Hail the Heav’n-born Prince of Peace
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and Life around he brings,
Ris’n with Healing in his Wings.
Mild he lays his Glory by,
Born that Men no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of Earth,
Born to give them second Birth.
Hark the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King.”
—Charles Wesley—
He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
—Jesus, in Luke 18:9-14—
Key point: If, in reflecting on Christ’s coming at Christmas, we consider only what Jesus has done for us without also reflecting on how we ought to respond to Him, we have missed the main point of why He came.
A Bible passage we don’t often associate with the Christmas story, but should, is Philippians 2:5-11. The apostle Paul wrote,
2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Greek word translated humbled in verse 8 is, of course, an important word. The word is ταπεινόω, and it is transliterated tapeinoō. It means “to abase, to assign a lower rank or place to.” The term appears 13 additional times in the New Testament, in 10 other verses. Here are the instances in which it is represented in the New King James Version, inclusive of Philippians 2:8. These appearances of the word will give you a flavor for its meaning in in various contexts, and why it was such an appropriate word for Paul to have used in Philippians 2:8.
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- Matthew 18:4 — Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 23:12 — And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
- Luke 3:5 — Every valley shall be filled
And every mountain and hill [shall be] brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough ways smooth…. - Luke 14:11 — For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Luke 18:14 — I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
- 2 Corinthians 11:7 — Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?
- 2 Corinthians 12:21 — lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.
- Philippians 2:8 — And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
- Philippians 4:12 — I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
- James 4:10 —Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
- 1 Peter 5:6 —Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time….
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Why Jesus Came
In Philippians 2:8, we see that Jesus’ humbling Himself meant in an ultimate sense that “He…became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Yes, Jesus, who never ceased to be God, took on the limitations of humanity, and He did this for a specific reason. He came to the earth and became a human being, a man, to die. This idea truly is mind-blowing. God’s only Son
lies in the manger for a reason. Because He loves the world, He has come not just to eliminate the peripheral results of man’s fall (though these will be totally removed at His second coming); He is here to cut the nerve of man’s real dilemma, to solve the problem from which all other problems flow. The “condition of man” is not what modern man thinks it is. Man is a sinner who needs an overwhelming love. Jesus has come to save His people from their sins. This is not to say that He has no interest in…other things now, but we must not get the matters reversed—the central thing is central.1
The “condition of man” is not what modern man thinks it is.
—Francis Schaeffer—
The manger, or the arrival of God’s Son into the world, cannot be separated from His crucifixion. Although we didn’t say this explicitly, we highlighted this truth in our most recent Word Foundations post, where I sought to express “The Good News of Christmas…in One 300-Word Paragraph.” The paragraph is available on a single, printable page here.
The emphasis in Philippians 2:8 on Jesus’ humbling Himself, however, isn’t just that He came to earth and died as a man, and a man who, because He was God, never had sinned. It’s also that about 33 years earlier, He who had existed in eternity past became a baby, entering the world just as all other human beings do.
Philippians 2:6-7 expresses what this involved in a general sense: Jesus, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” For Him, this included
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- being conceived by the Holy Spirit inside Mary’s womb and entering her body to develop as a pre-born baby,
- developing and growing as a pre-born, and then
- being born as an infant.
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For all of us, of course, the major difference between Jesus’ entrance into the world and ours is that each one of us has a biological father, whereas Jesus had no biological father (although He did have a human, adopted father in Joseph). Mary gave birth to Jesus without ever having been sexually intimate with any man. Jesus’ mother was a virgin.
Let’s put it another way. Jesus is like us in every way possible. He even entered the world just as has or will every other human being — by birth. At the same time, He still is God, and His being God means certain traits characteristic of ordinary human beings could not and cannot be true of Him. None of us is God. Jesus, however, is!
Jesus is like us in every way possible. He even entered the world just as has or will every other human being — by birth. At the same time, He still is God, and His being God means certain traits characteristic of ordinary human beings could not and cannot be true of Him. None of us is God. Jesus, however, is!
