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Philippians 2:5-11 - The Mind of Christ

16 min read

Philippians 2:5-11 is one of the New Testament’s clearest places where doctrine becomes medicine for the Church. Paul is not giving the Philippians a detached theological poem. He is answering rivalry, vainglory, fear, and status anxiety by placing the crucified and exalted Christ before them. The mind of Christ is not private positive thinking. It is the shared life of the Body learning humility from the eternal Son, who descends without ceasing to be God and is confessed by all creation as Lord.

Philippi was a Roman colony where status and public recognition had weight.1 That setting sharpens Paul’s appeal, but it does not reduce the passage to social commentary. The deepest claim is Christological and pastoral: the One who is in the form of God reveals divine glory through self-giving love, servant form, obedience, the Cross, exaltation, and worship.

The Mind Command (Philippians 2:5)

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Paul begins with the mind because the visible life of the Church starts in the hidden place where desires, fears, comparisons, and ambitions are formed. The command follows directly after Paul’s appeal to unity, mercy, and looking to the interests of others. The Church cannot be healed by etiquette alone. It needs the mind of Christ.

This keeps the whole passage from becoming abstract doctrine. Paul will speak of the form of God, the form of a bondservant, the Cross, and the universal confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. He gives all of this to a real community so that doctrine becomes humility, humility becomes service, and service becomes the Church’s public witness.

Language insight: the shared mind

The Greek phrase behind the command is τοῦτο φρονεῖτε ἐν ὑμῖν (touto phroneite en hymin). The verb φρονεῖτε is a present active imperative in the second person plural. It calls the whole community to hold, practice, and keep returning to this mind. The phrase ἐν ὑμῖν can be heard with a communal force, among yourselves, without dismissing the NKJV’s wording, in you.2

That matters because the mind of Christ is not only an interior mood. The preceding verses name ἐριθεία (eritheia), selfish ambition or rivalry, and κενοδοξία (kenodoxia), conceit or empty glory. Paul joins these thoughts: rivalry and empty glory disorder the Church’s common life; the plural command φρονεῖτε summons a shared disposition; Christ’s refusal of self-advantage and His voluntary descent reveal what that disposition looks like.3

The Lord’s humility is a free gift of Himself, not self-erasure. Christ does not act from worthlessness, and Paul does not ask believers to deny their gifts, legitimate needs, or boundaries. A parish receives the mind of Christ when servants choose cooperation over credit, families choose patient regard over winning, and believers can honor another person without treating themselves or anyone else as disposable. The Forerunner’s decrease has this same shape: he is not the incarnate Son, yet his joyful lessening participates in the mind of Christ rather than in self-contempt.

Paul addresses a divided congregation. Whether these verses are sung as a hymn or spoken as exalted prose, he calls its members to receive Christ’s mind in their common life.4

The Descent of the Son (Philippians 2:6-8)

6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Paul begins the descent at the highest point: Christ is in the form of God and equal with God. His humility does not come from lack, inferiority, or created weakness. Chrysostom says the one who could be exalted yet chooses a lower place is humble; he illustrates it with a king serving his officer.5 Christ’s humility comes from fullness and freedom, not from an inability to be otherwise.

The repeated word form is crucial. Paul says Christ is in the form of God and takes the form of a bondservant. The Greek word is μορφή (morphē) in both places. Chrysostom is direct: “The form of a servant means, Man by nature, wherefore the form of God means, God by nature.” He adds that form implies unchangeableness.5 Paul is not describing two costumes. The One who truly is God assumes our humanity without ceasing to be God.6

In a colony shaped by public rank, divine form, servant form, and Cross expose the instinct to protect honor at any cost.7

Language insight: form, grasping, and emptying

The line translated did not consider it robbery contains the difficult word ἁρπαγμός (harpagmos). Translations differ over whether the image is grasping or exploiting what one possesses.8 Paul begins with Christ already in the form of God and then describes His free descent. That sequence, rather than a lexical shortcut, governs the reading.

