Philippians 2. A Life of Humility. 

1. What is humility? Verses 1-4. 

   1. Humility (KJV uses lowliness), or tapeinophrosune in Greek, refers to an inside-out virtue produced by comparing ourselves to the Lord (rather than to others). This keeps us from self-exalting (self-determining, being self-inflated). For the believer, humility means living in complete dependence on the Lord, i.e. with no reliance on self (the flesh). Humility is possibly a fruit of the Spirit…

   2. Humility is not rejecting compliments or talking poorly of yourself, this is simply an act so others will praise you and is nothing but pride (the opposite of humility). A common way it is phrased is that humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. Going along with this idea, humility can also be used to describe how we should act in service, putting the needs and desires of others above our own (Philippians 2:3-4). 

2. What is unity in Christ? Is unity always a good thing? Verses 1-4. 

   1. Unity is not always a good thing, during WWII there was unity among many Germans over Nazism, in America’s past there was unity around slavery. Unity has been used in terribly negative ways in the past, these are just two examples. 

   2. We have unity in Christ because there is one body (the church of believers), one Spirit (the same Holy Spirit is within all believers), one Lord (Jesus, the Lord of lords), one faith (faith in Christ and the foundational teachings of the church), one baptism (for both Jew and Gentile), and one God (who saves by grace). This comes from Ephesians 4:1-7.

   3. If we all go towards the front door, we will inevitably be closer to one another and unified around a common point. However, if we’re simply told to be unified with one another we will just gather in the middle of our group and end up nowhere near the door. 

      1. The same goes for pursuing Christ. In this example, He is the front door. The more we all go towards Christ, the more we will be unified around Him and all that comes with Him (see point above). However, if we are simply told to be unified then we will just end up in the middle of whoever we are with, not towards Christ (because we are sinful). 

   4. We are called to work together to bring glory to God through the building up of His church, we’ve been given gifts for this very purpose (1 Corinthians 12)! 

   5. This includes being unified around the core doctrines of our faith and united against blatant heresy. Despite John Wesley (a famous Arminian) and George Whitfield (a famous Calvinist) disagreeing on soteriology, among other things, the Lord used them both to call His people to Him.

3. How do unity and humility work together? Verses 1-4. 

   1. Humility leads to unity. If we constantly put ourselves first then we will never have unity. More specifically, if we constantly place more value on anything other than Christ then we will never be unified around Christ Himself. We must be unified around serving Christ above all else. A simple way to think about this is putting God above all, others above ourselves, and ourselves last. 

4. How did Jesus empty Himself? Verses 5-8. 

The study of Christ is called Christology and is a branch of theology that is of the utmost importance as any denial of Christ leads to damnation. This passage deals specifically with the incarnation of Christ. There are many different perspectives on what it means when it says Christ “emptied” Himself. The Greek term for emptied is kenoó, meaning to empty, make void, or be perceived as valueless. 

5. What is the significance of Christ’s humility? Verses 5-8. 

   1. Christ, in His humanity, submitted to the Father’s will (the same divine will that Jesus and the Holy Spirit have). He did not have to do this, He could’ve stayed in heaven and not taken on the form of a man, never lived a sinless life on earth, never died for His people, and He would still be God. 

      1. Research the debate of “Eternal Subordination of the Son” for more on the relationship between the Father and Son

         1. Is the Son of God Eternally Subordinate to the Father?

   2. Yet, because of the great love with which He loves us, the great love for bringing glory to the Father, Jesus did all of this. He died for those who hated Him. 

      1. Do you realize how deep the need to glorify God is? Do you realize how deep God’s love for you is?

6. What is the significance of Christ’s exaltation? Verses 9-11.

   1. We need to realize that Christ is Lord whether or not someone confesses Him as such. If you have someone come up to you while you’re sitting in a chair to tell you that it’s not a chair, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a chair. HOW MUCH MORE IS IT THAT JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE DOESN’T CONFESS CHRIST AS LORD DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT HE IS LORD OF LORDS!

      1. Christ has been highly exalted, or huperupsoó in Greek, meaning that He has been elevated beyond any, He has been made exceedingly high, He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. There will come a day when people will not have the choice to confess Him as Lord, they will be forced to.  UNDER THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE WILL BOW AND EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS THAT HE IS LORD! 

   2. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:11-16), He is currently interceding (Romans 8:34) and advocating for us to the Father (1 John 2:1-6), and He will return one day in judgment of the world (Matthew 25:31-46) and bring us to glory in His presence (Revelation 21-22). 

7. What does it mean to work out your salvation? Verses 12-13. 

   1. We know we don’t earn our salvation through good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), yet we know good works are a necessary byproduct of saving faith (James 2:14-26), so this concept of “working out our salvation” can be quite confusing to many. 

