COMMENTARY ON PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11
Finally, instructing them in morals, the Apostle added to the Philippians:
Phil 2:1: "If therefore there is any consolation in Christ…"
"If therefore," that is, since it is so, as I have already said at the end of the preceding chapter. "If therefore there is any consolation," that is, if any comfort is given to me by you, "in Christ," that is, according to the will and grace of Christ; or, "in Christ," that is, in His worship. "If any solace of charity," that is, proceeding from true love, exists between me and you. "If any fellowship of the spirit," that is, if any union of mind is among us. "If any bowels of mercy are in you," that is, if you are moved by internal affections of piety. "Fulfill my joy," that is, perfect the joy which I have conceived concerning your conversion and progress, by hastening toward true perfection.
Phil 2:2: "That you be of the same mind…"
"That you be of the same mind," that is, that you intellectually sense the same things in all matters which are required for salvation; specifically, that you agree in those things which concern the faith. "Having the same charity," that is, equal charity; namely, infused, spiritual, and general charity. "Being of one accord," that is, united in affection and morals. "Thinking the same thing," that is, agreeing intellectually, or mutually supporting one another's evils.
Phil 2:3: "Do nothing through strife or vain glory…"
"Let nothing be done among you through strife," for where zeal and contention are, there is inconstancy and every evil work, according to the sentiment of blessed James (James 3:16). "Nor through vain glory," that is, arising from vain glory, or for the sake of fame, honor, or secular glory, as has been said elsewhere. Do not become desirous of vain glory. These vices usually reign in the ambitious and are born from pride. Moreover, how grave a sin vain glory is, is clear from that which the Savior said: "How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" (John 5:44).
"But in humility," "esteeming others superior to themselves," that is, out of humility, let each one think himself viler than another, considering his own sins rather than those of others; or considering himself according to what he is in himself and from himself. For although one may be absolutely better and superior to another in speech, nevertheless each one can truly humble himself under another and judge himself more unworthy, according to some consideration of himself and the other.
"Not looking to one's own interests, but also to those of others," that is, if each one of you desires to avoid contention and vain glory, and to esteem others better than himself, let him not weigh only his own virtues and excellences, nor seek only his own advantages, but let him consider the good and seek the advantages of others. For charity "does not seek its own" (1 Cor 13:5). However, a man can and ought in the meantime to consider the gifts divinely bestowed upon him, so that he may be grateful to God. According to that word: "We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we may know the things that are given to us by God" (1 Cor 2:12). Whence the God-bearing Virgin professes: "Because He who is mighty has done great things to me" (Luke 1:49).
Phil 2:5: "Let this mind be in you…"
Furthermore, the Apostle exhorts them to the imitation of these virtues by the example of Christ. "Let this mind be in you," that is, let this be turned over in your hearts, and let your soul sense this within itself. "Which was also in Christ Jesus," that is, which Christ as man sensed within Himself; inasmuch as Christ sought not the things that were His own, but those of others. And just as He was within Himself most humble and most patient, according to what He said to the disciples: "I am in your midst as one who serves" (Luke 22:27), so also should you seek the advantages of others, and be truly patient and humble in your hearts, not feignedly like hypocrites. For "there is one who humbles himself wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit" (Ecclus 19:23).
Phil 2:6: "Who being in the form of God…"
"Who," that is, Christ, "being in the form of God," that is, having true divinity, or being of one essence with the Father, according to what He said: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). "Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped," that is, by sensing and asserting Himself to be equal to God, He did not usurp nor ascribe to Himself what was not His, because He truly was so, as He asserted. Therefore, He did not commit robbery by calling Himself true God, because He ascribed nothing alien to Himself, just as Lucifer, saying "I will be like the Most High" (Isa 14:14), attempted to commit robbery. Therefore, for Christ, to be equal to God is not robbery, but nature; co-eternal and consubstantial. Because of this He said: "All things whatsoever the Father has, are mine" (John 16:15). And elsewhere: "That which the Father has given me is greater than all" (John 10:29). This is the divine essence, which the Father wholly poured into the Son.
Phil 2:7: "But emptied Himself…"
"But He emptied Himself," that is, He humbled Himself vehemently. "Taking the form of a servant," that is, assuming human and servile nature in personal unity, so that the assumed nature is united to the Word immediately, and in that personal subject is joined immediately to the Word, just as flesh is joined to the soul. "Made in the likeness of men," that is, assimilated or made similar to other men, by assuming non-detractable defects, namely penalities, not vices. For He was mortal and passible. Whence the Apostle says to the Hebrews: "He ought in all things to be made like to His brethren" (Heb 2:17).
