Kenosis: The Self-Emptying of Christ

Kenosis?  Is that a disease.  It’s actually a Greek word that is found in perhaps the best incarnational verses in the Bible, Philippians 2:1-11:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

This beautiful passage has caused angst among Christians.  What does it mean that Christ emptied Himself?  Did Jesus lay aside His divinity, or did He somehow step into the human realm but retain His divine self-consciousness?  There is much false doctrine about what it means for Jesus to have emptied Himself, so it is critical to understand and understanding helps better define Christmas for us.

Prelude (1-4)

In the Greek grammatical structure Paul is writing “since there is” rather than “if there is.”  He assumes there is encouragement, consolation, etc.  Paul is appealing to the fellowship.  There is encouragement, comfort from love, participation in the Spirit and affection and sympathy.  Paul asks the Philippians to make him joyful by making these things real in their lives.

Being of the same mind and having the same love and being in agreement stresses unity, not a lockstep mentality.  The church at Philippi had problems and needed to come together. Every church needs unity. Unity is from within; uniformity is forced on people by others.

Verses 3 and 4 tells us how to act, not out of ambition but in humility.  Always count others as more important than yourself – it’s not about you.  Certainly consider your interests, but also the interests of others.  Jesus said it clearly: Love your neighbor as yourself.  This introduction sets the stage for the verses we’ll focus on.

Hymn (5-8)

Paul offers instruction in what it widely considered to be one of the earliest Christian hymns.  Everything that follows is keyed to Paul wanting believers to have the mind of Christ – all of these concepts are rooted in the mind of Jesus. Keep in mind, this is Paul’s goal in the succeeding statement.

In verse 6 we see Jesus relinquishing His position.  The King James Version provides an interesting translation: Jesus thought it “not robbery to be equal with God.”  The root of the word is “plunder or prize.”  Other translations, like the New American Standard, state that Jesus did not count that equality as something to be grasped or held onto.  One of my favorite translations is the very literal one by Wuest, which reads “who did not after weighing the facts, consider it a treasure to be clutched and retained at all hazards.”  In other words, Jesus did not think His equality with God as something to selfishly hold onto, but to use to accomplish His mission of salvation.  It ties in beautifully with the preceding verses about looking out for the interests of others.  In 2 Corinthians 2:8-9 we read, “that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”  Jesus did not change, but His type of existence did.

Jesus emptied Himself.  The word for empty is from the Greek root kenoo, from which we derive the concept of kenosis.  This is also translated as “made himself of no reputation,” but that doesn’t seem to fully indicate what a monumental thing Jesus did.  The mistake many make is thinking that Jesus emptied Himself of something, rather than it being a statement of His character and identity.  The key is that He humbled Himself.  It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that some theologians began saying Jesus gave up some of His divine attributes in becoming human.  Since the Council of Chalcedon in 451, no one in the church taught this.  Liberal theology crept in denying the divinity of Jesus.  The essential meaning is that He emptied himself of His positional equality with God and adopted human form – the rest of the verse explains it: He took the form of a bond-servant.  Jesus became something He had not been before – human.  He did not give up His deity, only His place in Heaven, and that just for a while.  We’ll come back to this.  In context Paul is saying be like Jesus.  He is not telling the Philippians to discard their attributes and powers (abilities and talents), but to submit them to the will of God for the good of the church.

Verse 8 continues the downward path.  Christ has left heaven, taken on the form of a man, become a slave.  Now His further humiliation results in death on a cross – a shameful form of execution, reserved for the lowest of the low.  It is complete humiliation.  The translation of the entire passage from Wuest, while a bit difficult to read, captures these ideas fully: His mind be constantly having in you. which is also in Christ Jesus, who has always been and at present continues to subsist in that mode of being in which He gives outward expression of His essential nature, that of absolute deity, which expression comes from and is truly representative of His inner being , and who did not after weighing the facts, consider it a treasure to be clutched and retained at all hazards, this being on an equality with deity , but himself He emptied, himself He made void, having taken the outward expression of a bondslave, which expression comes from and is truly representative of His nature , entering into a new state of existence, that of mankind. And being found to be in outward guise as man, He stooped very low, having become obedient to the extent of death, even such a death as that upon a cross.  The key is that Jesus is God (being on an equality with deity) and then He took on the form (outward expression) of a bondslave.  The emptying was not a divestiture of deity, it was an expression of deity, and the deity descending to serve.

