THE OBEDIENCE OF THE SERVANT (Phil 2.5-8)
Luke in his Gospel records three occasions when the Lord Jesus was invited by a Pharisee to dine. In 7.36-50 we read the story of a woman in the city who fully expressed much love and was assured that "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven". Simon had almost certainly read Psalm 32, but had likely never acknowledged his sin unto God, and thus knew not the blessedness of forgiveness. In 11.37-44 a certain unnamed Pharisee marvelled that Jesus had not first washed before dinner, not seeming to have remembered reading in Psalm 51 that God desires truth in the inward parts. Finally, 14.1-24 tells of Jesus going into the house of one of the chief Pharisees where those who "chose out the chief rooms" heard a parable which should have reminded them of Proverbs 25.7: "For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldst be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen". Lovely lessons indeed concerning love, purity, and humility.
Beyond doubt our Lord had taken the lowest room amongst all the guests, for humility marked Him throughout, and He ever was the perfect example of all that He taught. On thinking of His humility our minds naturally turn to that wonderful passage in Philippians 2.1-11, where, in the course of encouraging the saints to think the same thing, and have the same love, and esteem the other as more excellent than themselves (JND), Paul reveals the mind of Christ Jesus in language that bows our hearts in worship as we contemplate that unsurpassable example of humility. "He took upon him the form of a servant" (v.7), and what a servant! None can be compared with Him, who "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (v.8). As we meditate upon these verses we learn of the Obedient Servant.
A very striking impression gained from the passage is the recurrence of the word "form". In v.6 we read, "Who, being in the form of God ", then in v.7, " and took upon him the form of a servant", and clearly our understanding of the passage will be greatly helped by discovering the precise meaning of the word "form". In this we can be greatly aided by the late R C Trench, Archbishop of Dublin, in his excellent book Synonyms of The New Testament. One of his studies is of three Greek words, two of which occur in this passage, namely "form", and "fashion". Form, his study reveals, "signifies the utterance of the inner life; not being but manner of being or better manner of existence; and only God could have the manner of existence of God". It is further explained that "form" is of the essence of a thing. Another writer has well expressed it thus: "None could be in the form of God who was not God". The word "being", translated as "subsisting" by JND, teaches His eternal pre-existence in "the form of God", possessing all that is essential to deity.
While not fully exploring the meaning of "thought it not robbery to be equal with God", or "emptied himself" (JND), we may at least observe that He could not of course empty Himself of His own nature nor of its essential perfections. And yet He, who had from eternity been in the form of God, took upon Him the form of a servant, in condescension of such magnitude as is utterly beyond our power to comprehend. He entered into the manner of existence of a servant, and indeed that of a bondservant. This second use of "form" emphasises the reality of His bondservice. Just as surely as He eternally had the manner of existence of God, so in time He had the manner of existence of a bondservant. A bondservant (Gr. doulos) is one who does the will of his master; he is not free to do his own will. For instance, Onesimus had been the bondservant of Philemon but by departing had become unprofitable. John 8 records how the Jews claimed, "We be Abrahams seed, and were never in bondage to any man" (v.33). Quite arrogantly, they were misunderstanding the import of Jesus teaching and His reply, "Whosoever committeth sin is the [bond] servant of sin", in which sin was being personified as a master to whom men are in bondage. Similarly Paul teaches, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves [bond] servants to obey, his [bond] servants ye are to whom ye obey" (Rom 6.16). The Lord Jesus was never, for one moment, the bondservant of men, for He had not come to do their will. Neither, in any instance, was He the bondservant of sin, for in His moral perfection there was nothing in Him to answer to sin. He was, of course, the bondservant of God, whose will He had come to do. "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me" (Jn 6.38).
Yet though He was not the bondservant of men, He was their minister (Gr. diakonos), serving not their will, but their need. "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mk 10.45). In utter humility and love He served His disciples, even as there was strife among them as to which of them should be accounted the greatest. Luke records this strife as occurring at the supper, and it would seem it had not been for the first time. How slow they were, and we are, to learn of Him who said, "But I am among you as he that serveth" (Lk 22.27). How graciously He showed this to them as, "He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself" (Jn 13.4). Johns portrayal of the scene moves our hearts, as we ponder his narrative with fresh delight, and marvel at the humble service rendered so tenderly. Humility had ever marked Him, for "being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself". Trenchs comment on the phrase "found in fashion" is most helpful. He remarks that it expresses the outward facts which came under the knowledge of others, with therefore an emphasis upon "found". Outwardly there did not appear any difference between Him and the other children of men, yet, morally distinct, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
The phrase "obedient unto death" describes the entirety of His life. In reference to His incarnation we read in Psalm 40, "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart" (vv.7-8). Doing the will of God, or accomplishing the pleasure of God, was not for Him an onerous task; rather it was a joy, a delight. At Sychar the woman of Samaria found Him in fashion as a man, but afterward said, "Is not this the Christ?" (Jn 4.29). whilst to His disciples He said, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (Jn 4.34). Come to the end of His life, and in that prayer of closest intimacy He says to the Father, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (Jn 17.4). These words anticipated the cross and that moment when He received the vinegar, said, "It is finished" (Jn 19.30), and bowed His head and gave up the ghost: the final acts of obedience. The bowing of His head was both voluntary and submissive, and expresses absolute submissiveness. Surely the fragrance of unforced, unfaltering obedience arose to God.
We thus see that His obedience was "unto death", not in the sense that death had any authority over Him, but in the sense that His obedience in service continued on to death, even the death of the cross. Truly it was a death of ignominy and shame in the sight of men, and Old Testament Scriptures reveal the anguish and pain He suffered; but through the death of the cross the great purpose of God in redemption has been accomplished. We always feel how right it is that "God also hath highly exalted him" (Phil 2.9). It is fitting that He who was obedient as servant will be obeyed as the sovereign. A great day is coming when "the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Is 2.11). He is worthy of universal supremacy, and the depth to which He went in His obedience will be fully answered in the height to which God hath exalted Him.
To be continued.