JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q2. Clinging to Equality with God - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q2. (2:6) In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God? How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine?

Christ was and is and always will be equal with God because He is God. He never ceased to be God, even though He humbled Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant. All the time He walked this earth He was still equal with God the Father.

Christ, being equal with God, has the power to do anything. He could have used His power to bring righteousness to all, eliminate hunger, war and everything evil, rather, He humbled himself and allowed Himself to suffer and die for us. He used His power to endure the evil world, overcome it and redeem us back to God. The passage matter of factly states that He was equal to God, not that He thought He was equal or MAY have been equal. God is divine and Christ,being equal to God., makes Christ divine.

In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God?

I believe this verse shows us that Christ's actions were not about Himself but about the Father's will. He was with God, equal to God, living in perfection, peace, and love. He voluntarily left that existance which always was, even before all that is known today, and assumed a human body and human nature.

Without ceasing to be God, He became a human being, a man called Jesus. I do not believe He gave up His diety to become human, I think He set it aside for a period of time. Remember, He always stated He was about His Father's business. Another point to remember is that He told Pilate, " "You would have no authority over Me at all," Jesus answered him, "if it hadn't been given you from above. This is why the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin." (HCSB)

In submission to the Father's will, Christ limited His power. He was subject to place, time, and many other human experienced limitations. In this form He showed us what perfection and love is. The fact that He let go willingly of His equality and existance with God to do all this models perfect love and obedience to the Father.

How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine?

Webster’s dictionary defines the word divine as: of, relating to, or proceeding directly from God, being a deity, directed to a deity. It also states: supremely good.

If I look at those few words and think about them they seem to fall short. Yet they show the substance of what divine means. Jesus came to us from His perfect existence with the Father, He came by the will of the Father, and He did so willingly. He put aside all His glory and took the form of a human being and subjected Himself to everything we are subject to. The primary difference was He overcame all. He also did so without sin, He also showed love towards His murderers when He asked the Father to forgive them.

He taught us His mind, modeled perfection and love, He healed, He uplifted us and He still influences those who are brought into knowledge of Him today. If you reread the definition of the word divine again you may agree with its meaning, I do.

Q2. (2:6) In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God? How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine?

This is the most beautiful passage in the Word. He chose to put His God stuff aside and to live on this earth as we live on this earth - - experiencing all things we will or would do. To me the temptation during the hurtful, horrible times must have been great, but He chose the suffering to provide the way for us.

He humbled Himself - - so the Father and the Kingdom would be glorified and so we could have eternal life.

The divinity is that He is God - God in man could be the only perfect sacrifice without blemish that could atone once for all. The passage states that He put His Godliness aside - - that makes Him divine.

Lesson 3 Q 2
(a) Christ didn't cling to his equality with God means He did not snatch it for Himself, it was something that was available to Him. Jesus had his equality with God fully at His disposal but did not take advantage of it. Instead Christ "poured Himself out", sacrificed Himself for others, making Himself nothing. In other words, Christ Emptied Himself.
(b) This passage teaches that Jesus is diving specificallly by Jesus is God. He completely gave of Himself. Amen!

Christ didn't cling to His equality with GOD because He is GOD. He is not a God as the cults teach but He is GOD Almighty!

I believe that Jesus is equal with God and always existed. I believe that when He came to earth He voluntarily sit aside His divine powers so that He could experience all the things we go through. When He left heaven His mission was to die for us as our sacrifice for sin, to make possible our salvation. He became the pure sacrifice for us, so we could have eternal life. He was no less God but He choose to become a servant for us, whom He loves unconditionally. As the song says He could have called a thousand angels to get Him of the cross.

This passage teaches that Jesus is divine with all the powers of God for He is God and has existed forever. But He choose to humble Himself and be our sacrifice. To do the Father's business. All the time He was on earth He did the Father's will. OH His unconditional love Praise and Honor to His name!

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[color=blue]2a.) Jesus lowered him self to the state of humaness. The analogy of a human becoming a lady bug, I heard. Yet Jesus was fully human and fully divine. He can not go back to his previous state of being. Yet he is at the right hand of God as God man.[/color]
2b.) (2:6) How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine?
[color=blue]2b.) Jesus is in the very nature, God.[/color]

To me the term that Christ didn’t cling to His equality with God it means that He didn’t go around telling people things like “I’m God, so you better listen to me”. God humbled Himself in that He brought Himself down to our level. This passage is very specific that Jesus is divine.
The mystery of the Trinity is a very complex mystery to me. I had prayed about it at one point, to get a better understanding. The answer that I got was that we are made in God’s image, we are one person, yet we have a body, mind and soul. All three make up the one person that we know as ourselves. So to me God must basically, but to a larger extent the same way. I was for a time an Apostolic Pentecostal, they teach oneness and it was very hard for me to accept that doctrine. The way I look at it is that God wanted to come to earth in human form, so He created a body to use for that purpose. Any human body has it’s limitations and one could not contain all of the glory of God, He is just too great and awesome to be contained in a body. So Jesus is God, He is divine, yet His body didn’t contain all that God is. Does that make any sense?

