In the sermon titled 'The Carmen Christi,' speaker Robert Bosley explores Philippians 2:6-11, focusing on the profound theological and practical implications of the passage. The sermon shifts from social justice issues to concentrate on the person and work of Jesus Christ, emphasizing His centrality in Christian faith. Bosley unpacks the passage known as the Carmen Christi, which is considered a hymn or poem about Christ, potentially predating the Apostle Paul and even the Gospels. The sermon outlines three main aspects: the deity of Christ, His humiliation, and His exaltation. In discussing Christ's deity, Bosley explains the phrase 'being in the form of God,' asserting that it signifies Christ's eternal possession of divine attributes. The sermon also addresses the 'humiliation' of Christ, highlighting His voluntary assumption of human nature and His obedience to death on the cross. The 'exaltation' of Christ follows, with God elevating Him above all, signifying universal submission to His lordship. Theologically, the sermon delves into the hypostatic union—the union of divine and human natures in Christ. Practically, Bosley urges believers to adopt Christ's humility and service mindset, contrasting it with the self-centeredness of critical theory and social justice movements. Ultimately, the sermon calls for worship and reverence of Christ, encouraging believers to reflect His humility and serve others.

Good afternoon, everyone. If you would please take out your copy of the Word of God and turn to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. So we are going to be laying aside our series on issues of social justice. The elders conferred, and I agree with them, that both for the congregation and for myself, after the difficult slog through the muck and mire and filth of critical theory and its attendant insanity we would all benefit from turning our attention to other things for a time at least And I in particularly wanted to turn our attention squarely on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the one that we are here for. He is the center of all that we do. And so that is what we are going to focus on. And this study was a tremendous blessing to my own soul and a much needed refreshment, and I hope it will be the same for you this afternoon. So turn to Philippians chapter 2.

We're going to, I'm going to read verses 1 through 11 but our focus is going to be primarily 6 through 11. So let's read. Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross therefore God also highly exalted him and and get and given him excuse me God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Let's pray. Father we come to you in the name of your son and we thank you that we can be together in this place and that we can be in your word. Lord help us to see wonderful things in your word. God help me to speak as I ought to speak. Grant that we would have open ears and open hearts to hear what you are saying to us in these precious verses.

In Christ's name we pray, amen. When we read through our Bibles, we are used to seeing songs in the Scripture. That is not an unfamiliar thing to us. We've seen several in Pastor Brown's study through the book of Revelation where there are songs and hymns throughout that book. We also see songs of worship throughout the Old Testament, the historical books, and of course the book of Psalms is a book of songs.

We often, however, don't realize that there are a lot of songs, what seem to be songs at least, found in even the New Testament epistles. And this afternoon we're going to look at a passage that many theologians, and I'm inclined to agree with them, a passage that I think is another song or a hymn. Verses 6 through 11 of Philippians chapter 2 have often been called by theologians the Carmen Christi. The Carmen Christi, and that will be the title of this message if you want to take a note of that. The title of this is the Carmen Christi.

What does that mean? The Carmen Christi is a Latin phrase meaning a hymn of Christ or a hymn to Christ or simply the Christ hymn. And these verses 6 through 11 seem to be at least a poem, if not a hymn. It likely predates the Apostle Paul. Some think he may have coined it when he wrote this.

He may have written this poem when he wrote this book, but some believe that this may have predated him and he was using this part of a hymn or this hymn in this letter, just as preachers will often quote the lyrics of songs in their sermons. In fact I plan on doing that myself here shortly. Paul is using this it seems as a kind of sermon illustration And this this hymn this Christ hymn is amazing. It is truly fascinating not only in its content Which in it contains what I hold to be the single greatest mystery in all of Christian doctrine that the eternal God took on a true human nature. So it's fascinating not only in its content, but also in the application that Paul is making from it.

And it's also amazing to consider the high view of Christ that is contained in this hymn. The Christology here is on a whole other level. It's incredible what we read here. And it's amazing to think it predates, most likely predates the Apostle Paul. It may even predate the Gospels.

Because this book was written probably around the mid to mid 50s to early 60s. Most of the Gospels would have been, most conservative scholars think that the Gospels began to be written in the late 40s to 50s so this this hymn could very well predate one or possibly even all of the Gospels so we are reading words that have been sung by Christians and read by Christians from the various earliest days of the New Testament Church. It's an amazing thing to think of when we look at these words. Now, I'm not going to attempt to sing it. We read it, and that will have to suffice for us.

