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"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
The context therefore prepares us to see that Christ laid aside something that was
really His own for the sake of others. Now let us examine the actual wording of the
passage:--
"Who being in the form of God" (Phil. 2: 6).
The word "being" is the Greek huparchon, and is given in the R.V. margin as "being
originally". It refers to the time previous to the birth in Bethlehem.
A.--I believe the words "being originally" are correct, and that whatever it was that is
referred to was laid aside when Christ became man.
B.--We will test that. Turn to Luke 23: 50-53 where we read:--
"Behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor . . . . ., this man went unto
Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus."
B.--The Greek reads Ioseph bouleutes huparchon. Do I understand you to believe that
Joseph of Arimathaea ceased to be a "counsellor" as soon as he begged the body of
Jesus?
A.--No, I see no necessity.
B.--Turn again to Acts 2: 30, 31 and read:--
A.--
"Therefore being a prophet . . . . . spake of the resurrection."
B.--The Greek reads prophetes oun huparchon. Do you believe that David ceased to be
a prophet when he spoke of the resurrection of Christ?
A.--No, I do not; what is your purpose in these examples?
B.--My purpose is to show by these parallels that there is no warrant for assuming that
Christ "ceased to be in the form of God" when "He emptied Himself and took upon Him
the form of a servant".
A.--I cannot agree with you, for the Lord Jesus was certainly not in the form of God
when he walked the earth. The Samaritan woman when she saw Him said, "How is it
that thou, being a Jew", and that is evidently the "form" that all saw.
B.--We can go no further until we have studied the expression "form of God", for you
evidently look upon the word as being synonymous with "figure" or "shape". The word
form is a translation of the Greek word morphe, and is simply the same word twisted
round as it passed through the Latin. It occurs only three times in the N.T., Mk. 16: 12,