"And in habit found as a man," that is, by the habit of His conversation, He was truly made known. "As a man," for He drank, ate, sat, slept, like others. By which things it was evident that He was truly man. Therefore it is written by the Prophet Baruch: "Afterwards He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men" (Baruch 3:38). And by Isaiah: "He shall eat butter and honey" (Isa 7:15). Or thus: by "habit," that is, in human nature, by the habits of morals or the assumption of clothing, He was found to be a man, not apparently but really, just as John testifies: "We saw His glory, the glory as it were of the Only Begotten of the Father" (John 1:14). Finally, human nature stands to the Word as a garment to a man. For just as a garment is put on and taken off without change to the substantial being of the man (so that the man subsists as a man, whether he puts it on or not), so the Word assumed human nature without any change to His divine being, and could exist without human nature, without which we cannot exist.
Phil 2:8: "He humbled Himself…"
"He humbled Himself," not only in the Incarnation, but in His whole conversation in this world, from the beginning even to the end, as Pope Leo testifies: "The whole discipline of Christian wisdom consists not in abundance of speech, nor in cunning of disputation, nor in appetite for praise and glory, but in true and voluntary humility, which the Lord Jesus from the womb of His mother even to the suffering of the cross, chose and taught for all strength." And again he says: "The whole victory of the Savior, which overcame both the devil and the world, was conceived in humility, completed in humility."
"Becoming obedient to the Father," "unto death," not just any death, but a most shameful, most horrible, and most bitter one, as is subjoined: "Even the death of the cross." For the death of those crucified is most grievous, because they are transfixed in nervous places. Moreover, Christ was suspended between thieves, and with His whole body stretched by a most violent expansion, so much so that He says: "They have numbered all my bones" (Ps 21:17). Concerning this obedience the Savior said: "As the Father gave me commandment, so I do" (John 14:31). Moreover, He obeyed the Father unto death inclusively, not because the Father exacted death from Him as some debt (according to Anselm), since death is the penalty of fault, which was not in Christ; but because, the Father commanding, He observed justice in word and work by rebuking the Jews, from which arose the Jews' envy against Christ, from which envy furthermore followed the killing of Christ. Likewise, by this He obeyed the Father even unto the death of the cross, because just as the Father decreed to redeem the world through Christ's passion, so Christ most promptly executed it. Because of this He said Himself: "I have finished the work which You gave me to do" (John 17:4). And elsewhere: "Father, if this chalice may not pass away but I drink it, let Your will be done" (Matt 26:42).
Phil 2:9: "For which cause God also exalted Him…"
"For which cause," that is, by the merit of this passion and obedience, "God," that is, the Father or the Trinity, "exalted Him," that is, He sublimated Christ in various and many ways: namely, in the Resurrection, by giving Him a glorified body, such as He did not have before the passion; in the Ascension, by constituting Him at His right hand, where before, according to human nature, He did not sit; in the preaching of the Gospel also, throughout the whole world, through which Christ was exalted in the hearts of men receiving the faith. So also according to the divine nature He was exalted, as far as the manifestation made to men. By miracles also God exalted Christ, as Peter said in the Acts concerning the man born lame: "The God of our fathers has glorified His Son Jesus" (Acts 3:13). For this exaltation Christ prayed when the passion was imminent, saying: "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son" (John 17:1).
Moreover, all things which pertain to the glorification of Christ's body and His accidental reward, He merited by His humility, obedience, and passion, although even from other causes these were due to Him: namely, because from the first instant of the Incarnation He was glorious and happy in His soul, which beatitude would have overflowed into the body unless it had been delayed by divine dispensation. And likewise, because according to body and soul He was united to the Word by hypostatic union, by reason of which exaltation above every creature was due to Him. Therefore, God exalted Christ on account of the passion and obedience.
"And gave Him a name which is above every name," that is, He imposed the name of God upon Christ. For through the grace of union, it was given to Christ as man to be and to be called true God, which is indeed a super-exalted name and a word of infinite dignity. Moreover, this name was given to Christ from the beginning of His Incarnation, but after the Resurrection it is said to have been given because it was then manifested to have been given. According to which sense the Lord said after the Resurrection: "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth" (Matt 28:18), which power indeed had been given to Him from the beginning of the Incarnation.
Phil 2:10: "That in the name of Jesus…"
"That in the name of Jesus," that is, for the reverence of Christ, sublimated by so great a name, "every knee should bow," that is, let every power incline and be subject. "Of those in heaven," that is, of the angels. "Of those on earth," that is, of men. "And of those under the earth," that is, of demons. For Christ filled heaven, redeemed the world, and despoiled hell.
Phil 2:11: "And every tongue confess…"
"And every tongue," corporal and spiritual; the spiritual tongue also of angels and demons, "confess," spontaneously or coercedly. For "demons believe and tremble" (James 2:19). "That the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father," that is, in the beatitude of God the Father. For according to the divinity of Christ, the glory of the Father and the Son is one, which is the divine essence. But according to humanity, Christ is said to be in the glory of the Father, that is, in His greater goods. According to that word: "The Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19). In the Greek it is read: "Unto the glory of God the Father," namely, let all confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, which indeed redounds to the glory of God the Father.
CONTINUE
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