The Titles of Jesus in Philippians:
Their Implications and Christological Significance
1. INTRODUCTION
“Paul”, my mind spontaneously vocalized while reading the Philippians, “Is not mad after the Lord?” and again, “He is obsessed with titles by repeating them countlessly. Is he not?” It is quite natural for any reader to feel with me, because of the innumerable titles generously attributed by him to his beloved Lord in a very short letter, loaded with Christological connotations. Hence it would be only fragmentary to limit the scope, to the titles of Jesus and draw out their implications to Jesus and the Christological significance.
2. THE TITLES OF JESUS
Giving titles to deity is a universal phenomenon in all religious experiences. The title is a result of a deep encounter with the deity by the seer, which has two-fold function in reciprocity. First, the seer’s or the community’s religious experience is capsuled in a form of a title. Second, the title reminds the devotee constantly the memory of the experience with the deity. Moreover such titles do not necessarily present the wholistic idea of the deity. So also Paul in Philippians has attempted to verbalize his experience of the Risen Lord through various fragmentary titles to make a mosaic of the multifaceted Jesus Christ. Such titles are of two kinds in content.
2.1 God Incarnate
By the predominant notion of Christ of faith, Paul is in line with the theology from above of John, in other words, the Kenotic Christology, which gets its optimum expression in the Christological Hymn (2:6-11).[1] Because unlike the disciples, Paul’s Christ experience was merely in the Risen Lord, and not from anybody else (cf. Acts 9:1-19; 13:1-3; 22:6-16). This unique encounter has sunk into the core of his being that he emphatically proclaims Christ as God through profuse titles such as: my Lord (3:8); Saviour (3:20); the Lord (1:14; 2:11,24,29; 3:1; 4:1,2,4,5,10); Christ (1:13,15,16,17,18,20, 21,23,26,29; 2:1; 3:8,9,10); the Lord Jesus Christ (1:2; 3:20; 4:23); Jesus Christ (1:6,11; 2:11,21); Christ Jesus (1:1,8; 2:5; 3:3,8,12,14; 4:7,19,21); form of God (2:6); name of Jesus (2:10); the Lord Jesus (2:19); work of Christ (2:30); gospel of Christ (1:27); cross of Christ (3:18); day of Christ (1:10; 2:16). These utterances explain the deep faith of Paul, in Jesus, who is God incarnate.
2.2 Perfect Human
Since the Risen Christ is the primary source of Paul’s faith, he did not attend much to the facts of the historical Jesus in his letters. Even if he describes the humanity of Jesus, it is always in reference to the Christ of faith. However in the eyes of Paul, the human realities of Jesus such as: obedient to the point of death (2:8); death on a cross (2:8); form of a slave (2:7); born in human likeness (2:7) valued high, that God could choose to make his Word become flesh in Jesus Christ. Therefore in the Conciliar vocabulary, Jesus is the perfect human, in whose incarnation the whole humanity is made holy, and along with whole creation oriented towards Christo-Genesis as Teilhard de Chardin calls, because the perfect human is the Lord of the universe after his death and resurrection.
3. IMPLICATIONS
The Pauline titles have their specific implications. Jesus always refers to the historical person and Christ stands for the resurrected Jesus. Paul often calls Christ, in other titles like Lord, and with full title, the lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the titles of Christ are equivalent to God, in other words, Jesus who is risen is God himself. The wordings like, “grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2), and “though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God” (2:6) would clearly imply Christ’s equal status with Father and intrinsic divinity. The visible presence of various propositions like, in, with, of, through, running along the titles (cf. 1:1,26,29; 2:1,5,19; 3:7,9; 4:10,23) suggest the soteriological aspect namely, the Father realizing the economy of salvation gradually through the mission of Christ, and eventually culminating in Christ, who is the eschaton (cf. 1:10; 2:16).
4. CHRISTOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Even though the Christological motifs are evident in the entire Pauline Corpus, in Philippians it is focused, and the summit of which is the classical hymn (2:6-11). The Kenotic Christology has greater significance and base for various branches of theology here. First, the plan of the Father is ultimately manifested in the willingness of Christ, who is intrinsically divine (cf. 2:6) to stoop to be a human (cf. 2:7). This divine act gives way for the theology of incarnation by which the whole universe is made holy. Besides, Christ’s humbling himself in human form and not in any other lower form, the theology of image of God is reaffirmed (cf. 2:7). Second, soteriological aspects flows from Christology that in and through Christ, the Father actualizes every creation to himself (cf. 1:11; 3:21). This will be fulfilled at parousia in Christ (cf. 1:10; 2:16), who is the eschaton (cf. 4:5). Third, Christ who humbled himself, but exalted by the Father is the model for all believers (cf. 2:1-11; 4:2-3). Hence the community of faith will be united in Christ (cf. 1:27-28; 2:2-3), and manifested in joy (cf. 1:18; 4:4,11) in spite of affliction and temptation (cf. 1:27-30).
