Useful Bible Studies > Philippians Commentary > chapter 2
It is not unusual for a father to run a business together with his son. They may both be owners; they may both have the same authority over the business. However, their relationship as father and son still continues. For example, the son still respects his father; the father still supports and approves of his son.
There is, and has always been, one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Son and the Spirit have always been with the Father, equal in honour, power and authority. They are equal, but – like in our example of a business – there is a definite relationship between them. However, unlike our example, there are not three Gods, but only one God. It should not surprise us that our human minds cannot fully understand the nature of God.
Christ is ‘in the form of God’ because he is like the Father in his honour and power and glory (the splendid beauty of his perfect character). Nobody can be ‘equal with God’ except God himself – therefore, Christ is himself God.
Therefore, before Christ was born in Bethlehem, he already existed. He existed even before Abraham lived, perhaps 1500 years before his (Christ’s) birth (John 8:58). In John 1:1-3, Christ is called the Word of God, who created the world (see John 1:14). In John 17:5, Christ speaks about an even earlier period of time, before the world began. He mentions the glory (splendid beauty of God’s perfect character) which he then shared with his Father.
So we see that Christ, God the Son, chose to be born into this world. He chose that because he wanted to serve people, to help them and to rescue them from the results of their evil deeds.
Next part: Christ took the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7)
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© 2020, Keith Simons.