For teaching, the safest path is to preserve the NKJV Scripture wording and explain the flow. Chrysostom compares a tyrant who dares not set aside a stolen purple robe with a king who may safely lay it aside: the Son possessed equality by nature, and so could veil His glory without losing it.9 Christ does not seize divinity or use it for self-advantage. Divine glory is revealed in His free self-giving.

The phrase made Himself of no reputation translates ἐκένωσεν (ekenōsen), from κενόω, to empty, make void, or abase. Paul immediately explains this emptying by what Christ takes and becomes: taking servant form, coming in human likeness, and becoming obedient to death. The grammar points toward assumption and condescension, not subtraction from divinity.10

St. Cyril of Alexandria reads Philippians 2:5–11 as the act of one Son, the Word who was in the Father’s form and took a servant’s form. Cyril refuses to divide the subject into an eternal Word and an independently exalted man: the by-nature Son became man for our sake.11 Chrysostom likewise insists on “a union, not a confusion”; neither nature becomes the other.9 Kenosis is the unchanged Word truly entering our condition and going to the Cross for our salvation.

The final phrase, even the death of the cross, keeps the descent from becoming sentimental. Paul names the lowest place because Christian humility must not be confused with good manners or soft temperament. Chrysostom says the Son became obedient to the Father “not by necessity, nor unwillingly.”9 The Cross is the Lord’s voluntary saving obedience. It is not a command for wounded people to remain in harm, obey sinful human authority, or disappear before abuse. Christ’s humility comes from divine fullness and free love, not self-hatred.

Gems from the Fathers 💎

Saint John Chrysostom sees Paul’s pastoral strategy clearly. Paul teaches humility by showing the Philippians Christ Himself: This too the blessed Paul did; in exhorting them to humility, he brought forward Christ.5

Chrysostom then protects the doctrine of the Incarnation. Christ’s emptying is not loss or change in the Godhead: while He remained what He was, He took that which He was not, and being made flesh He remained God, in that He was the Word.9

Saint Athanasius gives the same boundary with direct reference to the language of Philippians: Nor, because the Son that was in the form of God took upon Him the form of a servant was He deprived of His Godhead.12

The Fathers therefore do not let the Church choose between Christ’s divinity and His humility. He remains what He is and takes what He was not. The Son truly becomes man, truly takes servant form, truly obeys unto death, and truly remains Lord.

The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪

At the Good Friday Ninth Hour, The Rite of Passion Week places the Pauline reading at Philippians 2:4–11. The introduction Ethve Ti-Anastasis is chanted before the Epistle; a St Bishoy hymn witness prints the narrower 2:5–11 range.13 Here the Church hears of the Son’s willing obedience unto the Cross while standing before His Crucifixion. At the Sixth Hour she also sings “O Only-Begotten Son,” confessing the Word who became man without change and was crucified. This is a thematic connection to Paul’s hymn, not an explicit explanation of the Pauline selection.14

Before Communion the priest confesses that the Son made the flesh He received from the Theotokos one with His divinity “without mingling, without confusion, and without alteration,” and gave it up on the Cross “of His own will.”15 This is the Church’s own Christological confession at the Eucharist. Its relation to Philippians 2 is theological resonance, not a second lectionary assignment.

The passage also appears within the Pauline reading for Monday of the fifth week of Great Lent, where the broader reading is Philippians 2:1-16. Lent presents kenosis not as speculation but as the form of repentance, unity, obedience, and common life in Christ.16

The Exaltation and Confession (Philippians 2:9-11)

9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore does not mean Christ becomes divine as a reward for obedience. Paul has already confessed Him in the form of God. The exaltation is the glorification and universal proclamation of the incarnate and crucified Christ. The One who descended in humility is revealed before all creation as Lord.

