Christological Hymn Demonstrating Leadership of Jesus

Christological Hymn Demonstrating Leadership of Jesus 1

Running Head: CHRISTOLOGICAL HYMN DEMONSTRATING LEADERSHIP OF JESUS

Christological Hymn Demonstrating Leadership of Jesus

Wilbur A. Reid

Regent University


Abstract

Paul presents a Christological hymn in Philippians 2:5-11 that is “one of the most theologically

significant passages in the New Testament” (Norris, 2008, p. 5). It helps us better understand

the divinity and the humanity of Jesus, and also provides insights into effective leadership. His

choice to relinquish his power and become a servant is an example of authentic and servant

leadership that should be emulated by leaders today. The benefit of this selfless behavior is

evident in the paradox of being exalted so that all will worship him.


Christological Hymn Demonstrating Leadership of Jesus

A common way of keeping teaching and tradition alive and passing it from one

generation to the next is through stories and songs. While the gospels presented the stories of

Jesus and his teachings, the early church also used hymns to tell the stories (Peterson, 2004). It is

believed that the text that Paul uses in Philippians 2:5-11 is the text of a pre-Pauline hymn that

was used in the early church to tell of the servant and divine nature of Christ (Robbins, 1980). It

is a “magnificent hymn, extolling many distinctive doctrines of the Christian faith. These include

the preexistence of Christ, His deity, His equality with God the Father, Christ’s incarnation, and

true humanity” (McLeod, 2001, p. 308). The purpose of this paper is to: (a) provide the context

of the Christological hymn, (b) examine the texture of the hymn, (c) examine the message of the

hymn, and (d) compare and contrast the leadership model presented by Paul to current leadership

theories and models.

Context

A central theme in the teachings of Jesus was humility and service. Early in his ministry,

he begins the Sermon on the Mount by turning conventional wisdom upside down by saying that

the people that are poor in spirit, merciful, and meek are the ones that are blessed (Matt. 5:3-10).

Jesus told a parable about picking seats of honor at a banquet, and then concluded by saying “For

everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted"

(Luke 14:11, NIV). When the apostles were arguing about who would be the greatest in the

kingdom,

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead,


whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:26-28).

Toward the end of a ministry spent serving the common man with teaching and healing,

John records two occasions that Jesus was with his disciples and modeled servant leadership.

The first was in the upper room at the last supper when Jesus demonstrated servant leadership by

washing his disciples’ feet, and then instructing them to do likewise (John 13:14). After his

resurrection, Jesus invited the disciples to breakfast on the shore and once again demonstrated

servant leadership by preparing breakfast and serving it to them (John 21:12, 13). The life of

Jesus exemplified the nature of being a servant. Servant leaders establish trust “by being

completely honest and open, keeping actions consistent with values, and showing trust in

followers” (Greenleaf, 1977). The leadership that Jesus modeled for the disciples was

revolutionary for his time (Agosto, 2005), but his disciples learned from him and this small

group of men changed the world by implementing servant leadership in churches (1 Peter 5:1-6).

Although the text of Philippians 2:5-11 is beautiful and doctrinally significant, Paul

included this hymn in the letter to the Philippians for a very practical reason. Philippi was an

important city that valued its imperial connections, and “Roman culture valued force,

competition, and honor seeking” (Peterson, 2004, p. 180). This culture seemed to be infiltrating

the church and the congregation was “in danger of disintegration because of a competitive spirit

creeping in among the members” (Collange, 1979, p. 94). The 2nd chapter of Philippians begins

with Paul pleading with the Christians to sacrifice their own personal desires by being “like-

minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish

ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Phil 2:2-

3). Therefore, the practicality of including this hymn in the letter to the Philippians is to remind


them of the example that was set by Christ so that they would change their attitudes and

behavior.

Texture

Ernest Lohmeyer provided ground-breaking analysis of Philippians 2:5-8 in 1928, but the

rhythm was choppy and the third stanza had an extra line (Robbins, 1980). Lohmeyer even

suggested that the troublesome extra line “even death on the cross” (Phil 2:8) be removed as

perhaps something that Paul added to the original hymn (Wegener, 1998). In trying to restore the

original rhythmical form of the original language, he divided the hymn into six stanzas of three

verses each. In 1953, Joachim Jeremias provided a significant modification to Lohmeyer’s

structure by removing three lines that he felt that Paul had added to the original hymn for the

purpose of emphasis for the Philippians (Wegener). Robbins used 12 lines divided into 4 groups,

which “better preserves the cadence of the long flowing clauses, which is so characteristic, not

only of classical literature, but also of the better written parts of the New Testament” (Robbins,

p. 74). Although there were attempts to remove some lines of the text in the mid 20th century,

recent scholars have worked with the original Pauline form (Wegener). Based on the vocabulary

and style, Lohmeyer believed that this hymn was composed in Greek by a poet whose mother

tongue was semitic, which leads him to believe that it was pre-Pauline.

The text depicts Christ in different stages: (a) preexistence, (b) earthly humiliation, and

(c) heavenly exultation. It can also be divided by location, with events beginning in the heavenly

realm, transitioning to the earthly realm, and then transitioning back to the heavenly realm. This

sequence is depicted in table 1.


