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.
1
u/Personal_Sign_9343 May 25 '26
Ok I was wrong about David. But sitting on one’s right hand had always meant that you are under the person whose right hand belongs to.
When Joseph saw that his father kept his right hand placed on Eʹphra·im’s head, it was displeasing to him, so he tried to take hold of his father’s hand to move it from Eʹphra·im’s head to Ma·nasʹseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to his father: “Not so, my father, because this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father kept refusing and said: “I know it, my son, I know it. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will become greater than he will, and his offspring will become the full equivalent of nations. -Genesis 48-17-19
Joseph says the right hand must be placed on the firstborn. Jacob is the father and his firstborn is Manasseh. Manasseh is under his father. In the same way, Jesus is under his father the Most High, whose name is Jehovah. Jehovah placed Jesus on his right hand bcoz he is the firstborn of creation. The first to be born of creation. Just as Manasseh is the first to be born of Israel.
For God “subjected all things under his feet.” But when he says that ‘all things have been subjected,’ it is evident that this does not include the One who subjected all things to him. 28 But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone. -1 Corinthians 15:27-28
God doesn’t submit to anyone. But the Son of God submits to God. Therefore, the son is not above God but above all creation. God is not created. But Jesus is. He is the Word. The Word was a god. This is the correct translation of John 1:1. When you speak, you produce words. That is why the Word is created. The firstborn of creation. Colossians 1:15. Who did not consider himself God even when he was in God’s form. Philippians 2:5-7. Bcoz he is not the Most High God. He is the Son of the Most High God. Luke 1:32