Grasping the Incarnation
Philippians 2:5-8 is a profound meditation on the significance of what happened on the first Christmas—the Incarnation. Christ did not think equality with God something (I would translate) “to cling to,” but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant and being obedient even to death on the Cross. This statement, though, is not the main point of the passage; it is there in support of Paul’s exhortation in verse 2 for the Church to be of one mind—which it can only be by having the mindset that Christ had when he made that supreme sacrifice.
Two lessons leap out from this text. First, unity of mind in the Church around its Master, its mission, and its message must be supremely important. (Around anything else, it doesn’t matter at all.) Second, only by having the mind of Christ is such unity possible for naturally selfish and contentious human beings.
How was Christ able to give up so much? The key is in that cryptic word “grasped.” He did not think equality with God something he had to cling to, to hold onto with a death-grip. Why not? Because he was completely secure in the Father’s love.
When we truly have the mind of Christ, we will have the same security, and hence we’ll no longer feel a need to cling to our selfish desires or our egos or even our innocent preferences when they come into conflict with the Church’s mission.
We must meditate on this deeply and often.
Donald T. Williams is Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College. He stays permanently camped out on the borders between serious scholarship and pastoral ministry, between theology and literature, and between Narnia and Middle-Earth. He is the author of fourteen books, including Answers from Aslan: The Enduring Apologetics of C. S. Lewis (DeWard, 2023). He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on bible from the online archives
31.4—July/August 2018
on the Brevity & Theology of Her Recorded Words by Judith Anderson
32.2—March/April 2019
on Preserving Physical & Spiritual Nourishment by Nathanael Devlin
32.3—May/June 2019
on the Implications of Changing the Pater Noster by John M. McCarthy
more from the online archives
30.2—March/April 2017
Our Path to Holiness Runs Straight Through Calvary by Robin Phillips
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
