the image of Christ (II Cor. 3: 18), both these instances being something more than just

outward appearance. But when Satan is transformed into "an angel of light", and his

ministers into "ministers of righteousness", the verb used is a compound of schema, for

this transformation is something outward only--merely a disguise.

As we have morphe again in verse 7, "He took upon Himself the morphe of a slave", it

would be helpful if we inquired as to what morphe can mean in this connection and here,

as we are within the realm of human experience, we can come to a true understanding

which should certainly assist us in our consideration of the "form of God". We are

amazed that so many expositors have not done this. Did a slave in N.T. times merely

look different from his master, or did this go much deeper? Obviously it did, for a slave

had no rights or possessions of his own; he belonged body and soul to his master and

was virtually his property, to be bought or sold or even killed as his owner wished. The

morphe of slave then is clear. It denoted the status of a slave which doubtless reflected

itself in his outward appearance, for we cannot imagine that a slave's outward appearance

was the same as his master's. There was therefore both an inward and outward aspect of

the morphe form, of a slave. It can hardly be possible that the word morphe can be used

in a completely different sense in the previous verse. There is no need therefore to make

the word mean essence only (as Lightfoot and others), nor just outward appearance as the

glory of God (as many modern commentators). It is not an either/or position, but a

combination of both.

Moulton and Milligan say that morphe "always signifies a form which truly and fully

expresses the being which underlies it" (Vocabulary of N.T. Greek). As Greville Ewing

(a Greek and English Lexicon) expresses it, "this word is sometimes used to denote the

nature itself or substance of anything" (our italics). Marvin R. Vincent in Word Studies

in the New Testament states "Morphe, form, is identified with the essence of a person or

thing". "To say that Christ was in the form of God, is to say that He existed as essentially

one with God." The expression of deity through human nature, thus has its background

in the expression of Deity as Deity in the eternal ages of God's being. Whatever the

mode of expression, it marked the Being of Christ in the eternity before creation. "As the

form of God was identified with the Being of God, so Christ, being in the form of God,

was identified with the being, nature, and personality of God."

J. J. Muller in a footnote (The Epistles of Paul to the Philippians and Philemon) says,

"morphe denotes the inner being, as it actually and concretely realizes itself in the

individual". We therefore come to the conclusion that this difficult word refers to an

outward visible manifestation of an inner essence or reality, not just one or the other.

The Lord Jesus, in His pre-incarnate state, as the Image of the invisible God, appeared to

the heavenly beings as God because in reality He is God (John 1: 1). His outward visible

appearance expressed His essential nature and character and this nature and character is

that of God. As one scholar puts it (T. A. Thomas) "If he were not truly and fully God,

He could not have been in the morphe of God".

It has been noted too, that morphe and eikon image, are closely linked, and it has been

shown by commentators that even in ancient thought an image was not held to be a mere