Message

There has been a tremendous amount of analysis and debate about various parts of the

Christological hymn of Philippians 2 (Peterson, 2004), but it is important not to miss the basic

message that Paul was conveying to the Philippians. In a culture that honored and praised the

strong and those with high status, Paul holds up the example of Jesus as a servant to be emulated.

It was a paradox that must have been difficult for the readers of the letter to comprehend. Paul

begins the letter by describing himself and Timothy as servants, or slaves, of Christ Jesus (Phil.

1:1), and then later describes Timothy as serving for the gospel (Phil 2:22).

Much of the theological debate about the Philippian Christological hymn is in the very

first phrase of Phil 2:5: “Who, being in very nature God” (McLeod, 2001). This indicates that

Jesus was, at his core, one and the same as God. The Greek term pointed to the “metaphysical


property of an object so that it refers to nature or essence” (McLeod). Even though Jesus was

God, he did not “cling to his prerogatives as God’s equal” (Phil 2:6, Phillips). The Greek word

that is used for clinging or grasping is a rarely used word that does not appear in scripture and

appears seldom even in pagan literature, but seems to be best translated as “something to be

taken advantage of” (McLeod).

The second and third stanzas describe the emptying of himself to take on the nature of a

servant and being obedient to the will of the Father. This idea of kenosis, or emptying oneself,

does not indicate that he lost his divinity, but he fulfilled prophecy by pouring himself out

(Wegener, 1998). Isaiah prophesied about the messiah:

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isa 53:12).

R.T. Kendall described Jesus taking the form of a servant as being (a) dependent, (b) deprived,

(c) discredited, (d) degraded, and (e) demeaned (Kendall, 1992). In addition to be found in the

appearance of a man, other scriptures go into more detail regarding the completeness and

genuineness of Christ’s humanity (Luke 2:52, John 1:14, Rom. 8:3, Gal. 4:4, Col 1:22, Heb 2:17,

4:15, 5:7-8, 1 John 4:2-3), which also refute the ancient heresies of Docetism, which denied that

Jesus had a genuine human body, and Apollinarianism, which denied that Jesus had a true human

spirit (McLeod, 2001).

Just when his audience felt that Jesus was at the lowest point possible as he died on the

cross, God immediately and suddenly lifts his status to the highest point possible. He is exalted


and given a name that is above all others. There has been debate about the name that will be

given to Jesus. Although he may just be referring his human name of Jesus or one of the names

of God that we know, there may be a new name that we do not know or understand (McLeod,

2001). However, it will be clear to all that Jesus will be exalted and glorified (Jowers, 2006).

Leadership

Bekker (2009) categorizes the study of Christian leadership into four types: (a) mimetic,

(b) concerned with a correct understanding of power, (c) follower-centered, and (d)

Christological. Paul encourages all of us to have this mind in us that was in Jesus (Phil 2:4)

because our Christian worldview affects everything that we do and say (Colson & Pearcey,

1999) and leaders will behave in ways that are consistent with their personal values (Fields,

2007). Therefore, the study of leadership must go deeper than viewing personality traits or a

series of behaviors to understand what is within a person.

Wortham (1993) explains that Christological texts are relevant not only for understanding

Christ, but also for understanding our social role and identity in the Christian community. This

Christological hymn provides insight into what it means not only to be a Christian, but also to be

a Christian leader. In his book Lead Like Jesus, Ken Blanchard (2005) said that Jesus made it

clear that he expects us to have an impact on our world by being effective servant-leaders.

Robert Greenleaf, considered to be the originator of modern servant-leadership thought, stated

that the “servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to

serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead” (Greenleaf, 1977, p. 27).

Skeptics might question whether a servant-leadership style would be successful in today’s

environment, but secular business leaders are now beginning to discover this old principle. In his


book Good to Great, Jim Collins described the most effective CEOs as ‘Level 5 Leaders’. These

are leaders that "blend extreme personal humility with intense professional will" (Collins, p. 21).

This idea of servant leadership is in contrast with the early leadership theories that

focused on the traits of leadership that represented strength, power, and charisma (Gray, 2008). It

is also in stark contrast with the leadership model of the day, which exalted men like Caesar to

the status of a god. Instead, “Paul proposes downward mobility for the more affluent members of

the congregation and encourages communal or shared accountability” (Gray, p. 6).

Conclusion

Paul’s concern for the unity of the body is evident in passages like 1 Corinthians 12,

where he describes the members of the church as parts of the body working together, and

Philippians 2 where he describes the humility of Christ in serving others (Allen, 2007). The

paradox that is presented in Philippians 2 between the appeal of status and power of the Roman

culture that was prevalent in Philippi and the humility of Christ is stark (Gray, 2008). Paul

presents this hymn to challenge “the notions and principles of the prevalent shame/honor social

matrix of Roman societies by offering an alternate set of behaviors and values that stood in stark

contrast with those of the dominant culture” (Bekker, 2008, p. 1).


References

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Christological Hymn Demonstrating Leadership of Jesus