The phrase the name which is above every name should be handled with care. Interpreters debate whether the focus falls on the name Jesus, the title Lord, the divine name evoked by Isaiah, or the whole confession Jesus Christ is Lord. The guide does not need to force an exclusive option. The movement of the passage is clear: the crucified Jesus is confessed with universal honor, and this confession glorifies the Father.

Language insight: Lord, Isaiah, and the name

The confession Jesus Christ is Lord uses Κύριος (Kyrios), Lord. In the Greek Old Testament, κύριος is the common rendering used for the Lord in Israel’s Scriptures. Philippians 2:10-11 echoes Isaiah 45:23, where every knee bows and every tongue swears allegiance in the context of the Lord’s unique divine sovereignty. Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s unique divine sovereignty. Paul applies that universal bowing and confession to Jesus without dividing the Father from the Son.17

This is high Christology without Father-Son competition. Paul does not place Jesus against the Father. The universal confession that Jesus Christ is Lord is to the glory of God the Father. The Son’s lordship reveals the Father’s glory; it does not compete with it.

Saint Athanasius helps guard this point. Against readings that imagine Christ receiving deity as a promotion, he writes: He did not receive in reward the name of the Son and God, but rather He Himself has made us sons of the Father, and deified men by becoming Himself man.18

This does not make salvation automatic apart from repentance, judgment, faith, and communion with Christ. Philippians 2 teaches universal lordship and final acknowledgment. For the faithful, that confession begins now as worship, repentance, and obedience. The tongue says Jesus Christ is Lord; the heart must learn to bow before Him.

This Isaiah echo should also be taught without anti-Jewish misuse. Paul is reading Israel’s Scripture as a Christian apostle confessing Jesus within the divine honor of the one Lord. That is not permission to caricature Judaism or speak with contempt toward Jews. The Church receives the Scriptures with reverence and confesses Christ without contempt.

For our life

The shape of the passage is descent before exaltation, humility before vindication, Cross before universal confession. That pattern does not turn suffering into an idol. It teaches the Church to stop worshiping status, control, and self-protection. Christ does not grasp. Christ gives Himself.

A Christian can take the lower place without self-hatred because worth is received from God, not negotiated through applause. A servant can give credit away without disappearing. A parent can serve without resentment. A parish can honor hidden labor instead of rewarding rivalry. The mind of Christ is practical because it touches exactly the places where pride hides.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

The first fruit is receiving humility from Christ before trying to perform it. Self-made humility often becomes another form of pride. The Church begins by looking at the Lord who humbles Himself for us.

The second fruit is freedom from grasping. The mind of Christ does not clutch reputation, control, credit, comfort, or the need to be seen. Much anxiety comes from defending things Christ teaches us to release.

The third fruit is service from fullness, not self-erasure. Christ’s humility does not erase dignity. It reveals love. A Christian can take the lower place without despising himself, because his worth comes from God rather than status.

The fourth fruit is bringing rivalry to the Cross. In a family, ministry, parish council, choir, or service team, comparison quietly destroys love. Philippians 2 asks whether the mind of Christ is stronger in us than the need to win.

The fifth fruit is confessing Christ with the whole life. Every knee will bow, but the disciple begins now. We bow in prayer, repentance, mercy, obedience, reconciled relationships, and the refusal to use power for self-display.

Lord Jesus Christ, You took the servant’s form without losing Your glory. Free us from the need to grasp at honor; teach us to serve our neighbor willingly, and make our confession of Your lordship truthful in the life we share. Amen.

