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Philippians 2:4-6
New Catholic Bible
Philippians 2:4-6
New Catholic Bible
4 Be concerned not only with your own interests but also with those of others.
5 Let your attitude be identical to that of Christ Jesus.
The Humbled and Exalted Christ[a]
6 Though he was in the form of God,
he did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped.
Footnotes
- Philippians 2:6 The full breadth of the mystery of Christ is expressed in this hymn, which was either written by Paul himself or perhaps taken from the Liturgy of another community. The mystery is celebrated in two of its major aspects: descent and return, which form a curve whose two ends meet.
During his stay on earth, Jesus was deprived of the glory that belonged to him, so that he might receive it again from the Father as a reward for his supreme sacrifice. He descended into the ultimate depths of abasement; then the movement was reversed: the Father glorified him, made the universe subject to him, and gave him the supreme prerogative, the regal and Divine title of “Lord.”
In the background here, Paul was thinking of the pride shown by created beings who want to be equal to God (the desire of Adam); he contrasts with this the self-giving and self-denial of Christ. But the hymn reminds us even more clearly of the songs of the Servant of God (especially Isa 53), which echoed strongly in the preaching of Jesus and in the teaching and Liturgy of the very early Church.
It is the whole mystery of the incarnate Son of God that Paul here chants with such clarity and depth: his preexistence, his abasement, and his exaltation. And the Apostle does so in order to exhort some Christians to live the demands of their Baptism!