   2. Righteous, or dikaios in Greek, means to be justified in the eyes of God. To be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, to be holy. Justification, or dikaiósis in Greek, is almost identical and means to be pronounced as righteous. Therefore, if our justification is based on our works we will never be justified, but by the blood of Christ we are made right with God. This can also be referred to as positional sanctification or salvation, which cannot be improved upon. 

   3. What Paul is saying is that because of our positional sanctification we are to pursue God and grow in our progressive sanctification, which refers to how we are continually being conformed to the image of Christ!

   4. The Romans Catholic church defines justification as the following: 

      1. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.” 

         1. Catholic Catechism Part 3, Sect. 1, Ch. 3, Art. 2.1. Also Pt. 1989. 

            1. Using this definition of justification, we would need to be made right with God through our own actions and not the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus! Heresy. The Catholic church DOES NOT preach the true gospel. 

8. What is the significance of complaining? Verses 14-16. 

   1. Grumbling, or goggusmos in Greek, refers to murmuring or muttering in the context of a secret debate. In modern times we call this gossip. 

   2. Disputing, or dialogismos in Greek, refers to the evil thoughts we have of others. 

   3. Putting these together it is clear Paul is saying how we are not only to cut out gossip towards others, we are to cut out the evil thoughts we have towards others. As always, the issue goes straight to the heart and not simply our external actions. Genuinely, what is the point of either of these things? How does gossip and slander and malicious thinking towards others glorify God? It doesn’t. 

   4. This goes directly back to verses 15-18 of chapter 1 and the envy that others had towards Paul which is almost certain to have led to his death as they abandoned him during his trial. Do not fall into the worldly practice of gossiping about others. 

      1. How often do you gossip and slander others?

      2. How often do you have evil thoughts about others? 

9. What is a drink offering and why should we rejoice in being one? Verse 17-18.

   1. The first time a drink offering, or necek in Hebrew (64 occurrences in the OT), is mentioned is Genesis 35:14 right after God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. 

   2. The phrase “I am to be poured out as a drink offering” comes from the Greek spendó, which symbolizes total surrender, even unto death! Another way of looking at this is the outpouring of one’s life blood in service and suffering. 

      1. Here, Paul is referring to the potential of him being martyred for his service to Christ, which later came to pass. 

   3. A key passage for this is Romans 12:1-2. We are to yearn to know God more and serve Him with every breath He has given us! 

      1. TO LIVE IS CHRIST! TO DIE IS GAIN!

   4. This passage is not dealing with the Lord’s Supper as a physical drink offering, but of our lives being living sacrifices to Christ, which the Catholic church is sadly mistaken on in their belief that the sacrifice of Christ is made present again during the Eucharist and grants the forgiveness of daily sins. - Catholic Catechism Part 2, Sect. 2, Ch. 1, Art. 3. Also Pt. 1365-1366.

10. What is our motivation to imitate Christ and serve Him? Verses 5-8. 

    1. Literally the gospel. Read Romans 6.

       1. Because of what Christ has done and the Holy Spirit regenerating us we now desire to serve Him. 

11. What is our motivation to pursue a lifestyle of humility and unity with other believers? Verses 19-30. 

    1. The same thing. The gospel. Read Ephesians 2:1-10. 

       1. We are to follow the example of Christ. 

12. What are three massive points in Philippians 2? Verses 1-30. 

    1. Joy in our humility as modeled by Christ. 

    2. Joy in our unity with other believers under Christ. 

    3. Joy in our fellowship with other believers around Christ. 

13. Resources: 

    1. ESV Study Bible (ESB). Crossway. 

    2. ESV Reformation Study Bible (RSB). R.C. Sproul. 

    3. CSB Spurgeon Study Bible (CSB). Lifeway. 

    4. The MacArthur Bible Commentary John MacArthur. 

    5. Enduring Word Bible Commentary David Guzik. 

    6. Philippians Commentary R. Kent Hughes. 

    7. The Institutes Of The Christian Religion John Calvin. 

    8. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth John MacArthur. 

    9. Philippians: An Introduction and Commentary Ralph P. Martin. 

    10. Layman's Bible Book Commentary Malcolm O. Tolbert. 

    11. American Gospel: Christ Alone Brandon Kimber. 

    12. What is the purpose of Jesus interceding for us in Heaven? Got Questions. 

    13. Christ Will Come to Judge Brian Tabb. 

    14. What does it mean to work out salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)? Got Questions. 

14. Sermons: 

    1. Philippians, Vol. 01 (1:1-2:2) 

    2. Philippians, Vol. 02 (2:2-18) 

    3. Philippians, Vol. 03 (2:19-3:21)