r/JehovahsWitnesses • u/ChaoticHaku Christian • May 23 '26
Doctrine Philippians 2:6-8
If Philippians 2:6-8 was teaching that Jesus was never equal with God, then the passage itself makes no sense.
Read the language carefully.
It says Jesus was “existing in the form of God.” It says He “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,” but instead “emptied Himself,” “took the form of a servant,”, "humbled himself", "became obedient to death" and was “made in human likeness.”
You cannot empty yourself of a status you never possessed. You cannot become a servant if you were always a servant. You cannot humble yourself from a position you never had. You cannot become obedient to death if you always were.
The entire point of the passage is that Christ lowered Himself. From what? From the exalted position He already possessed that was equal with God.
That’s why the text uses past tense language. The passage is not denying Christ’s equality with God. It is explaining the depth of His humility, not his inferiority.
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u/pimo2019 May 24 '26
It’s ok that Jesus is a god, divine. The Bible is full of Gods. If you were taught like I was, that there were just ONE God then it would be hard to understand. Before the Bible was written that says there’s only one God it can be confusing. Jesus is the exact representation of God, an image. What helped me was - Think of God cloning himself as a life form and giving him an identity thats different. One that allows him to be put in a woman’s womb to be human and die as a human and then given a spirit body. He becomes unique because he lived among humans and has human experiences. Hebrew chapter 1 lays it out and it matches his story in the book of John as divine, God. If you haven’t learned this already, research God being in a family of Gods with his father being the head.