Postlude (9-11)

No one is more important than Jesus, yet He humbled Himself.  He is exalted and bears the most wonderful name of all.  He has completed the descent, but now He is on a very steep upward slope.  Everyone will bow their knee to Jesus – EVERYONE!  Those who don’t believe will be compelled to bow.  Wouldn’t you rather do it now than be forced to when it’s too late?

Kenosis

Kenosis itself is not a bad word; we should be a kenotic body of believers, emptying ourselves of ourselves to serve.  But to say He gave up attributes is wrong.  Let’s look at some of the divine attributes and see how Jesus exercised them on earth.

• Omniscience – John 11 – Jesus was at least fifty miles away from Lazarus and told the disciples he was dead.  John 2:24 – But Jesus on His part did not entrust himself to them, because He knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what was in man.  John 6:64 – But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.
• Omnipotence – He raised the dead! Lazarus, the young man in Nain, and Jairus’ daughter. John 10:17-18: For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.  This charge I have received from my Father.
• Omnipresence – a little more difficult given his earthly body. Matthew 18:20 – 2 or 3. John 1:49 – He saw Nathaniel under the fig tree.

We referred to Colossians 2:8-9 above. He gave up external glory of his riches, but not ownership.  1:19-20 – For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross; this was His earthly ministry.

Jesus willingly gave up the exercise of His glory and sometimes chose not to use His other powers, but He did retain them.  There is danger in thinking that Jesus left his powers and attributes behind.  If that were true, we as believers are as much an Incarnation of God as Jesus.  Arthur Pink said, “There is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all.”  There is no middle-ground; no halfway or almost. In a sense, it’s like pregnancy – no one is kind of pregnant or almost pregnant, you either are or you are not.

Jesus was our redeemer, our substitute.  When He was living in the flesh claiming total dependence on the Spirit, He was doing it out of His human nature. But because He was God, he could pay the price no man could.  Because of His dual nature we can say the following about Jesus:

• He existed from all eternity and He was born in Bethlehem.
• He is David’s Lord yet David’s son.
• He is the Ancient of Days and He was an infant.
• He is I AM and the son of Mary.
• He upholds all things yet He grew weary with his journey.
• He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, yet He increased in stature.
• He knows the Father perfectly yet He increased in wisdom.
• He is the Prince of Peace, yet His soul was troubled in the garden.
• He is King of Kings, yet He was sentenced to death by a Roman governor.

Jesus did reveal His power and glory at times, e.g, in raising the dead, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and when He spoke the words, “I AM” in the garden and the soldiers collapsed.  But He made a choice to limit that power and become a sacrifice for our sins.  As the old hymn says, He could have called 10,000 angels, but He died alone for you and me.

Conclusion

Let’s go back to Paul’s context: Have this mind which was in Christ Jesus.  For us, the way up is the way down.  We must mirror Christ’s humiliation.  We must descend, with Christ, into total humility where everyone is more important than us, where we have been emptied of self, which means emptied of ambitions, selfishness, even self-preservation.  We must be obedient to everything God requires, even to the point of death.  We must recognize that no one is more important than Jesus.  We will be exalted, not above Jesus, but we will live eternally in the presence of God.

This is how you celebrate Christmas.  This is how you embrace the Christmas spirit, because the Christmas spirit is kenosis.  It’s not about you, it’s not about gifts, and it’s not even about family and celebration – it’s about Jesus.