Humility - The Way Up Is Down

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11). This passage declares that the mindset believers are to cultivate is that of Christ, characterized by self-emptying humility and obedience, which ultimately leads to divine exaltation.
This profound statement on Christ's humility and exaltation draws upon ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman concepts of power and status while simultaneously subverting them. In the Roman world, greatness was often associated with conquest, worldly power, and the assertion of one's prerogatives. For early Jewish believers, while humility had its place, a Messiah was anticipated as a conquering king, a restorer of Israel’s earthly power. This passage, however, presents God’s chosen one, Jesus, as achieving ultimate authority not through seizing power but through radical self-abasement, echoing the servant motif found in Isaiah. His journey from divine glory to the lowest form of human existence – death on a cross – demonstrates that true authority and kingship in God's kingdom are manifested through self-giving love and obedience to the Father's will, reshaping expectations of divine intervention and human leadership.
The example of Jesus' self-emptying and ultimate exaltation provides a powerful and counter-cultural paradigm for life today. It calls believers to fundamentally re-evaluate their understanding of success, status, and influence. Rather than pursuing personal advancement or worldly recognition through grasping and self-assertion, the passage encourages a disposition of humility and service modeled after Christ. This involves a willingness to relinquish personal rights or advantages for the sake of others and to live in obedience to God, trusting that true and lasting elevation, even to the point where every knee bows and every tongue confesses, ultimately comes from divine, not human, recognition.