The first Christians confessing Christ
He Humbled Himself (Philippians 2)
In Philippians 2:6-11 Paul reaches for words that soar above ordinary letter-writing, tracing Christ from the form of God down to the death of the cross and up again to a name above every name. Many read these lines as a hymn the church already sang, quoted by Paul to press home a plea for humility. It is the clearest example we have of an early Christian confession preserved inside the New Testament.
“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”Philippians 2:6
The passage
The passage. Paul writes to the Philippians from prison, and in chapter 2 he is urging a quarreling church toward lowliness of mind. To ground that plea he lifts up Christ: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, 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" (Philippians 2:5-8). The passage then turns on a single hinge word: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11). The movement is a great descent and a great ascent, from equality with God, down to a criminal's death, up to universal lordship.
Why it is read as an early creed or hymn
Why it is read as an early creed or hymn. This is the passage scholars most confidently identify as a pre-formed hymn, often called the Carmen Christi, the "song of Christ." Several features point that way. The lines fall into a balanced, rhythmic structure that reads as poetry more than prose, with a clear turning point at "wherefore." The vocabulary is unusual for Paul; words like the one rendered "made himself of no reputation" and "form" appear here in ways he does not use elsewhere. The passage is self-contained, so that it could be lifted out and Paul's argument would still hold. And it arrives as a quoted exhibit, offered to support his call to humility rather than composed to make it. None of this can be proven with certainty, and it is possible Paul composed the lines himself in an elevated style. But the convergence of rhythm, distinctive wording, and self-contained shape makes the reading that he is quoting an existing confession a well-grounded one. That the apostle sang the church's true song under the Spirit's inspiration takes nothing from Scripture; it shows how early and how deep the church's worship of Christ already ran.
What the first Christians confessed about Christ
What the first Christians confessed about Christ. The hymn confesses the full arc of the gospel in a handful of lines. Before the incarnation Christ was "in the form of God" and counted equality with God not a prize to be grasped, language of genuine pre-existence and deity. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant and the likeness of men, a real incarnation, God the Son entering our humanity. He humbled himself to obedience and to death, the shameful death of the cross, the depth of his self-giving. Then God exalted him and gave him "a name which is above every name." The confession that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess draws directly on Isaiah 45:23, where the Lord God swears that to him alone every knee shall bow. Paul applies those very words to Jesus. To confess "that Jesus Christ is Lord" is therefore to give him the honor owed to God, and it redounds "to the glory of God the Father." The earliest believers were already worshiping Jesus as the pre-existent, incarnate, crucified, and exalted Lord.
Questions people ask
Does calling Philippians 2 a hymn mean Paul did not write it?
Not necessarily. Many think Paul quoted an existing confession, but he may also have composed these lines himself in an elevated style, or reworked something he received. Either way they stand as inspired Scripture, and either way they show the church already confessing Christ's deity and lordship very early.
What does 'thought it not robbery to be equal with God' mean?
The sense is that Christ, already possessing equality with God, did not treat that status as something to be clutched or exploited for his own advantage. Instead he emptied himself and took the form of a servant. His deity is assumed by the verse, not denied by it.
Whose knee bows and tongue confesses at the end?
The confession draws on Isaiah 45:23, where every knee bows to the Lord God alone. Paul applies it universally, things in heaven, earth, and under the earth, to Jesus. It is a sweeping claim that the crucified Jesus receives the worship due to God.