n this great passage must ever be kept
clearly in view. Our Lord's example is set forth as the pattern of that
unselfish disregard of one's own things, and devotion to the things of
others, which has just been urged on the Philippians, and the mind which
was in Him is presented as the model on which they are to fashion their
minds. This purpose in some measure explains some of the peculiarities
of the language here, and may help to guide us through some of the
intricacies and doubtful points in the interpretation of the words. It
explains why Christ's death is looked at in them only in its bearing
upon Himself, as an act of obedience and of condescension, and why even
that death in which Jesus stands most inimitable and unique is presented
as capable of being imitated by us. The general drift of these verses is
clear, but there are few Scripture passages which have evoked more
difference of opinion as to the precise meaning of nearly every phrase.
To enter on the subtle discussions involved in the adequate exposition
of the words would far exceed our limits, and we must perforce content
ourselves with a slight treatment of them, and aim chiefly at bringing
out their practical side.

The broad truth which stands sun-clear amid all diverse interpretations
is--that the Incarnation, Life, and Death are the great examples of
living humility and self-sacrifice. To be born was His supreme act of
condescension. It was love which made Him assume the vesture of human
flesh. To die was the climax of His voluntary obedience, and of His
devotion to us.

I. The height from which Jesus descended.

The whole strange conception of birth as being the voluntary act of the
Person born, and as being the most stupendous instance of condescension
in the world's history, necessarily reposes on the clear conviction that
He had a prior existence so lofty that it was an all but infinite
descent to become man. Hence Paul begins with the most emphatic
assertion that he who bore the name of Jesus lived a divine life before
He was born. He uses a very strong word which is given in the margin of
the Revised Version, and might well have been in its text. 'Being
originally' as the word accurately means, carries our thoughts back not
only to a state which preceded Bethlehem and the cradle, but to that
same timeless eternity from which the prologue of the Gospel of John
partially draws the veil when it says, 'In the beginning was the Word,'
and to whic