Humility — and Humiliation from Being Misunderstood
Here is the message of Christmas! Jesus left heaven to perform a divine rescue mission. Not just for Jesus, but for Mary and Joseph as well, the step of humility Jesus took, and that God planned for Him to take, meant being greatly misunderstood. In a Christmas post from a year ago, we noted,
Mary’s and Joseph’s journey together [as the couple charged with the responsibility of being Jesus’ parents], as well as their journeys as individuals, would place on them…profound burdens and responsibilities. (You can explore some of these in these two articles.) Of all the burdens they carried, the stigma of illegitimacy, or the assumption made by any that Jesus was born as a result of an affair, seems to me to be among the heaviest. Take note! This wasn’t a burden carried by Mary and Joseph alone. Jesus Himself carried it as well. As we noted in our article about Mary,
Mary was indeed favored by God, but her situation also involved great risk. She was certain to be misunderstood. Pregnancies occur as a result of intimacy between a man and a woman. This was going to be a once-in-history exception—but only Mary and a select few in her life would have to understand this. Of course, Joseph, Mary’s husband-to-be, would have to be one of those select few. Many people never came to understand. Years later, the Pharisees would subtly accuse Jesus of having been conceived illegitimately (see John 8:41; context vv. 31-41).
For your convenience, here is John 8:31-41. Note verse 41 in particular.
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free
37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”
39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You do the deeds of your father.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
Jesus, of course, had the perfect reply. He
42 said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and thedesires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
The Doorway to Earth for Jesus — and to Heaven for Us — Required, and Requires, Humility
We see in the above straightforward statements Jesus made to the Jewish leaders in verses 42-47 that being humble does not mean shying away from the truth. In fact, it was the Jewish leaders’ refusal to accept Jesus’ revelation of truth that was a factor in their decision to work to condemn Him to a cross, where, when He died, He performed the ultimate humble act. Since He was God and never had sinned, Jesus was, in the strictest sense, exempt from death. Therefore, when He died, He died voluntarily. These ideas are clearly reflected and represented in Philippians 2:8.
After Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders in John 8:58, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM,” no one in his right mind could make the case He wasn’t claiming to be God. They would have killed Him then and there, but it wasn’t yet time for Jesus to die: “Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (v. 59).
Of course, Jesus was speaking the truth. Though He was humble and willingly would go to the cross to pay for the sins of humanity, He was God — “a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (KJV) — and would demand recognition of this fact from all who would come to Him for the forgiveness and eternal life He would offer. Humility isn’t weak. We see clearly in this that Jesus was, as the apostle John wrote, “Full of grace and truth.” The two coexist together, and they coexisted perfectly in Jesus Christ!
Receiving Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and eternal life requires humility on our part. Jesus affirmed this in numerous places, including Matthew 18:4 (cited in the bulleted list at the beginning of this article). Here we quote it along with the verse that precedes it. In Matthew 18:3-4, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
—Jesus, in Matthew 18:3-4—
A Bold Humility
Jesus is no hypocrite. He asks of us absolutely nothing He was not willing to do for us Himself. Just as the Lord humbled Himself to leave heaven and be born a helpless baby in Bethlehem, He requires us to humble ourselves and to “become as little children.” Unless we do, we “will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” When we do, we position ourselves to be great in God’s kingdom. As Jesus Himself said in Luke `18:14 (also cited above), “[E]veryone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus is no hypocrite. He asks of us absolutely nothing He was not willing to do for us Himself. Just as the Lord humbled Himself to leave heaven and be born a helpless baby in Bethlehem, He requires us to humble ourselves and to “become as little children.”
It was altogether appropriate, therefore, for the apostle Paul to introduce his discussion of Christ’s humble entrance into the world by saying to the Philippian Christians, and to us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus….” Several years earlier, Paul had written this to the Christians in Rome, where he’d not yet traveled,
So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
It is inescapable that the joyful, good news of Christmas offers a profound challenge to us who are Christ’s followers. Just as Christ humbled Himself for us, so we also must humble ourselves for Him. Don’t be misled. At times this will mean boldly identifying with Him, even in the face of fierce opposition. And why not? He publicly died on a cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. He frequently was misunderstood, as we have seen. Following Him will mean at times that we also will be misunderstood. Remember that Jesus declared,
If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Just as Christ humbled Himself for us, so we also must humble ourselves for Him. At times this will mean boldly identifying with Him, even in the face of fierce opposition.
Denying oneself, taking up a cross, and following Christ necessarily means representing Him faithfully in both love and truth — in a world that desperately needs both. Are you willing to offer yourself in this way as a birthday gift to Christ, who gave of Himself totally for you?
No Christmas gift you could offer Him would please Him more. Of that I’m certain.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
One Scripture portion is designated KJV. It comes from the King James Version.
Copyright © 2021 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Notes:
1Francis Schaeffer, “What Difference Has Looking Made? (A Christmas Study)” No Little People, in The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Vol. 3: A Christian View of Spirituality, (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982) 123-124.
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