At 11:00 PM 09/04/2001 -0400, george murphy wrote:
> Paul's statement about Christ's kenosis in Phil.2:5-11 clearly
point to
>some sort of self-limitation on the part of God. We are to start from
there &
>adapt our understanding of God's being & will to that rather than the
other way
>around.
I think this is problematic, for two reasons. First, it is not at all
clear what Phil. 2:5-11 is actually pointing toward. When God empties
himself to dwell among us, is he divesting himself of his divine nature?
If so, then that being is no longer God. God cannot choose to reduce his
own being without ceasing to be that being -- unless, of course, we hold
that God's will can trump God's nature, or that God's will just is God's
nature. I'd certainly prefer to read *eauton ekenosen* in Phil. 2:7 as "he
poured himself out" (as in, "he gave himself completely") rather than, "he
emptied himself." Both are possible readings, but the second does not
produce such theological frisson.
Second, I don't understand why we are to start from *there* (the kenotic
doctrine in Phil. 2:5-11), rather than with, say, the passage in Hebrews
13:8 -- "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." The
Hebrews passage suggests perhaps that God's being is fixed and unchanging,
not subject to willful revision, so that the incarnation did not alter
God's nature but captured it completely under the conditions of humanity
(Christ is fully God, and fully human). Why not "start from there [i.e.,
Hebrews 13:8] & adapt our understanding of God's being & will to that
rather than the other way around"? What is it that privileges the kenotic
doctrine in Phil. 2:5-11 over other texts as a hermeneutical template?
Tom Pearson
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_________________________________________________________________________
Thomas D. Pearson
Department of History and Philosophy
The University of Texas-Pan American
Edinburg, Texas
e-mail: pearson@panam1.panam.edu
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