On the Incarnation: Avoiding Heresy and Pursuing Humility | the Cripplegate

…Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a bond-servant,
and being made in the likeness of men.
- Philippians 2:6–7 -

 

That phrase, “He emptied Himself,” is chief among the many issues in this passage that have caused a lot of students of Scripture to stumble in the most unfortunate of ways. “Of what did Christ empty Himself?” so many theologians have asked. And unfortunately, the answers to that question almost always indicate Christ emptied some form of His deity—that in some manner He ceased to be fully God in His incarnation. Some believe that Christ emptied Himself of His essential equality with God, such that during the incarnation He was a true man but limited His deity to such a degree that He was no more than a man. Others believe that Christ retained His “essential attributes” of deity, like holiness and grace, but gave up what they call His “relative attributes,” such as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and immutability. These are examples of what is called “kenotic theology” (from the Greek word kenóō, which is translated “He emptied” here in verse 7).

Avoiding Kenotic Theology
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On the Incarnation: Avoiding Heresy and Pursuing Humility | the Cripplegate