(44) Steering Clear of Error

[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. (Philippians 2:6-7 NAU)

Let me go back for a moment and deal with some of the error that has come out of this passage. One error is stating that Jesus actually emptied Himself or gave up some of His divine attributes when He took on humanity. This must be rejected. If He gave up any attribute of deity, He would have ceased to be fully God. In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 2:9).

Again, the explanation of William MacDonald is right on the mark:The

Lord Jesus did not lay aside any of the attributes of God when He came into the world. He was still omniscient (all-knowing). He was still omnipresent (present in all places at one and the same time). He was still omnipotent (all powerful). What He did was to empty Himself of His positional equality with God and to veil the glory of Deity in a body of human flesh. The glory was all there, though hidden, but it did shine forth on occasions, such as on the Mount of Transfiguration. There was no moment in His life on earth when He did not possess all the attributes of God.

Jesus was not limited by His humanity, He limited Himself or chose to act within His humanity. For a period of time, Jesus chose to limit Himself to act within the confines of human existence.

Neither Christ's divinity, nor His Divine attributes, nor the use of those attributes, nor His glory, was in any way emptied. Rather, these were "concealed under a veil of flesh." There is a distinct difference between emptying and concealing. The answer is that Jesus cooperated with the limitations of humanity and voluntarily did not exercise His attribute of omniscience. He still was divine but was moving and living completely as a man. – Matthew J. Slick

Jesus chose to act within the limitations of humanity in cooperation with the Father and the Spirit. The incarnation and the Kenosis of Philippians two is not focused primarily on Jesus giving up anything of deity, but rather, on His taking on humanity and servant-hood.

One of my favorite theologians is Millard Erickson. He does an excellent job of helping us understand this more clearly.

Picture the following analogy. The world’s fastest sprinter enters in a three-legged race, where he must run with one of his legs tied to a leg of a partner. Although his physical ability is not diminished, the conditions under which he exercises it are severely circumscribed. Even if his partner in the race is the world’s second fastest sprinter, their time will be much slower than if they competed separately; for that matter it will be slower than the time of almost any other human running normally. Ability is not in essence diminished, but the conditions imposed on its exercise limit actual performance.

This is the situation of the incarnate Christ. Just as the runner could unloose the tie, but chooses to restrict himself for the duration of the event, so Christ’s incarnation was a voluntary self-chosen limitation. He did not have to take on humanity, but he chose to do so for the period of the incarnation. During that time his deity always functioned in connection with his humanity.

Next: (45) Deity in Humanity