Equal With God!

2:6 He existed in the form of God, [having] equality with God

In order to show how Jesus epitomized the spirit of self-sacrifice, Paul briefly runs through His story. The story begins with Jesus as God (the Son) in heaven. But before we consider where things went from that point, let’s stop here and consider Jesus’ equality with God. Paul’s main point in v.6-8 is Christ’s spirit of self-sacrifice. But there is also much here about who Christ was and is.

Equal with God! What an shocking statement! Just the saying of it is awesome. One of the frequent sayings of the OT is that there is no one equal with God (e.g. 2Sam.7:22; 1Chron.17:20; Psalm 86:8). He is the holy One, different from all the others. And yet now Paul comes along saying that there is one who is equal with God. It is shocking! (And it was shocking to the Jews.)

We take the deity of Christ for granted, since we live after twenty centuries of the history of this doctrine in the church. But this is still an offense to many people. Virtually every cult that exists today denies this cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith. And, to be honest, a lot of Christians, though believing that Christ is God, have very little idea why they believe it or how it can be demonstrated from Scripture.

There are four basic kinds of passages in the Bible that work together to compel us to conclude that Jesus is God:

1- passages that ascribe divine titles to Jesus

For example:

Is.9:6 "mighty God"

Mk.1:2-3 (which, in referring to Jesus as Lord, quotes Is.40:3, where "Lord" is clearly a reference to God)

Lk.1:17 (which, in the same way, refers to Jesus as Lord, quoting Mal.3:1 and 4:5, where "Lord" is clearly a reference to God), and in the same vein, Acts 2:21 (which quotes Joel 2:32)

John 8:58 “before Abraham was, I am”

See also Matt.26:63-65.

2- passages that ascribe divine attributes to Jesus

For example:

pre-existence: John 1:1, 17:5; Rev.1:8, 22:13

omnipresence: Matt.28:20; Eph.1:22-23

universal power/authority: Matt.28:18; Eph. 1:22; Col.2:10

self-existence: John 1:14, 5:26

unchangeableness: Heb.13:8, 1:11-12

3- passages that ascribe divine activities to Jesus

For example:

creates: John 1:3; Col.1:16; Heb.1:2

sustains the universe: Col.1:17; Heb.1:3

has authority to forgive sins: Mk.2:5-7; Col.3:13b

receives prayer and worship: Acts 7:59; Matt.28:16-17; John 20:28

has power to raise the dead: John 5:21, 11:25

is the final judge of mankind: Matt.25:31-32; John 5:22,27; 2Cor.5:10; 2Tim.4:1

4- passages that identify or equate Jesus with God

E.g. John 10:26-31 "I and the Father are one."

John 14:8-9 "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father."

Col.2:9 "in Christ all the fullness of God dwells in bodily form"

John 1:1,14 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."

John 20:28 Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

Acts 20:28 "...the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."

Titus 2:13 "our great God and savior, Jesus Christ" (also 2Pet.1:1)

Heb.1:8 But about the Son He [God] says, "Your throne, O God, will last forever."

Add to these what today’s verse (Phil.2:6) says of Jesus: "who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped..."

Let us join with the Bible is declaring Him divine!

NOTE: This small sampling of references was culled from a handy little book called Handbook of Basic Bible Texts , by John Jefferson Davis, and from The Topical Analysis of the Bible , by Walter Elwell.

Lord Jesus Christ, I worship You as the eternal, all-powerful God. Surely there is none like You. You are one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. You existed in glory before the foundation of the world. You are the fullness of God come in the form of a man. Though You are the King of glory, You endured the humiliation of humanness to win my salvation. You are my God and my great Savior. There is nothing more appropriate in the whole world than for me to worship You and praise You, O Jesus. For worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! Amen and amen!

May a day never pass by in the course of which we fail to offer worship to our great God and savior, Jesus Christ!