Caesar versus Jesus
In his Letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul points to the obedience of Jesus as the model for proper conduct by disciples and the kind of mindset they must adopt. The Nazarene’s willing submission to death at the hands of the World Empire is the paradigm for how his followers should live. His subsequent elevation to reign over all things was the result of his “obedience unto death.” Exaltation did not precede humiliation and death, it followed.
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| [Photo by Pete Godfrey on Unsplash] |
Not only did Jesus refuse political power, but his acceptance of the Messianic role of the ‘Suffering Servant’ who died for the sake of others was contrary to the idea and practice of exercising political power over others. No Caesar, president, king, or dictator would ever willingly submit to a brutal and humiliating execution by his enemies.
The New Testament summons disciples to imitate
his example by conducting themselves properly while living in a hostile culture
and deferring to one another’s needs. They are to “stand fast in one spirit, with one soul, joining for the combat along
with the faith of the gospel.”
SUFFERING SERVANT
Anyone who wishes to follow Jesus must do
so by “thinking the same things” that he did, and this was epitomized by
his self-sacrificial act.
- “Be thinking this among you, that even in Christ Jesus. Who, commencing in the form of God, considered being like God something not to be seized, but he poured himself out, taking the form of a slave, having come to be in the likeness of men; and having been found in fashion as man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on the cross. Therefore also, God highly exalted him and granted him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of beings heavenly and earthly and under the earth, and every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father, even God” - (Philippians 2:5-11).
Self-sacrificial death was, in fact, what
it meant to be the Messiah who came “not be served but to serve, and to give
his life a ransom for many.” To illustrate his example, Paul employed Old
Testament language from the stories of Adam and the “Suffering Servant” from
Isaiah. Unlike the former, Jesus did not attempt to seize “likeness”
with God. Adam was created in God’s image but grasped at divine “likeness”
when he ate the forbidden fruit.
In contrast, Jesus obeyed God and suffered the consequences. As the “Suffering Servant,” he humbled himself and submitted to an unjust death. For that reason, God “highly exalted” him.
Like Adam, Jesus began “in the form of
God.” Unlike Adam, he “did not consider the being like God something for
plunder.” The Greek adjective isos translated as “like”
means just that, “like.” The clause alludes to the moment when the “Serpent”
first tempted Eve in the Garden: “For God knows that in the day you eat
thereof your eyes will be opened and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.”
Adam chose to disobey and thereby attempted
to “seize” the likeness of God. Paul contrasts his failure with the
refusal of Jesus to grasp that same “likeness.”
BECOMING LIKE GOD
The clause, “being in the form of God,”
corresponds to the creation account when “God created man in his own image.”
Likewise, Jesus was in the “image” or “form” of God. In Greek
literature, the two nouns are synonymous. The term translated as “being”
represents the Greek present tense participle huparchÅ, meaning, “to commence,
begin; to start.” Thus, he began in the image of God just as Adam did.
The Greek noun translated as “seize”
means “plunder, booty,” something that is seized by force. Unlike Adam, Jesus
did not attempt to seize likeness with God. Instead, he “poured
himself out, taking the form of a slave, having come to be in the likeness of
men. And having been found in fashion as man, he humbled himself becoming
obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”
In this last sentence, there are several
verbal echoes from the “Servant of Yahweh” passages in the Book of Isaiah:
- (Isaiah 53:12) - “Therefore will I give him a portion in the great, and the strong shall he apportion as plunder, because he poured out to death his own soul, and with transgressors let himself be numbered, Yea, he the sin of many bare, and for transgressors interposed.”
- (Isaiah 53:7) - “Hard-pressed, yet he humbled himself, nor opened his mouth, as a lamb to the slaughter is led.”
Thus, Jesus humbled himself to the point of
suffering a shameful death. That is how “he poured himself out.” Paul
completes the picture by utilizing allusions to two more passages in Isaiah:
- (Isaiah 52:13) - “Behold, my Servant prospers, he rises and is lifted up and becomes very high.”
- (Isaiah 45:23) - “By myself have I sworn, gone forth out of my mouth is righteousness as a decree and shall not turn back, that unto myself shall bow every knee shall swear every tongue.”
Jesus died the death of a “slave.” This
uses an image from the Greco-Roman culture. Crucifixion was considered the most
shameful form of death. Its most horrific aspect was the public humiliation attached
to it, and it was often used to execute rebellious slaves as well as political
revolutionaries.
The disciples of Jesus are called to have
that same mind, to seek nothing from self-interest or for “empty glory.”
They are to emulate him by not seeking to exalt themselves. Instead, they
should “pour themselves out” as he did in service to others, and in obedience
to God.
Believers must conduct themselves in “humility”
toward one another and those outside the Assembly rather than exalt themselves
or seek power over others. In God’s Kingdom, exaltation follows obedience and humility.
It does not precede them. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and
to have the “mind that was in Christ.”
