God’s Word for You

Philippians 2:7b By laying aside his power

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, March 12, 2026

by taking the very nature of a servant, born in human likeness.

Christ came to conquer the enemies of man’s soul: sin, death, and the power of the devil. But he did not come armed and armored like a warrior or champion, or like one of the mighty men of Israel’s days of glory. Instead, he prepared himself in the opposite way, by removing his glory, laying aside or using his powers less fully than he could have, less fully than anyone expected. They looked at him and wondered about his appearance (“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” John 1:46). Christ did not let himself be clothed with armor, or a bronze helmet for his head, or a coat of mail, or a fabulous sword (1 Samuel 17:38-39). Instead, he took the very nature of a servant. Apart from the transfiguration, which was a private matter for just a few to see, he never radiated the glory of God. From birth he was human in every way that people could see. He owned nothing. “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). Even his clothes, such as he had, were divided up between the soldiers who crucified him (John 19:23-24).

He reflected the young David in this, stripping off Saul’s armor, mail, helmet, and even handing back the sword Saul offered him. David used five smooth stones, armed only with staff and sling, and he ran at his opponent (1 Samuel 17:40,48). It might be tempting to allegorize David’s five smooth stones, along with the staff and sling, as the tools used by Christ in his state of humiliation. We could name them: (1) His preaching, (2) his parables, (3) the miracles such as the healings (4) signs such as the feeding of the 5,000, (5) wonders such as subduing demons, along with (6) the staff of his perfect and sinless life, and (7) the unexpected sling of his innocent suffering and death for the sake of man’s sins. But someone might have a different list, and it is best not to allegorize anything in the Scriptures, anyway. So I will return to the simple comparison: Christ setting aside his divine power was similar to David removing Saul’s armor, but Christ sometimes using his power, such as in the miracles, was very much like David reaching into his bag for one of the stones he reserved for himself to use.

Jesus was in fact “born in human likeness.” The word ginomai (γίνομαι) “be, become” has a great many possible translations, all based upon the context. It can substitute for other words meaning “to be” or “begin.” “Born (be, become)” when speaking of Christ is something Paul emphasizes also in Galatians 4:4, “born (γενόμενον) of a woman.” Here we begin to see that sometimes Christ’s humiliation is spoken of in a broader sense (a man on earth) and sometimes in a narrow sense (the God-man choosing not to use his divine powers). For Christ did not become a man in man’s most glorious state, which would be like Adam before the fall, but in the state of a man subject to the crosses laid on him by sin. Therefore Christ grew tired and had to sleep. His capacity for strength failed at times. He chose, not just once, but constantly and daily, to be a weakened human in human likeness. The temptations that Satan brought were not only challenging on account of Christ’s human nature, but his choice not to use his divine powers, a choice that was continuous throughout his life and ministry.

Martin Chemnitz explains: “These infirmities with which our nature is burdened because of sin [he chose to endure] to be like the rest of men, even though his flesh, since it was without sin, could have been free from and immune to these things” (The Two Natures of Christ, 54).

Why? He did it to rescue when he himself did not need rescuing, and he only imperiled himself by rescuing. This is demonstrated or foreshadowed imperfectly in the acts of some of the Old Testament heroes of faith, but infinitely greater in Christ. One thinks of Jonathan endangering himself to save David. Or Abraham, charging off with a couple of hundred armed servants to attack Kedorlaomer and rescue Lot and the other captives. And then there is Esther, “perfect in faith, who exposed herself to danger that she might deliver the twelve tribes of Israel when they were on the verge of destruction. For with fasting and humiliation she sought the all-seeing Master, God of the Ages, and seeing the humility of her soul, he rescued the people for whose sake she had faced peril.”

Almost thirty years ago, a Lutheran pastor from Finland joined my Seminary class to learn about our Wisconsin Synod and to prepare for joining us in fellowship. Today that pastor is the President of the Lutheran Confessional Church—Finland. A few years ago, this marvelous pastor, Juhani Viitala and I corresponded about this part of Philippians. He said:

“Christ was really God, but he graciously took the human nature to become one of us. Although he was God and a human being at the same time, he refrained from using his great, divine power. This humiliation was necessary, for if Jesus had not refrained from using his divine power, his enemies could not have captured and killed him. This way he became our perfect substitute, who fulfilled the law for us and died in our place on the cross. This way Jesus carried out God’s plan to save sinful mankind. How can we ever understand this self-giving, self-sacrificing humble servant?”

Christ for us. To quote Walt Whitman, “O heart, heart, heart!” His compassion overwhelms our understanding. His love drowns our sorrows and our grief. His sacrifice completely obliterates the record of our sins. He gave himself for us. For me. For you. He did it as a servant; as a human. Augustine said: “It was this ‘form of a servant’ which he offered; it was in this form that he was the victim, since it is ‘in the form of a servant’ that he is the Mediator, Priest and Sacrifice.” (City of God 10:6).

On behalf of sinners, Christ chose to be punished for sins he had not committed by the wrath of God which he did not deserve. The Son of God became a very real human being to die a terribly real death by crucifixion on account of my sins. This is the God we worship and praise. The God that you and I and my old friend Pastor Viitala worship and praise. Forever.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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