The Humiliation and Exalation of Jesus from Philippians 2

The sermon yesterday was an exposition of Philippians 2:1–13. In this passage, Paul commands the Philippians to put off selfish ambition and conceitedness-- two things that would destroy the unity Paul sought for the Philippians in Philippians 1:27–30-- and to instead share the same attitude, the same love, and humbly consider others as more important than one's own interests.

Perhaps for the purpose of motivation, or perhaps for instructional purposes, Paul points to the ministry of Jesus as the example they should follow. In six sweeping verses, Paul moves from a picture of Jesus at the beginning of time to a picture of Jesus at the end of time; however, it's the middle verses that highlight the selfless, sacrificial service that Christ performed on behalf of those he would redeem. The following diagram-- my personal adaptation of the diagram formed in the ESV Study Bible-- illustrates the movement of Jesus from the glories of heaven to the agonies of earth to his final exaltation by the Father. 

 

Please excuse the mild pixelation and formatting issues that arose when I posted online. The diagram did not translated as smoothly as I had hoped.

Union with Christ

"In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead" (Colossians 2:11-12, ESV). 

Paul instructs Christians that, in Christ, Christians have been “…circumcised with a circumcision made without hands…” Until the appearance of the incarnate Christ, Jesus, circumcision had stood as the covenant marker, the identification badge, of God’s people. Yet, the Old Testament was clear that circumcision of male children was a physical sign of a spiritual reality (c.f. Deuteronomy 10:16, ‘circumcise the foreskin of your heart’), whereby God was calling a people unto himself. In other words, circumcision served as a reminder that God was at work establishing a community of people that would faithfully love, serve, and worship him, thereby living out the intended purpose of humanity.  With the coming of Christ, the sign of circumcision gave way to a new covenant marker, a new “circumcision”. No longer will the people of God be identified by the removal of flesh, but the removal of our old lives that stood in opposition to God.

Colossians 2:11b identifies the means of this new circumcision. God, the agent who performs the circumcision (indicated by the expression “…made without [human] hands…”), has marked believers as his possession “…by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ”. While commentators have disputed whether the circumcision of Christ is a metaphor for “the conquering of the power of sin that takes place when a person comes to Christ” (Moo, 200) or a metaphor of Christ’s crucifixion (O’Brien, 117), the second option preserves a pattern that is critical to the message preached by the apostles.

This pattern is the proclamation that Jesus Christ was crucified until dead, buried in a tomb, and raised by God from the dead. This three-point sermon—that Christ (1) died (2) was buried and (3) was raised from the dead—was the pounding heartbeat of the disciples’ basic gospel proclamation (see the matters of first importance in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; see also Romans 6:3-7 and Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2).

If the circumcision of Christ is taken to refer to his violent death then Colossians 2:11-12 is a clear articulation of this theological pattern. By means of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, Christians have been “circumcised”—marked as the people of God—by the power of God. Yet, it is not simply the remote activity of Jesus that marks us, but it is our participation in his death, burial, and resurrection. We are buried with Christ, but we are also raised with Christ (v. 12). Christians do not add in any way to Christ’s sacrifice, but they are united to the one who accomplishes it. It is no distant work of God that we experience, but an intimate one. If, in a real way, we died with Christ and were buried with him, our hope for new life was entirely dependent on the fulfillment of God’s plan to raise us up with Christ. Should the tomb have stayed shut, our hope for new life would have suffocated; but, since God raised Jesus Christ from the grave, we emerge from the grave with new resurrection life.

Our participation in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection is marked “in baptism” and “through faith in the powerful working of God”. Baptism, then, stands as an identity marker that we have, through faith, been united to Christ, in his death and burial, and resurrection. In Christ’s death, our old life is put to death, and we live a new life, the life of Christ in us (O’Brien, 118).

This, of course, has powerful implications. Christ’s death is not merely exemplary! It is real. Praise the Lord that this is so, for his real death resulted in real life, not just for Christ, but also for those in Christ. For us! Those who have been united to Christ’s saving work through faith now really live new lives. Lives that seek to live for God, rather than against him. Lives that seek God’s pleasure and glory, not our own.

