The Riddleblog

Warfield on Paul’s Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ in Philippians 2:5-9

This is taken from a 1915 article, the "Person of Christ" which was first published in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, edited by James Orr. It is found in volume 4, pp. 2338-2348, and well-worth reading in its entirety. This essay has been reprinted in The Person and Work of Christ, ed John J. Hughes, published by P & R (2025), 37-74.

Warfield is describing the two natures of Christ as forth by Paul in Philippians 2:5-9. He calls attention to the fact that,

It should be carefully observed also that in making this great affirmation concerning Our Lord, Paul does not throw it distinctively into the past, as if he were describing a mode of being formerly Our Lord's, indeed, but no longer His because of the action by which He became our example of unselfishness. Our Lord, he says, "being," "'existing," "subsisting" "in the form of God" - as it is variously rendered. . . . Paul is not telling us here, then, what Our Lord was once, but rather what He already was, or, better, what in His intrinsic nature He is; he is not describing a past mode of existence of Our Lord, before the action he is adducing as an example took place - although the mode of existence he describes was Our Lord's mode of existence before this action . . . . He is telling us who and what He is who did these things for us, that we may appreciate how great the things He did for us are.

Warfield regards our Lord’s role as messianic servant as key to Paul’s point of application being made to the Philippians. According to the Princetonian, Christ’s divine nature is not “was” or “will be,” but “is.”

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B. B. WarfieldKim RiddlebargerMay 18, 2026kenosis, Philippians 2:1-11Comment

"Servant and Lord -- The Carmen Christi" (Philippians 2:1-11)

It Isn’t About Me

One of the most famous and well-known passages in all the Bible is the famous hymn to Christ (the Carmen Christi) of verses 6-11 of Philippians 2. Martin Luther writes in his famous essay The Freedom of the Christian, that this passage is a prescribed rule of life which is set forth by the Apostle Paul, who exhorts us to devote our good works to the welfare of our neighbor out of the abundant riches of faith. John Calvin tells us that anyone who reads this passage but fails to see the deity of Jesus and the majesty of God as seen in his saving works, is blind to the things of God.[1] The passage contains a very rich Christology, but is included in this letter not to settle any debate over the person and work of Jesus, but to instruct Christians how to imitate Jesus in a profound and significant way. The Carmen Christi speaks directly to our modern world by reminding us that the self-centered narcissism of contemporary culture is not a virtue, but runs completely contrary to the example set for us to follow by Jesus in his incarnation.

As many of you know, our system of chapters and verses are not in the original biblical text and were first introduced in the 16th century. While they are very helpful in allowing us to find “chapter and verse,” there are times when the chapter breaks disrupt the flow of thought of the original author. We find this in the transition from the opening chapter of Philippians as we move into chapter two. As we go through our passage, we will see that Paul’s exhortation which opens the second chapter is really an expansion of his desire for the Philippians to stand firm (vv. 12-30) and is the basis for his introduction of the Christ hymn (which we will cover momentarily).

Standing Firm in the Face of Persecution

In expressing his candid thoughts to the Philippians, the apostle is reflecting upon the persecution which he himself had faced, particularly in the light of the news which just reached him from Philippi that the Philippians were still facing significant persecution. When Paul was first in the city of Philippi, he was arrested and thrown into jail (Acts 16:12 ff.). Paul was miraculously delivered, the jailer and his household came to faith in Jesus, and as recounted in Acts 17, shortly thereafter, Paul left the city to continue his missionary journey to the Greek cities of Thessalonica and Berea, before finally making his way to Athens.

When Paul writes this letter to the Philippians about ten years later, he is in jail again–this time under house arrest in Rome. Paul knew something about persecution. He knows that the Philippian Christians are facing persecution as well. The Philippians may not be in chains, but they are finding that their fellow Greco-Romans are not accepting nor tolerant of their faith in Jesus. And then there are the Judaizers who have arrived on the scene and are now disrupting church life in Philippi.

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Biblical Events, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerMay 8, 2024kenosis, The Christ Hymn, Philippians 2:1-11Comment