Philippians 2, Preexistence!

You ascribe a lot to Jesus and enough that you think would have made him as it were rejected in the eyes of those early

Of those Jews and Pharisees, but but you don't ascribe to him pre -existence

You don't put it on that level that he was pre -existent with God because obviously there there are passages

Which I'm sure James and others would would know that Philippians one is perhaps a classic, you know that Jesus being

In very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped Well, first of all, let me tell you that Luther for example does not find pre -existence in Philippians, too

Secondly a reading of the NIV there is pushing the language It doesn't think about being in very nature

God being in the form of God There's a vast literature contradicting the idea that any pre -existence is there including both

James Dunn Colin Brown and a huge literature as I discovered doesn't make it right by the way, and it's a minority literature

But I simply don't think that Paul is talking about a pre -existing son there he's like he's saying look at the man

Messiah Jesus and Copy him and it's a bit vague to say well imagine being you know billions of years old or from eternity

And now decide to become a man now you do that much better say look at the historical

Messiah and copy his lifestyle Luther didn't see this and Lutherans to this day apply this to the ministry of Jesus, but Exegetically that what

Paul is doing here is he's saying to the Christians after it verses 1 through 4 saying that they have to View one another with humility of mind to Pana safruna is what he uses a humility of mind

What does that mean? Having certain rights laying them aside in service to others don't always be looking to your own things Look to the service of other people.

That's the key to peace in the local church Then he says have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus eternally existing in the very

Morphe to say you the form of God he's going to be made he later is going to talk about having the form of a bond

Servant that's his true nature. And that's why the NIV renders it in that way If you exist eternally in the very form of God But did not consider that position that that that equality you had with God something to be held on to at all costs

First of all a popcorn in Greek does not mean existing in eternity Adam was also About a man is also a pop on the that's pushing the language and being in the nature of God in the form of God It's obviously difficult for all of us

But it's compared with being in the form of a slave something like the status of God and he he has that I would argue there

With modern exegetes who take this view of Philippians 2 that Jesus was equal with God He was equal with God that he didn't use that equality

Control he says if you've seen me you've seen God I am as God I like Murray Harris's title

Jesus as God But he has that equality with God. He doesn't use it for his own exploitation

He washes the dishes. That's a marvelous exercise in humility But the subject of discourse there is the man

Messiah Jesus. That's what Paul called Christ Jesus after all 550 times in the

New Testament. He's the Messiah It's an awful stretch for me to imagine that the Messiah the Lord's anointed is actually the

Lord Granted of course that the name the authority of Yahweh is placed on him But in Philippians 2 this is all done to the glory of God and that wonderful word

Oh, they are 1300 times in the New Testament is clearly the father of Jesus So it all winds up to the glory of God But yes,

Jesus has been given absolute authority under that one God Yahweh We're discussing if we can put in its most core sense is the nature of pre -existence

We're differing only on this I say that the Son of God did not pre -exist as God the Son the word pre -existed what's so interesting is that even

Walter Martin of Fame recent famous of an anti -cult person and others

Warfield I believe in the two Hodges who are the stalwart pillars of Trinitarianism Were shaken by the notion of the eternal generation of the

Sun and I wanted to get to that too and so this undermining of the eternal generation suggests that they believed in the

Word of God pre -existing and Dakes Bible and so on Barnes and so on there been many Adam Clarke who have objected to the notion of the

Sun being prior to His begetting is coming into existence so that's that's

One point to me the Bible becomes very clear when you've got one God and one mediator between God and man the man

Messiah Jesus I think that should be the end of the argument first Timothy 2 5 but on the pastoral point What I'm finding is that folk have always been troubled by this

Trinitarian thing from their early church days And when you put this to them, this doesn't make it right of course it simply clarifies a lot of things and the greater point would be this that a billion

Muslims and Millions of Jews are no longer standing aghast at the notion that we can talk about more than one person being