But I want to look at these verses under three headings. First, we will look at the deity of Christ in verse 6. Secondly, the humiliation of Christ in verses 7 and 8. And then Thirdly, the exaltation of Christ in verses 9 through 11. So the deity of Christ, the humiliation of Christ, and finally the exaltation of Christ.

And all of this centers on the emphasis of this hymn, that true God became truly man for the good of his people. This is a glorious hymn focusing on what was accomplished on our behalf in the incarnation of the Son of God. Now in context we start in verse 1. In context Paul is exhorting the Philippian Church to unity and humility. As followers of Christ they are to love one another and to serve one another doing nothing out of selfishness or evil ambition.

Rather they are to consider one another as more important than themselves, living with an eye of how they can better serve one another. And this hymn is serving as an illustration of that kind of humility, that kind of service. Christ's humility as portrayed in this hymn is to characterize the mindset of his disciples. And so as we go through this and we look at the high theology and just the richness that we see here, remember it is also practical. It's not just teaching us information but it's teaching us how we ought to live and how we ought to relate to one another in the church.

Paul tells us, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And so with that context in mind, a call to humility and unity, let us walk through these verses. First the deity of Christ in verse 6 who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Now this is only one verse but it packs a punch. This is an amazing verse if you stop and think about what it's saying.

Entire books have been written about this single verse and rightly so. There is so much to unpack here. First, let's consider what is meant by the phrase being in the form of God. And we'll start with the word being. And forgive me for diving into some of the nerdy language stuff.

It's important here. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but we can't avoid it here. So when we talk about he is being or existing in the form of God, what is this saying? Well, this word is in the present tense form. It's a Greek participle in the present tense form.

And I don't have time to fully explain what all that means, but do not think of it simply as an English present tense verb. That's not how Greek works. Rather, this present tense form is communicating the idea of an ongoing action without reference to any beginning or end and I think that this hymn whether it was written by Paul or not This verb was chosen in this tense form for a reason. I believe it communicates two things to us. First, that Christ's existence in the form of God is something he always had.

Push it back as far as you want to go back, and you will have Christ there, existing in the form of God. And secondly, that despite everything that follows, his humiliation and all that attends that, he never once lost that form of God. Unchanging existence in the form of God. He always was and always is and ever will be existing in the form of God. And so that being so what is then meant by the phrase of the form of God.

Now the word for form here is the Greek word morphae and this word is often used in a reference to the external, the outward appearance or the external features of a person or event or a thing. However, we know that cannot be what it means here because it's talking about the form of God. God has no outward appearance. He has no external features. God is a spirit.

He is the invisible God. And so we know that that common use of the word morphe cannot be what is actually meant here. It cannot mean the external when you're talking about a being who has no external. That word can be used to communicate the idea of inner character or essential attributes or to simply put nature. And that is what is meant here.

And the same word is used in verse seven, where it says that he takes on the form of a bond servant. He took on the nature of a servant, but he existed in the form or the nature of God. That is most clearly what is meant here. As B.D. Warfield put it, the form of God is the sum of the characteristics which makes the being that we call God specifically God rather than some other being, an angel or a man.

When our Lord is said to be in the form of God therefore he is declared in the most express manner possible to be all that God is, to possess the whole fullness of the attributes which make God." So Christ is declared in this simple phrase, being in the form of God, he is declared to have eternally possessed all the attributes, characteristics, virtues, and the very nature of God. He is nothing less than the eternal, unchangeable, almighty God. And while existing in this divine state, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, our version says. Now some take this to mean, contrary to what the first part of the verse says, that Jesus was less than God, and as a lesser being he did not seek to usurp or take the place of his father as Satan did. Part of the problem with interpreting this verse, or this part of the verse, is that we have a very difficult and rare verb used here, translated as robbery in the New King James or grasped in other versions like the ESV.

If you have an ESV it says he did not think equality with God a thing to be grasped. The main idea of this this verb is that this is something that one can take hold of whether literally or metaphorically and use for yourself use for your own benefits I do not believe obviously that this is saying that Christ was less than God and did not seek to usurp the place of his father I do not think that that the verse is that inconsistent with itself he was in the very form of God he existed perfectly in the nature of God so what does it mean that he did not consider it his equality with God robbery What he is saying here is as Dr. Joel Beeke says in his helpful systematic theology, he says this appears to be an idiomatic expression for something that one possesses but chooses not to exploit. In other words, Jesus has this full equality with his Father in the very being and nature of God. It is something he possesses in perfection and completeness, but he does not turn it towards self-serving ends.

