Bill Johnson and the Jesus setting aside his divinity
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| English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Bill is referring to Paul statement of Jesus from Philippians 2:7a "but emptied Himself."
The inference is that we are identical with Jesus and totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit and are able to perform the same miracles as Jesus, because we are the same. However, our nature is different. We're saved not fully sanctified, stained by sin, whereas Christ never sinned. Our natures at this point are different.
But did Jesus set aside his divinity?
This statement needs clarification, because it could infer he stopped being God. I am sure that is not what Bill means.
What does the text say?
Jesus continued to not cling to His divine prerogatives. Instead, He emptied Himself. The Greek conjunction alla (but) means “not this but that,” indicating a clear contrast of ideas. Although He was absolutely “full” of deity, as it were, He emptied Himself of all of its prerogatives.
Jesus continued to not cling to His divine prerogatives. Instead, He emptied Himself. The Greek conjunction alla (but) means “not this but that,” indicating a clear contrast of ideas. Although He was absolutely “full” of deity, as it were, He emptied Himself of all of its prerogatives.
Emptied is from kenoō, which means to empty completely. It is translated “nullified” in Romans 4:14 and “made void” in 1 Corinthians 1:17. Jesus Christ emptied Himself completely of every vestige of advantage and privilege, refusing to assert any divine right on His own behalf. He who created and owned everything forsook everything.
It must always be kept in mind that Jesus emptied Himself only of certain aspects of His prerogatives of deity, not of His deity itself. He was never anything, and never will be anything, but fully and eternally God, as Paul was careful to state in the previous verse.
It must always be kept in mind that Jesus emptied Himself only of certain aspects of His prerogatives of deity, not of His deity itself. He was never anything, and never will be anything, but fully and eternally God, as Paul was careful to state in the previous verse.
All four gospels make it clear that He did not forsake His divine power to perform miracles, to forgive sins, or to know the minds and hearts of people. Had He stopped being God (an impossibility), He could not have died for the sins of the world. He would have perished on the cross and remained in the grave, with no power to conquer sin or death.
Whatever is meant by the “made Himself void” [emptied Himself], eauton ekenōsen, which describes His Incarnation here, one thing it could never possibly mean—a “kenōsis” which could hurt or distort His absolute fitness to guide and bless us whom He came to save. That [emptying] placed Him indeed on the creaturely level in regard of the reality of human experience of growth, and human capacity for suffering. But never for one moment did it, could it, make Him other than the absolute and infallible Master and Guide of His redeemed. (Philippian Studies [London: Pickering & Inglis, n.d.], 99)
The Son of God emptied Himself of five divine rights.
The Son of God emptied Himself of five divine rights.
1. Jesus temporarily divested Himself of His divine glory. Shortly before His arrest, Jesus lifted “up His eyes to heaven” and implored: “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.… Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:1, 5; cf. v. 24). The Son of God forsook the worship of the saints and angels in heaven and submitted to misunderstanding, denials, unbelief, false accusations, and every sort of reviling and persecution by sinful men. He gave up all the shining brilliance of heaven to suffer an agonizing and ignominious death on the cross.
It was not that He forfeited His divine glory but rather that it was veiled, hidden in His humanity (John 7:5, 24; cf. 2 Cor. 4:4–6) from men’s view. Glimpses of it were seen in His many miracles, in His gracious words, in the humble attitude that Paul here calls His followers to emulate, and certainly in His ultimate sacrifice for sin on the cross. It was briefly and partially manifested to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:31–32; cf. 2 Peter 1:16–18). But it was not witnessed again until His resurrection and ascension, and then only by those who belonged to Him.
2. Jesus emptied Himself of independent divine authority. The operation of the Trinity is, of course, a great mystery. Within the Godhead there is perfect harmony and agreement in every possible way and to every possible degree. Jesus unambiguously stated His full equality with the Father when He declared, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30; cf. 17:11, 21). Yet He just as clearly declared during His incarnation that “I can do nothing on My own initiative.
It was not that He forfeited His divine glory but rather that it was veiled, hidden in His humanity (John 7:5, 24; cf. 2 Cor. 4:4–6) from men’s view. Glimpses of it were seen in His many miracles, in His gracious words, in the humble attitude that Paul here calls His followers to emulate, and certainly in His ultimate sacrifice for sin on the cross. It was briefly and partially manifested to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:31–32; cf. 2 Peter 1:16–18). But it was not witnessed again until His resurrection and ascension, and then only by those who belonged to Him.
