Jesus Did Not Consider it Plunder

A Reading of Philippians 2:6

Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash

Crispin Fletcher-Louis has a new book on the Christ “hymn” of Philippians 2:6-11, called The Divine Heartset: Paul's Philippians Christ Hymn, Metaphysical Affections, and Civic Virtues.

The blurb reads:

The fruit of a decade's research, this volume offers a new interpretation of the dense Christological narrative in Philippians 2:6-11, taking inspiration from recent advances in our understanding of the letter's Greek and Roman setting and from insights made possible by recently created linguistic databases. The passage's praise of Christ engages the language of Hellenistic ruler cults, Platonic metaphysics and moral philosophy, popular (Homeric) beliefs about the gods, and Greek love (eros), to articulate a scripturally grounded theology in which God is revealed to be one in two persons (God the Father and LORD Jesus Christ).

Crispin did an interview with The Two Cities podcast about his book which is a good listen.

I’m close to Crispin on many levels, not least in the desire to return to metaphysics and ontological categories when it comes to understanding Phil 2:6!

I have done a whole video on Phil 2:6 and the various interpretive issues that it brings up! Also, my book Jesus among the gods has several sections that spell out what it means to read the Christ hymn/poem within Judaism and in comparison to the Greco-Roman world.

One challenge is how to translate and interpret the Greek word harpagmos in v. 6, which means snatching, seizing, and plundering. Hence these translations:

who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (KJV).

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (ESV).

Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit (CSB).

One area where I think I agree with Crispin is that Jesus’s refusal to engage in harpagmos might be making a contrast between Jesus and the other gods who descended from heaven to engage in rapine, rapacious behaviour, and revelry. Or else, there is a comparison with kings who embellish themselves with divine rhetoric and seek to conquer and plunder all before them.

Here’s what I argue in Jesus among the gods …

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