So, when Paul says in Colossians 2:11 that in Christ Jesus we have been “circumcised with a circumcision made without [human] hands”, he is saying that Christians have been sealed as God’s people through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ’s work, we can claim none of the promises for God’s people; however, on account of his work—and our union with him—we can claim each promise as our own. 

We Preached Christ Crucified by D.A. Carson

Don Carson, preaching 1 Corinthians 15:1-19, gives a really edifying summary of the gospel. He sets out the gospel in "eight words, five sentences, and an eclectic summary." The summary was so helpful that I have created a summary of the talk in hopes of enticing readers to listen to the full sermon here. 

Eight Words 

1. The gospel is christological. The gospel is Christ-centered. The gospel is not bland theism, nor is it impersonal pantheism. "The gospel is not preached if Christ is not preached." The gospel focuses not just on Christ's person, but on his death as well.
2. The gospel is theological. The gospel is God-centered. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. God sent his Son to be the Savior. It is not as though the Father and the Son are at odds. The cross and the resurrection are bound up with Christ and with the Father. It is also theological in the sense that the gospel deals with God's wrath against sin. Sin is against God and as a result the gospel addresses judgment. We require God's forgiveness.
3. The gospel is biblical. Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.
4. The gospel is apostolic. The gospel is relayed to all Christians by the witness and testimony of the apostles.
5. The gospel is historical. The cross and the resurrection are inseparably tied together in history. While the credibility of other religions (i.e. Buddhism) depends on philosophical concepts, the credibility of the Gospel is entirely contingent upon historical facticity of the death and resurrection of Christ. If Jesus lives in your heart but not in history, all is lost. 
6. The gospel is personal. The gospel is not only theological and historical events, but it sets out the way of personal salvation. Any gospel that isn't also personal is nothing more than interesting history.
7. The gospel is universal. The gospel has a comprehensive vision of salvation (this does not mean that everyone will be saved). The gospel offers the hope of redemption to every culture and corner of creation.
8. The gospel is eschatological. The gospel is bound up with the "last things". The gospel saves us now and it also prepares us for the new heaven and the new earth. The gospel is also eschatological in the sense that the verdict we shall receive at the end of time is pronounced on Christians already, "Not guilty."

Five Sentences 

1. The gospel is normally disseminated by proclamation (1 Cor. 15:11). 
2. This gospel is fruitfully received in authentic, persevering faith (1 Cor. 15:11). 
3. The gospel is properly disclosed in personal self-humiliation (1 Cor. 15:8).
4. This gospel is rightly asserted to be the central confession of the whole Church. 
5. This gospel boldly advances under the contested reign and the inevitable victory of King Jesus.

Eclectic Summary: The gospel has an important propositional or cognitive material (the "news" of the Good News has an important cognitive element). Yet, while we are saved by faith alone, genuine faith does not exist alone. It is always accompanied by a changed life.

The preceding chapters of 1 Corinthians 1-14 are a discussion of the transformative power of God, whereby lives are changed, holiness is exemplified, and the gospel is lived out. The gospel is the transformative power of God.

The Conspiracy of Powers

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. 

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb (Matthew 27:62-28:1 ESV).

In preparation for Easter I started thinking about this small story in Matthew 27. It's a small story with a big point. The previous day (Friday) the Pharisees have crucified Jesus. Joseph, a rich man and a disciple of Jesus, takes Jesus' dead body and buries it in his own tomb. The chief priests and Pharisees, however, cannot rest easy, despite the fact that the body is buried in Joseph's tomb. So, on the religious leaders-- those who claim to have the deepest respect for the law-- go out on the Sabbath and visit the Roman governor (an unclean gentile!). Clearly, the Pharisees are are still worried about the buried Jesus and his disciples. 