Footnotes

  1. UNESCO nomination dossier for the Archaeological Site of Philippi, https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/1517.pdf; Joseph H. Hellerman, ΜΟΡΦΗ ΘΕΟΥ as a Signifier of Social Status in Philippians 2:6, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52.4 (2009): 779-797, https://etsjets.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/files_JETS-PDFs_52_52-4_JETS-52-4-779-797-Hellerman.pdf. ↩

  2. SBL Greek New Testament, Philippians 2:5, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Faithlife/SBLGNT/master/data/sblgnt/text/Phil.txt; MorphGNT Philippians morphology, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morphgnt/sblgnt/master/71-Php-morphgnt.txt. ↩

  3. Philippians 2:3-7; Bible Hub, Philippians 2:3 interlinear, https://biblehub.com/interlinear/philippians/2-3.htm; SBL Greek New Testament, Philippians 2:5-7, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Faithlife/SBLGNT/master/data/sblgnt/text/Phil.txt; MorphGNT Philippians morphology, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morphgnt/sblgnt/master/71-Php-morphgnt.txt. ↩

  4. Gordon D. Fee, Philippians 2:5-11: Hymn or Exalted Pauline Prose?, https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bbr/philippians_fee.pdf. ↩

  5. St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians, Homily VI, New Advent, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230206.htm. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. SBL Greek New Testament, Philippians 2:6-7, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Faithlife/SBLGNT/master/data/sblgnt/text/Phil.txt; MorphGNT Philippians morphology, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morphgnt/sblgnt/master/71-Php-morphgnt.txt. ↩

  7. Joseph H. Hellerman, ΜΟΡΦΗ ΘΕΟΥ as a Signifier of Social Status in Philippians 2:6, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52.4 (2009): 779-797, https://etsjets.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/files_JETS-PDFs_52_52-4_JETS-52-4-779-797-Hellerman.pdf. ↩

  8. LSJ entry for ἁρπαγμός, https://atlas.perseus.tufts.edu/dictionaries/entry/urn:cite2:scaife-viewer:dictionaries.v1:lsj-n15397/; Michael Wade Martin, ἁρπαγμός Revisited, Journal of Biblical Literature 135.1 (2016): 175-194, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15699/jbl.1351.2016.2978. ↩

  9. St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians, Homily VII, New Advent, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230207.htm. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. SBL Greek New Testament, Philippians 2:7-8, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Faithlife/SBLGNT/master/data/sblgnt/text/Phil.txt; MorphGNT Philippians morphology, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/morphgnt/sblgnt/master/71-Php-morphgnt.txt; κενόω lexical entry, https://biblehub.com/greek/2758.htm. ↩

  11. St. Cyril of Alexandria, That Christ Is One (On the Unity of Christ), dialogue with Hermias, Pusey trans., pp. 308–310, on Philippians 2:5–11, https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_christ_is_one_01_text.htm. ↩

  12. St. Athanasius, Letter 60: To Adelphius, section 4, New Advent, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2806060.htm. ↩

  13. The Rite of Passion Week, Good Friday Ninth Hour, printed pp. 256–257, https://ukmidcopts.org/kotob/the_rite_of_passion_week2.pdf; St. Bishoy Coptic Orthodox Church, Ethve Ti Anastasees, pp. 1–2, https://saintbishoy.ca/wp-content/uploads/Hazzat_Hymn_Ethve_Ti_Anastasees_Pauline_9-Hour.pdf. ↩

  14. Good Friday Sixth Hour, “O Only-Begotten Son,” https://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/view/149; Coptic Heritage, “The Rite of Good Friday,” https://copticheritage.org/16-good-friday/. ↩

  15. Liturgy of St Basil, Part III §7, “The Confession,” after the Fraction and before Communion, https://www.copticchurch.net/pdf/liturgy/liturgy_of_st_basil.pdf. ↩

  16. Coptic readings for Monday of the fifth week of Great Lent, sample 16 March 2026, https://copticchurch.net/readings?g_year=2026&g_month=03&g_day=16. ↩

  17. Larry W. Hurtado, Two Case Studies in Earliest Christological Readings of Biblical Texts, https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/perth-symposium-paper.pdf; Isaiah 45:23, https://biblehub.com/isaiah/45-23.htm; Κύριος lexical entry, https://biblehub.com/greek/2962.htm. ↩

  18. St. Athanasius, Against the Arians, Discourse I, §38 (on Philippians 2:9–10), https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxi.ii.i.xi.html. ↩

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