"Paul's Letter to the Philippians — That Mind Which is Above All Minds — Part 2”

We finish today our study of Paul’s foundational exhortation of this letter, his reference to Christ’s mind-set in heaven just before the event of the incarnation.  While the plan of redemption had been established in eternity past at that great council of the members of the Trinity, that plan had not involved the pre-incarnate son of God except in some “theophanies” or manifestations as recorded in the Old Testament.  Many prophecies regarding “the seed of the woman”, however, so essential to that plan, required the Incarnation of the Son of God.  The mind-set of the second person of the Trinity before his Incarnation is the basis for the exhortation found in chapter 2 of this letter, as we have seen.  There is found in this chapter a seven-fold enumeration of Christ’s “emptying” as the basis for this great exhortation.  That enumeration will be later paralleled in chapter 3 as Paul’s own “emptying” is seen there to be also seven-fold.  We will look at that today.  In this section of this letter the apostle reaches one of the most powerful statements of Christ’s heavenly will as he in love and perfect submission “leaps” into human history to ultimately become our perfect sacrifice for sin and our glorious resurrected savior.