2. Jesus emptied Himself of independent divine authority. The operation of the Trinity is, of course, a great mystery. Within the Godhead there is perfect harmony and agreement in every possible way and to every possible degree. Jesus unambiguously stated His full equality with the Father when He declared, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30; cf. 17:11, 21). Yet He just as clearly declared during His incarnation that “I can do nothing on My own initiative.
As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30), and “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). While teaching in the temple, Jesus said, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me” (John 7:28–29).
In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal and arrest, He pleaded three times: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me”; yet He followed each request with the submissive, “yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39–44). The writer of Hebrews notes that, “although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8).
3. Jesus emptied Himself of the voluntary exercise of some of His divine attributes, though not the essence of His deity. He did not stop being omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, or immutable; He chose not to exercise the full limit of those attributes during His earthly life and ministry. He did, however, exercise some of them selectively and partially. Without having met him, Jesus knew omnisciently that Nathanael was “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit, … because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 1:47; 2:25). Through His omnipresence, He knew where Nathanael was even before He saw him (1:48). Yet He confessed that, as to the exact time of His return, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matt. 24:36).
4. Jesus emptied Himself of His eternal riches. “For your sake He became poor,” Paul explains, “so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Although many commentators have interpreted His “poverty” as a reference to His earthly economic condition, it has nothing to do with that. The point is not that Christ gave up earth’s riches, but that He gave up heaven’s riches. As already noted, He forsook the adoration, worship, and service of angels and the redeemed in heaven, because “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).
5. Jesus emptied Himself temporarily of His unique, intimate, and face-to-face relationship with His heavenly Father—even to the point of being forsaken by Him. To fulfill the divine plan of redemption, the Father “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
3. Jesus emptied Himself of the voluntary exercise of some of His divine attributes, though not the essence of His deity. He did not stop being omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, or immutable; He chose not to exercise the full limit of those attributes during His earthly life and ministry. He did, however, exercise some of them selectively and partially. Without having met him, Jesus knew omnisciently that Nathanael was “an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit, … because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 1:47; 2:25). Through His omnipresence, He knew where Nathanael was even before He saw him (1:48). Yet He confessed that, as to the exact time of His return, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Matt. 24:36).
4. Jesus emptied Himself of His eternal riches. “For your sake He became poor,” Paul explains, “so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). Although many commentators have interpreted His “poverty” as a reference to His earthly economic condition, it has nothing to do with that. The point is not that Christ gave up earth’s riches, but that He gave up heaven’s riches. As already noted, He forsook the adoration, worship, and service of angels and the redeemed in heaven, because “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).
5. Jesus emptied Himself temporarily of His unique, intimate, and face-to-face relationship with His heavenly Father—even to the point of being forsaken by Him. To fulfill the divine plan of redemption, the Father “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
That was the Father’s will, which Jesus came to fulfill and prayed would be done. Yet even the brief separation from His Father caused by His sinbearing caused Him to cry “out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?’ ” (Matt. 27:46). It was the unbelievably horrible prospect of being alienated from His Father and bearing sin that had caused Him earlier to sweat drops of blood in great agony, being “deeply grieved, to the point of death” (Luke 22:44; Matt. 26:38).
Christians obviously cannot empty themselves to the degree that the Lord emptied Himself, because He started so high and Christians start so low. Believers have infinitely less to empty themselves of. Even what they have is given to them by His grace. Believers are obligated to follow their Lord’s example by emptying themselves of everything that would hinder their obedience and service to Him.
Just as Jesus did not cease to be God when He emptied Himself, neither do Christians cease to be His children when they empty themselves as He did (cf. Eph. 5:1–2). Just as Jesus’ self-giving obedience made Him pleasing to the Father (Matt. 3:17), so does believers’ self-giving obedience make them pleasing to Him (25:21, 23)
Christians obviously cannot empty themselves to the degree that the Lord emptied Himself, because He started so high and Christians start so low. Believers have infinitely less to empty themselves of. Even what they have is given to them by His grace. Believers are obligated to follow their Lord’s example by emptying themselves of everything that would hinder their obedience and service to Him.
Just as Jesus did not cease to be God when He emptied Himself, neither do Christians cease to be His children when they empty themselves as He did (cf. Eph. 5:1–2). Just as Jesus’ self-giving obedience made Him pleasing to the Father (Matt. 3:17), so does believers’ self-giving obedience make them pleasing to Him (25:21, 23)