He does not exploit it for his own advantage. His mind is not focused on how to use his divine nature merely for his own benefit, rather as the eternal God who is love, he seeks to use his divine nature in the service of his people. Now if you happen to have an NIV, if you'll admit to having an NIV today, you will notice that it actually does a fantastic job of translating this verse. The NIV, I think, nails it better than any other version. The NIV reads, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

I think this is right. Christ did not consider how he could serve himself, but rather how he could serve those his father had given him. But make no mistake, he was truly in his very nature God from all eternity before the world ever was. Christ was there fully and perfectly God. So we have the deity of Christ in verse six.

Now the hymn moves on with the humiliation of Christ in verses 7 and 8. But he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of a cross so we are told what Christ did not do in verse 6 he did not exploit his divine position or privileges for his own selfish ends. So what did he do? He did not do this, but he did this.

Our version says He made himself of no reputation. Now, the word that is used here in this verse, the Greek word cannot-o, has caused no end of trouble throughout church history. And not so much the word itself, but rather its misinterpretation. I was in my preparations. I read a couple of sermons by a bishop named John Chrysostom.

If you are familiar with church history, you'll know John Chrysostom was a bishop in the Eastern Roman Empire who lived 1, 600 years ago. He was a great exegete, a godly man. And he, in his sermons on this text, rebuked the heretics of his day for misinterpreting this very verb, which has still caused no end of problems today. Because this word cannot literally mean to empty something, to pour something out. And the heretics, both in 5th century Constantinople and in 21st century America, use this word to claim that Christ emptied himself of his deity, of all his divine attributes and his powers when he took on a human nature.

This is a heresy that is often known as the Kenotic Christology, Kenotic being derived from that the Greek verb, Cano. This is very commonly taught among Pentecostals, Charismatics, and those types who have a illegitimate emphasis on the spirit of God and therefore de-emphasize Christ and part of their de-emphasizing of Christ is claiming that he laid aside his nature as God in the incarnation. Is that what this Word is teaching us? No. Paul always uses this term metaphorically.

And we know he's using it metaphorically here, even if this hymn predates Paul himself, because we are told in this very verse how Christ emptied himself. We are told that Christ emptied himself by taking the form of a bond servant. Now the New King James does not include the word by but I think the other versions include it and I think grammatically it's inescapable. The means by which he emptied himself or as the new King James says made himself of no reputation is by taking the form of a servant He empties himself Not by pouring out his divine attributes not by removing anything from his nature He humbles himself and makes himself of no reputation not by giving away but by taking to himself a human nature the nature of a servant or better the nature of a slave and So the new King James is right when it renders it that he made himself of no reputation the God of all glory who lived in heaven and Enjoyed the praises of angels for endless ages made himself of no reputation and he took on our nature. And note he did this himself.

He humbled or he emptied himself. He made himself of no reputation. This was not imposed on him. Nothing outside of him made him do this. Christ, in his love for his people, took this burden on himself.

He chose to do this. He willingly took on a human form, a human nature, the nature of a servant. So we have the Lord of glory becoming a servant both a servant of his father but also a servant of his people we heard about that much this morning and that's an example for us He served his father but he also served his people for the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. And so the King and Lord of all the universe became a human being. He took that on himself to become a servant for his people and for his father.

And the hymn continues that he not only took on himself, He made himself of no reputation by taking the form of a bond servant but in coming in the likeness of men and he was found in appearance as a man. In other words, from the outside looking at him externally, he looked like just a man. So complete was his assumption of a human nature that he looked like a man. He was in every visible aspect a human being. There was nothing in his appearance that made people think this this is actually God.

There was nothing. There was no halo. He did not glow as he walked the streets of Capernaum. There was nothing in his appearance that made men look at him and say, this is the God of heaven. In every respects, he was made like his brothers.

So from the outside, he looked like every other man. So complete was his adoption of our nature. The only exception of that would be the Mount of Transfiguration, where for a moment that veiled glory was shown still in a restrained manner. But any other time, any time a man looked at him, they saw a man because he truly was a man. He truly took on our nature.