The Pharisees walk into the courtyard of Pilate and stand before him. Matthew writes that they addressed Pilate, "Sir" or "Lord". In Matthew's gospel, the title "Lord" is used mostly to refer to Jesus, who is called "Lord" (34 times the vocative "Lord" is used; seven are used in a generic sense, while the rest refer to Jesus or the Father). Here, the religious leaders further demonstrate their rejection of the their true "Lord" in favor of the Romans. It is a double act of treason-- an act of treason against God that is made more blatant by their betrayal of their own national identity. 

This story reveals the conspiracy of powers that is taking place. The gospel accounts are littered with stories that reveal the efforts of the Pharisees to silence Jesus. From the seashores of Galilee to the buzzing streets of Jerusalem, Jesus and the religious leaders exchanged blows. The Pharisees finally arranged for Jesus' death on a Roman cross. Yet, they were not satisfied that this had sealed their victory and so they approached Pilate, seeking a Roman guard to protect the tomb from any followers of Jesus who might attempt to make off with the crucified corpse. The Jewish leaders sought to silence the Jesus talk once and for all. 

The quest to thwart God's plan of redemption is depicted throughout the Gospels, "A major theme in both the infancy narratives and here (in Matthew 27-28) is the desire of God's enemies to thwart his will and the actions they undertake to stand against him" (Grant Osborne, Matthew: Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010], 1058).  In Matthew 2, earthly powers (namely, King Herod) sought to destroy Jesus, the King of the Jews; now, in Matthew 27, the Jewish leaders seek to kibosh the Jesus movement. They remembered Jesus' prophecy that he would die and rise in three days-- and while they did not believe it-- they sought to allow no grounds for anyone else to believe it either. 

Matthew's retelling of the story builds the tension. It is a showdown between the earthly powers, who all along had sought to silence Jesus, and the power of God to redeem humanity. Will anything happen on the third day? Will the disciples steal the body? Will the dead stay dead? Will nothing happen and Jesus, and all those who had followed him, be proven foolish? 

"All the earthly powers are working in concert to thwart the will of God," writes one commentator (Ibid., 1060), but surely all are put to shame. For Matthew provides us with the rest of the story: an angel descended, the earth quaked, the soldiers are trembled, the stone was rolled back, and the tomb was empty. Christ lives! He was risen! The power of death could not hold him and the powers of the earth could not silence him. God's power to save sinners-- to save us!--cannot be defeated, thwarted, or foiled. Hallelujah! The risen and victorious Christ Reigns!

The Bleeding Christ

In this season of Lent, William Gurnall (a solid English Puritan) provides us with excellent words about the work of Jesus: 

Faith finds that Christ has made full payment to the justice of God having poured out his blood to death upon the cross. All of his previous acts of humiliation were but preparatory for this. He was born to die; he was sent into the world as a lamb bound with the bonds of an irreversible decree of sacrifice. 

Jesus' was the Suffering Servant, who did not come to be served, but to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). 

Without this [namely, his sacrificial death], all he had done would have been labour undone. There is no redemption but by his blood. Christ did not redeem and save poor souls by sitting in majesty on his heavenly throne, but by hanging on the shameful cross, under the tormenting hand of man's fury and God's just wrath. 

Jesus died so that he could save us from the wrath of God that sinners deserve. God's justice demanded that the penalty be paid, but God's love offered his Son, Jesus, to bear that penalty. His work for us is not a cheap thing. Christ's work for us was not a trifle enacted by a mere turn of a royal hand, but a work of suffering accomplished through pierced hands. 

And therefore, the poor soul that would have pardon of sin, is directed to place its faith not only on Christ, but on a bleeding Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood (Rom. 3:25).

The work Christ accomplished, which the Easter season draws particular attention to, is one that beckons us to place our hopes for today and tomorrow in his scarred hands. The bleeding Christ, the Slain Lamb, who was also resurrected, bids us now to trust in the sufficiency of his suffering for us. 

William Gurnall, Works, 11:3-6; quoted in Richard Rushing, Voices from the Past, 85. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2009).