The Kenosis of Jesus Christ
The Meaning of the Term Kenosis In Philippians 2:7, the Apostle Paul stated that Jesus Christ “made himself of no reputation.” The verb translated “made of no reputation” is ekenosen. Theologians have used the major part of that verb to form the term kenosis. As a result, kenosis has become the theological term for Jesus Christ’s action described by Paul in Philippians 2:6–8. TheGet More Articles—Subscribe Today!
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I have some questions for Dr. Showers (May he RIP):
1. Why did Jesus, who is deity robed in flesh, tell us we could do greater miracles than He could? He was God! Can we ever match Him let alone surpass Him? Perhaps we need to get more familiar in this lifetime with the third person of the trinity?
2. What is so special about being of the flesh? Why wasn’t God satisfied with just angels? These are spiritual beings of far greater power than us. But as with humanity, angels had freedom of choice and need salvation too, I would think.
3. Why would God’s creation, Satan, leave a heavenly bliss to rebel and leave? Are all of God’s creation subject to similar human (and therefore, Godlike) traits to have feelings of jealousy, pride, envy, selfishness? It seems strange. Perhaps not answerable since any response would be speculative.
4. Why don’t we call on Angels to help us more so? Jesus did when he was in human form. Is it right to do so? If Jesus is omnipresent, as well as the Holy Spirit, then what are angels for? Are they in the heavenlies fighting the demon enemies? From what I have read, the demons are outnumbered 2 to 1. So… maybe the battle is over and already won. After all, Jesus can destroy all with the one breath!
5. What are angels doing right now and are we allowed to call upon them? Or are we only allowed to use them as bumper guards for “travel safety”?
6. Finally, why will humans judge angels? Why should we ever have that opportunity, let alone capability to do so? Why are we so special? If we are to judge them, how can we? We are conditioned to “judge not”.
To me it has always been fairly simple to see what Jesus himself of in His coming to earth in the incarnation. The key is in Philippians 2:8 in the first half of the verse, “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself…” Jesus was royalty, a king. He laid down His crown and emptied Himself of His glory and became “humble”. It’s sort of reminiscent of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. The two young men looked alike and the prince wanted to find out what it was like to live as a regular person and vice versa. So the two switched places. The prince humbled himself and the pauper was exalted. That is sort of the portrait we see here of Christ.