THE MEANING OF KENOSIS
By A Fruchtenbaum
In dealing with the deity of the Messiah, Philippians 2:5-11 should be discussed. This passage deals with something theologians call “kenosis.” This term is used because the Greek word that is found in one of these verses is a word from which kenosis originates. It is a word that means “to empty oneself,” “to empty,” or “to evacuate.” Some kind of “emptying” took place at the time that the Son became incarnate. Some have taught that what Yeshua emptied Himself of, what He gave up when He became a man, was being God. If it were possible for someone to give up being God, then that person was not God to begin with. Does this passage teach that Jesus gave up His deity while He was on earth, so that He wasn't God? Or is it trying to teach something else? These questions can be answered by a study of the text.
In this passage, verse 5 is a transitional statement between what was being said in verses 1-4 and what is about to be said in verses 6-11. Verse 5 reads: Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. This is in the present tense, and Paul is saying, “Keep on minding” and “Keep on having the mind of the Messiah.” The Messiah is to be imitated in the sense that there should be a habitual, daily direction of the mind to the distinctive virtue of the likeness of the Messiah.
The first part of verse 6 emphasizes His pre existence when it says: who, existing in the form of God. The way He has always existed in eternity past is in the form of God. This has been a continous, eternal existence. Yeshua has had a previous existence in the form of God before He became a man. To exist in the form of God means to be God Himself.
Indeed, in the second part of verse 6, His deity is clearly taught: counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped. While the first part of verse 6 teaches the pre existence of Jesus, the second part of the verse teaches His equality with God. He was existing in a form that naturally means being an equal with God. To be an equal with God means to be God. The mind of the Messiah was exercised in such a way that He did not consider His exalted God equal existence a warrant for seizing and grasping the glory for Himself; the glory that comes with the fact of being God. In other words, He did not count equality with God as something to be used selfishly for His own enrichment. He was willing to exist in another form other than the form of God.
What that form was is brought out in verse 7, where the Incarnation of the Messiah is taught: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. There are two things to notice in this verse. First, what this verse does not say concerning the act of self emptying. The Messiah did not empty Himself of the form of God, nor did He exchange the form of God for the likeness of men. The concept is not “to give up,” rather, it is “to add to.” The statement of the Greek text emptied himself is in itself an incomplete thought. What follows next in the sentence is describing the nature of His Humiliation in that He took upon Himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. The form of a servant was not an exchange of the form of God, not an exchange of being equal with God, but in addition to. The picture is that He added to His divine form; He took upon Himself the addition of humanity.
Secondly, what did He empty Himself of, then, if He did not empty Himself of the form of God or equality with God? The answer is that He emptied Himself of the right to have the independent use of those ten divine attributes that were discussed earlier in this manuscript. As God, He had the perfect right to independently use those attributes, but He would no longer use them except in accordance with the will of God the Father.
That is why the writer says that He not only took upon Himself the likeness of men, but specifically He took upon Himself the form of a servant, the servant role. Of course, a servant means someone who has a lord whom he obeys. That is the picture of what He emptied Himself; He emptied Himself of the independent right to use His divine attributes. He now became an earthly servant of God the Father. He would use His attributes only in accordance with the will of God the Father. He would not use His omnipotence unless God the Father willed it. He would not use His omniscience unless God the Father willed it. Consequently , there were things Jesus did not know in His humanity. For example, He did not know when He was coming back. The reason He did not know this is because He did not use the attribute of omniscience; it was not God the Father's will for Him to do so. When Yeshua became a man, He did not become less than God. Rather, by becoming a man, He took on humanity in addition to His divinity.
Verse 8 describes His Crucifixion: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. The condition of Jesus beheld by man is: in fashion as a man. When humankind saw Yeshua, they did not see Him in a divine essence; they saw Him as a human being. He was recognized by all to be a man. This was part of His Humiliation, part of His obedience to God the Father. He emptied Himself of His omnipotence in that He did not use His omnipotence to keep people from putting Him to death. Because the Son was willing to give up existing only in the form of God–not in exchange of existing in the form of God, but in addition to that form–He took on the form of a man.
Because He was willing to empty Himself in that way, there is a promise of His Exaltation in verses 9-11: Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. As a result, He was exalted when He ascended into Heaven. In verse 9, He was raised from the dead to unusual dignity and power. In verse 10, there is the recognition of His universal sovereignty. And in verse 11, there will eventually be universal homage to the Messiah as Lord. What does the kenosis mean? First, it does not mean that He divested Himself of the form of deity. Secondly, it does mean that He laid aside the independent exercise of His divine attributes by which the form of God expresses itself. Instead, He took on and assumed human form, flesh, and nature by means of the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth. The self emptying brought about a change of status from the position of God to the position of a servant. In the exchange, He did not divest Himself of or give up His deity. In His human form, He retained all the attributes of His deity, but He never manifested His deity apart from the will of the Father. Thus, even in His earthly sojourn as a man, He was still God.
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