might form and constitute with the Godhead one Christ: there was still such glory attached to his Person, as God and man united, as demanded the universal adoration, love, and obedience of all creatures. Hence we read, that when God the Father bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith: And let all the Angels of God worship him. Hebrews 1:6. So that, before a single act had been wrought by Christ for the redemption of the Church only, the Son of God had betrothed our nature to himself: he had a Personal glory, as God-man, which called for all the praise of creation. Let the Reader mark this also!
But Paul goes on to the third volume, in this mysterious work, when he saith: He not only made himself of no reputation, but took an him the form of a serpent, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Language fails to describe, what the utmost stretch of the human mind cannot adequately conceive, the vastness of this work. But the great stress of this immense design, as recorded in this Scripture, lies in Christ's unparalleled humility, in this self-debasement, and in this state submitting to the death of the cross; and this, not passively, but actively, and voluntarily; and all this, sustaining personal dishonor, shame, and pain, for those great purposes, for which the whole was intended.
Now, then, the Apostle introduceth the subject, of the grand, and pre-disposing cause of all, namely, to the glory of God the Father. This was the first, and ultimate object. The Son of God divests himself of his glory, for the Father's glory. He emptieth himself of his personal honor, for the Father's honor. And, by this process, he brings in a greater revenue, both of glory, and honor, than sin in man had tarnished, or could have tarnished, by millions of beings, and in millions of years. And thus we see, (though all we now see, is but as through a glass darkly), how deep, and sure, the infinite designs of God have been laid, for revealing the Lord's glory, and making known to the Church, what Paul calls the manifold wisdom of God. Ephesians 3:10
Well might the Apostle make that blessed conclusion which he hath made, to this mysterious subject, concerning the exaltation of the Lord Jesus; and the universal bending of every knee, and the confession of every tongue, to his glory. For if the whole creation of God could be convened into one congregation, and proclamation was made, for sin and Satan, every man's own guilty conscience, and all the arrests of God's law and justice, to give in their claims, on the sinner, for his dishonoring God by sin; it must be found, that Christ, as the sinner's representative, (and made a surety by God himself, Hebrews 7:21-22.) hath done more, to honor God, than all the sins of men hath done, to dishonor him. Yea, so infinitely precious, so incalculably great, hath been, and is, the vast merits, and blood-shedding of Christ, in doing away sin by the sacrifice of himself; that over and above the honor restored to God by the Lord Jesus, there is a redundancy of merit, that millions of ages can never so fully recompense, so as to say, the whole is paid, and nothing more is due.
Now, Reader, pause over the vast subject, and ponder it well. And although, what I have brought before you, is but the merest outlines of the mystery, of God manifest in the flesh, (for the dimensions of the whole is infinite), yet, as a man who hath ascended an high hill, and looketh round to the utmost horizon, can only take into his view a small part of what is before him, though he is ravished with the boundless prospect: so the heart, can only contemplate in part, the vast subject. Oh! what praise must be suited for Him, whom God, in his mediator-character, hath highly exalted, and given a Name above every name? It is blessed to behold Christ, in all his personal-glories, and in all his relative-glories, and in all his office-glories, as God-man Mediator. When John saw him by vision in heaven, he beheld, that on his head were many crowns. Revelation 19:12. And, beyond all doubt, the Son of God in our nature, hath acquired glory like so many rays of brightness, by every personal act of his, which belong to him as God-man Mediator. Reader! it will be your happiness, and mine, to see him as John saw him, with the many crowns, if we can behold the very crown of our own personal redemption, among them upon his sacred head. For as Jesus, when ascending from earth to heaven, was crowned with glory and honor, for his triumphs in redemption: Hebrews 2:9 so is He crowned by every single redeemed sinner, when he descends in the power of his Spirit, upon that sinner's heart, to give him t he light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Then it is, the heart is regenerated, and made joyful in the Lord: the knee of faith and love bends before Him; and the tongue bursts forth, in praises to his name, and in the loudest acclamations confesseth, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.