And this is the greatest mystery in all of Christian theology and doctrine. This is a doctrine called the hypostatic union, the union of two true, real, complete natures, the union of the divine and the human in one glorious person. The incarnation did not require the abandonment of his deity, but rather the addition of our humanity. And that's what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. To quote some song lyrics As I mentioned earlier, we could, if you are a fan of Christian hip-hop, the song by Shy Lynn called The Hypostatic Union, yes, there was a Christian hip-hop song titled The Hypostatic Union.

It's amazing. You should listen to it. It's five minutes and it's amazing theology. But in that he says, the son of man, 100% humanity, the mind stretches to understand how can it be. You got to see what he does, becoming what he wasn't while never ceasing to be what he was.

Or since it's Advent season and Christmas music may be a little bit more your speed, Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, Laid in time, behold Him come, offspring of the Virgin's womb, Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the Incarnate Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. What a glorious mystery! True God and true man in one person and for us. For our benefit God came down and became like us. What a condescension, what humility.

This is why Paul uses this as an example for the Philippian Church. What greater example of humility could there be? The God that all creation ought to worship and bow before takes on the nature of a servant and comes to give his life for sinful men. If God can do this, how can we not live in humility with one another? And This is only the first step in the humiliation of Christ in this song.

Not only does he take on the nature of a servant, but he's also obedient to death. Even the shameful death of a cross. A death so shameful, so repulsive, that even the Apostle writing this letter as a Roman citizen could not suffer the same death, a death reserved for the worst of criminals and slaves. And the Lord of Glory went to it willingly for his people. Christ humiliated not only to human nature, but also a criminal's death.

The author of life humbled himself to die. Humbled himself to die. Finally we have the exaltation of Christ in verses 9 through 11. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Christ's humiliation was real but it wasn't the end.

The cross was the low point but not the end point. Here the hymn collapses the resurrection, the ascension, and the enthronement of Jesus all into this one single idea that Christ is exalted by his father. The father completely, perfectly satisfied with his work on that cross and in his perfect life, exalts him to a state beyond any comprehension. Now the world hates the idea of humility. It hates the humble.

But God loves and gives grace to the humble. How much more Does God exalt his son when he humbled himself? In God's economy, humility, not arrogance, leads to exaltation and glory. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the preeminent example of that. He was exalted to have the name which is above every name.

And what does it mean? The name which is above every name. Now a common interpretation of this is that the name refers to the divine name Yahweh. And this is derived from the illusion Paul makes to Isaiah 45 and we'll look at Isaiah 45 in a minute. It's amazing.

But I don't actually think the name given here is the divine name. I don't think it's the name Yahweh. Because what is what does this say that because of what he did this name is given to him. Christ, as eternally existing as God, always possessed the divine name. He always and eternally was Yahweh, or Jehovah if you prefer.

If this, the name given here is the reference to the divine name, then I would seem to contradict the rest of the hymn. It's possible, but I don't think it fits. Now I am torn between two interpretations of what it means, the name above all names. First, it could mean that the name Jesus is now the name above all names. Because of his work and his covenant, this name Jesus is the name exalted above all names.

Not just simply the name of the Godhead Yahweh, but the specific name of the Son. Now this could seem to suffer from the same problem Because he possessed the name Jesus before the cross, before his exaltation. But we have to understand that in the incarnation something happened when he took on a human nature. The eternal son did not have the name Jesus before the incarnation so that name Jesus was given to him in his work on earth and now after his work and after the resurrection and his exaltation to the right hand of his Father, such honor and glory is given to that name, that it is now the name above all names, the name Jesus Christ." And I find that persuasive. Or perhaps, name here should be taken more in a metaphorical or figurative sense.

If I tell you that so-and-so is really making a name for himself, you know that I'm not saying that he wrote out Letters and put them in a new order and renamed himself You know, that's not what I mean when I say someone is making a name for themselves. It's an idiom it's a figure of speech a way of saying that you are creating a reputation And the same is used in Greek and Hebrew with the word name, where the name stands in for the person and what he does, as in when we pray in Jesus' name. It's a figure of speech for that person's work, his reputation, or his fame. And so could this be saying that as a consequence of the work of Christ the fame and glory and praise of Jesus has been exalted above all other glories and themes? I think that may be it.

Now it's obviously true that that's the case, but is that what the hymn is referring to? I'm not sure. I'll let you debate that among yourselves. Regardless of how you interpret the name above all names. The point is that Jesus, humbled to the most inglorious and shameful death, is now exalted to the greatest place of supremacy in all of creation.

