Exegesis

LeTourneau University

Exegesis Paper

Philippians 2:5-11

Adrian Maxie

Paul’s Prison Letters

BIBL3623

Dr. Matt Farlow

August 23, 2015

        While reading Philippians 2:5-11, I was first confused about what I was reading. After going through this course I can now understand what these scriptures are saying. Not only do I understand, I can give an analysis of what is happening in this text. I will state that I read commentary for clarity but I rarely quote commentary. When reading scripture I think it is better for me to draw my own understanding but to use commentary to set me on the right path. This paper will serve as my exegetical analysis of Philippians 2:5-11.

What is the situation that Paul is addressing?

        In this passage Paul is addressing the fact that Jesus was humble. He is expressing how Jesus was so loyal to God that he emptied himself. Meaning he took everything that he was to walk amongst man. Jesus made himself seem as if he was mortal. Jesus was as a slave unlike any other slave. This is what gives God reason to exalt Jesus.

        As humans we like to feel important. We take our relationships personal and we usually want the world to know. This is usually were we fall short. I will use my family for example. Growing up, I went to the same schools that my parents went to and grandmother was the Principal at the high school while my parents were in school. While I was in high school all of my teachers knew who my parents and my grandmother were. Because of this I was given special treatment sometimes. I would get into trouble or what should have been trouble and it would end in a slap on the wrist. It was never anything major but I never got the punishment I deserved. This is why Jesus would have never completed his mission if he had remained attached to God. If he held on to the fact that he was the Son of God so he should have received better treatment. Paul addresses why Jesus chose the road less traveled in this verse.

How does what we know about the author and audience help us understand the “occasion”?

        Paul believed that Jesus was God. So to hear that Paul thinks Jesus wanted to completely empty himself and separate himself from God was not surprising to me. Paul wants us to see that Jesus and God are one in the same. In this passage he is using the term “emptied” as a means of separation. The word is showing that the two are separated now. Paul did not reference the Trinity when he uses speaks of God and Jesus; he is referencing them as one in the same. Paul is letting the people know that God is coming down to their level in the form of Jesus.