Q2. (2:6) In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God? How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine?

Jesus humbled himself by becoming fully human. He set aside (didn't cling to) his divine rights as God. Yet He remained God while in human form. This passage teaches us Jesus is divine by stating, "Who being in very nature God". This tells us Jesus IS God who put aside his rights as God to take human form in order to fulfill God's plan of salvation.

[font="Georgia"]In submission to the Father, Jesus set aside the glory that was rightfully his as God, to become man—the ultimate humiliation.

When his work on Earth was complete and the hour of his crucifixion was at hand, Jesus prayed to the Father to restore his glory. [color=green]“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (Joh 17:4-5)[/color]

Jesus did not need to cling to his equality with God, for he is God.[/font]

In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God?
well in order for Jesus to have any effects on the people they'd have to see that he was as human as they were. if not than they wouldn't try to do what he did for GOD or each other. for they wouldn't think they were capable. but by Jesus being human as we are it gives us hope of our own capabilities..

How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine?
he did it the hard way for our sake. to show us the way. so we could continue it and show it to others.

This is really deep stuff, but to me, it means that in coming into the world in human form, Christ “set aside” the essence, rights and authorities of His personal divinity. I think He came as a fully human man except that His spirit was never deadened by sin and He was fully indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit. In other words, He didn’t hold on to His own position as God while here in the form of a servant, but was totally and humbly dependent on the Father and Spirit. But He didn't stop being who He was [God] just because He set aside His position of divinity for a time.

Christ had full equality in the Godhead. He chose to release it until the Father restored it to Him when the redemption plan was completed. He had the full nature of God. He chose not to cling to that, but to take on the nature of a human servant until His mission was done. The divinity of the Christ who was and is and is to come couldn’t be clearer. To grasp even the tiniest bit of this concept makes me love Him more. He set aside holy perfection to glorify God by coming to save ME. How divine is that!

I really like the way "Magnus" expressed this amazing truth. Jesus Christ freely let go of His position as God, but never gave up His person as God.
I think this is a truth that the Spirit of God confirms and speaks to us in our spirit, because it is hard to grasp with a finite mind. The Holy Spirit whispers to us, communicating within our inner being that this amazing message is true, even if we can't grasp all the implications of it.

John reminds us that "we beheld His glory," but it was veiled in humility and humanity until Christ's death and resurrection. What a privilege His inner circle of disciples had when they saw Him transfigured before them...

What a privilege we'll have one day to see Him face to face -- 1 John 3 -- one of my favourites -- we'll be like Him for we'll see Him face to face.

Christ didn't use His God nature for His benefit - by choice.
Only God could love in that measure to make such a choice.
Divine love in action.

To me, it means that Jesus voluntarily obeyed the will of God and came to us in human form, to set for us the ultimate example of how we should live, and to pay our sin debt by being the perfect sacrifice.
This passage teaches us that Jusus was in “very nature” God.

THAT HE WAS DEPENDENT ON GOD AND DID NOT RELY ON HIS OWN BEING. HE RELIED ON THE HOLY SPIRIT TO GUIDE HIM.
JESUS WAS GOD'S SON AND NEEDED TO OBEY THE WISDOM OF HIS FATHER AND THAT HE DIDN'T THINK THAT HE COULD EVER BE AS GREAT AS GOD. THEREFORE HE HUMBLED HIMSELF TO GOD THE FATHER AND OBEYED.
IF HE IS EQUAL TO GOD THEN HE IS DIVINE.

Q2. (2:6) In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God?
Jesus is God, and when He was born into this world to be just like us, He was still God. He didn’t cling to His equality with God, because He was born to be human so he could experience the same things we experience each day of our lives. Jesus accepted God’s Will for His life just as we should do.

How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine?
Even though Jesus was born and lived as we do, He was still God.

What does it mean that Christ didn't cling to His equality with God?How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus was divine?

Christ did not cling to His equality with God, for He could not use this advantage, if He were to fully carry cout the plan of the Father, to bring eternal life to all who would recieve it. Jesus had to become fully man, to be able to experience all of the agony that the cross would bring to Him. He knew the will of the Father, and even though His flesh cried out for mercy, He proclaimed, ? Not my will, but thy will, O God".

Though Jesus took upon Himself, the form of man, there never was a time when He was not God, for in Him dwelleth all of the fulness of the Godhead,
bodily.