He has the supreme glory and renown and honor in all the universe. Such power that at his name, angels and the righteous dead, those in heaven, the living righteous and the living lost, those on earth, and even the demons and the damned, those under the earth. Such has been his exaltation that at his name, all creation is to bend the knee to Him. They are obligated to submit to Him and His rule. The crucified suffering servant is exalted to the Lord of lords and king of kings to whom all creation must and will submit.

All creation is now to bend the knee and proclaim the lordship and dominion of this God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you here today thinking that you can escape his rule and reign? Do you say with the rebels in Luke 19 in the parable that we will not have this man to rule over us? Do not be so foolish. All will bow.

That is the clear testimony of this passage. All will bow. You will either do so willingly and joyfully now when you see him as your only hope and Savior or you will do so when you stand before him in judgment and he wields the rod of iron. You will bow. And saints also let this be an encouragement to you.

When we go out and we proclaim the gospel and we proclaim the lordship of Christ not just in salvation but in every aspect of the world that we live in, remember who we are proclaiming. We are proclaiming this one to whom all people owe their submission, the one who rules over all and who will bring every enemy under his feet. So we can go and we can proclaim the lordship of Christ over all things, knowing that victory is certain because He will bring His enemies under His feet. Every Knee will bow. Turn quickly to Isaiah 45.

Paul alludes to, or the hymn alludes to, Isaiah chapter 45. And this is truly an amazing passage here. Isaiah 45. Passage here. Excuse me.

Isaiah 45. Starting in verse 20, assemble yourselves and come draw near together you who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge who carry the wood of their carved image and pray to a God that cannot save. Tell and bring forth your case. Yes, let them take counsel together.

Who has declared this from ancient time who has told it from that time have not I the Lord have not I Yahweh and there is no other God besides me a just God and a Savior there is none besides me Look to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other. I have sworn by myself The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. That to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath." This hymn borrows from this language. Isaiah 45, God Himself, Yahweh says that every knee will bow to him, and every tongue will make an oath to him. The Christ, him, in Philippians 2 says that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord that Jesus is Yahweh and there is no mistake of what is being said here You cannot miss this what the hymn in Philippians 2 is saying that the fulfillment of Isaiah 45 is the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The creed of Rome in Paul's day was Caesar Kurios, Caesar is Lord, but for the Christian church and each individual Christian and ultimately the confession of all creation at the end of the age will be Jesus is Lord. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess the Lordship of Christ and this does not rob his Father of glory. Rather this universal confession is to the glory of God the Father. When the Son is honored the Father is honored. When the Son is glorified the Father is glorified because it is one God one Savior so what what do we do is such an amazing passage Well first we must make the application that Paul himself made, have this mindset in yourself.

Have this humility, this willingness to serve and to seek the good of others. Are you pursuing this kind of humble attitude? And if we can tie this to the issue of social justice, it would be here. This is the cure for social justice and social injustice. This is the cure for both real oppression and the cure for the false claims of the social justice movement and the victimhood mentality and everything that else that goes with critical theory.

Humility. If you have this mindset which was Christ and you do not seek to do anything out of selfish ambition, if you're instead counting others as more significant than yourself, If your mindset is, how can I serve this other image bearer of God, you will have no place to examine every interaction you have with others on these silly categories of oppression and privilege? Rather, how can I serve? Rather how can I serve? And last, this hymn, these verses, what this teaches us, If it does not provoke you to worship, I do not know what will.

Who is this one? This great God-man who humbled himself on our behalf. If you have any worship in your heart, let it be stirred at these words. Seeing what he did and who he is, how can we not love him? How can we not worship Him?

How can we see this grace and humility and meekness and love and compassion and not fall on our faces before Him and say, Yes, you are Lord? So let this inflame in your heart a greater love for Him. May this passage create in you a great love and zeal for His glory. May you worship this one who gave up the praises of heaven to walk dusty streets to die a sinner's death so that you could be forgiven of your sins. Turn to him.

If you do not know him, turn to him. There is no other Savior. There is no other hope for you. Worship him and love him and follow him all your life. Let's pray.

Father we come before you and we thank you for your kindness. Thank you God for giving your son. God it's too much for us to even think of. God, we thank you. Thank you for giving us a great Savior and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

May He be worshiped here today and in our homes and may He be glorified in your church and in this world. Amen. I believe we are just about to close.