The Kenosis

We’ve spent a lot of time making the case that Jesus is God. But, even though He was God, He didn’t think He needed to cling to the privileges of Godhood. He was willing to hold them loosely, which allowed Him to come to earth on His mission of redemption. Rather than grasping at His position and prestige, He was willing to forgo it all. Philippians 2:7 says: “But [He] made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”

The word, “but,” means: “not this but that.” It means: not grasping and clinging to all the perks and privileges of Godhood; but becoming a servant. When the King James translates it as, “But made Himself of no reputation,” we can understand it. It seems to fit what Jesus did. And it certainly would have been a good example for us to follow. But it fails to convey the expansive meaning and power of what Christ really did.

What did Jesus do? He emptied Himself of the prerogatives of His deity. The word used here in Greek is “kenoo,” and it is often translated as “emptied.” That Greek word gives us the title of the doctrine of Kenosis, or the emptying of Christ at His incarnation.

But what did he empty Himself of? Certainly not His deity. He never ceased to be God; that was made clear in the last verse. Had He ceased being God, He could not have died for the sins of the world. The great Lutheran commentator, R.C.H. Lenski wrote, “Even in the midst of His death, He had to be the mighty God in order by His death to conquer death.”

So what did He empty Himself of? Quoting John MacArthur, what Jesus did was to empty Himself “completely of every vestige of advantage and privilege, refusing to assert any divine right of His own behalf. He who created and owned everything forsook everything.” He did not ever cease to be God, He simply refused to use the prerogatives of God for His own benefit.

This is an issue that so many get wrong. Even one of my favorite hymns, “And Can It Be” by Charles Wesley, states, “Emptied Himself of all but love.” It sounds nice, but it is untrue. He did empty Himself because of love, but He never ceased being God.

What did He empty Himself of? Certainly not His power, or He couldn’t have performed all those miracles like walking on water, calming the storm, feeding the thousands, casting out demons, or healing every manner of disease, and raising the dead. Certainly not His omniscience, or he would not have been able to read men’s thoughts and hearts, or see the demons hiding within people. But He never exercised any of that apart from the will of His Father.

What else He emptied himself of was the divine glory of heaven, not His godhood. He appeared to be a regular person. He displayed no Shekinah glow or halo. Those pictures of Him with a halo are pure fabrication. He was totally indistinguishable by His appearance.

Also, He refused to act independent of His heavenly Father. He never acted on His own authority or desire. In John 5:30, Jesus told us: “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

In John 6:38, He said: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

Jesus gave up the riches of heaven and the close face to face fellowship with His father all to come to earth and become a man, living without privilege and rank. He took upon Himself the “form of a bondservant.” His forever “form,” essence, morphe, was as God. But, He took upon Himself the “form,” the morphe, the essence, of a doulos - a bondservant. Totally, completely, and voluntarily, He placed Himself into the hands of His Master, His Father God. He owned not even the clothes on His back as a bondservant. It says in Matthew 8:20: “And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head’.” Jesus lived His life as a servant. Read any of the Gospels, and you see this. Jesus always serves others, not the other way around.

But that was why He had come. As He said Himself, in Matthew 20:28, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

This is what we are called upon to do as well. We are to submit ourselves totally to God so that we can serve one another. This is why we were urged to have the mind of Christ back in verse 5. It only happens when we, like Christ, make the choice to give up the right to be in charge. It is then that we become available to God having no rights in ourselves. Then we can lose the fear of being stepped on and manipulated and taken advantage of by others. And isn’t that what we fear? But what joy comes when we submit to God and serve those He asks to serve rather than taking upon ourselves the right to determine who we pick to serve and when. What pride that is. Christ asks us to be bondservants to God, just like His own Son Jesus.