5.CONCLUSION
Thus Paul has theologized in the letter to Philippians based on his Christ experience as a starting point to present the Christ event to his milieu. He makes use of the titles, imageries, and hymns common to the people to profess his faith. His limitless titles of Jesus firmly affirm that Christ, whom he met on the road to Damascus is the Lord who has stooped to be a perfect human in order to fulfill the mission of his Father. This plan will be entirely actualized at parousia. Until then, the community of the faithful will be modeled after Christ, and remain a sign to the world by manifesting unity and joy.
G. Robert John Kennedy
31 August 2003
[1] Henceforth, all quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, The New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition for India, Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1999. They are immediately noted by permitted abbreviations for the particular book in the Bible.
1. INTRODUCTION
“Paul”, my mind spontaneously vocalized while reading the Philippians, “Is not mad after the Lord?” and again, “He is obsessed with titles by repeating them countlessly. Is he not?” It is quite natural for any reader to feel with me, because of the innumerable titles generously attributed by him to his beloved Lord in a very short letter, loaded with Christological connotations. Hence it would be only fragmentary to limit the scope, to the titles of Jesus and draw out their implications to Jesus and the Christological significance.
2. THE TITLES OF JESUS
Giving titles to deity is a universal phenomenon in all religious experiences. The title is a result of a deep encounter with the deity by the seer, which has two-fold function in reciprocity. First, the seer’s or the community’s religious experience is capsuled in a form of a title. Second, the title reminds the devotee constantly the memory of the experience with the deity. Moreover such titles do not necessarily present the wholistic idea of the deity. So also Paul in Philippians has attempted to verbalize his experience of the Risen Lord through various fragmentary titles to make a mosaic of the multifaceted Jesus Christ. Such titles are of two kinds in content.
2.1 God Incarnate
By the predominant notion of Christ of faith, Paul is in line with the theology from above of John, in other words, the Kenotic Christology, which gets its optimum expression in the Christological Hymn (2:6-11).[1] Because unlike the disciples, Paul’s Christ experience was merely in the Risen Lord, and not from anybody else (cf. Acts 9:1-19; 13:1-3; 22:6-16). This unique encounter has sunk into the core of his being that he emphatically proclaims Christ as God through profuse titles such as: my Lord (3:8); Saviour (3:20); the Lord (1:14; 2:11,24,29; 3:1; 4:1,2,4,5,10); Christ (1:13,15,16,17,18,20, 21,23,26,29; 2:1; 3:8,9,10); the Lord Jesus Christ (1:2; 3:20; 4:23); Jesus Christ (1:6,11; 2:11,21); Christ Jesus (1:1,8; 2:5; 3:3,8,12,14; 4:7,19,21); form of God (2:6); name of Jesus (2:10); the Lord Jesus (2:19); work of Christ (2:30); gospel of Christ (1:27); cross of Christ (3:18); day of Christ (1:10; 2:16). These utterances explain the deep faith of Paul, in Jesus, who is God incarnate.
2.2 Perfect Human
Since the Risen Christ is the primary source of Paul’s faith, he did not attend much to the facts of the historical Jesus in his letters. Even if he describes the humanity of Jesus, it is always in reference to the Christ of faith. However in the eyes of Paul, the human realities of Jesus such as: obedient to the point of death (2:8); death on a cross (2:8); form of a slave (2:7); born in human likeness (2:7) valued high, that God could choose to make his Word become flesh in Jesus Christ. Therefore in the Conciliar vocabulary, Jesus is the perfect human, in whose incarnation the whole humanity is made holy, and along with whole creation oriented towards Christo-Genesis as Teilhard de Chardin calls, because the perfect human is the Lord of the universe after his death and resurrection.
3. IMPLICATIONS
The Pauline titles have their specific implications. Jesus always refers to the historical person and Christ stands for the resurrected Jesus. Paul often calls Christ, in other titles like Lord, and with full title, the lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the titles of Christ are equivalent to God, in other words, Jesus who is risen is God himself. The wordings like, “grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:2), and “though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God” (2:6) would clearly imply Christ’s equal status with Father and intrinsic divinity. The visible presence of various propositions like, in, with, of, through, running along the titles (cf. 1:1,26,29; 2:1,5,19; 3:7,9; 4:10,23) suggest the soteriological aspect namely, the Father realizing the economy of salvation gradually through the mission of Christ, and eventually culminating in Christ, who is the eschaton (cf. 1:10; 2:16).
4. CHRISTOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Even though the Christological motifs are evident in the entire Pauline Corpus, in Philippians it is focused, and the summit of which is the classical hymn (2:6-11). The Kenotic Christology has greater significance and base for various branches of theology here. First, the plan of the Father is ultimately manifested in the willingness of Christ, who is intrinsically divine (cf. 2:6) to stoop to be a human (cf. 2:7). This divine act gives way for the theology of incarnation by which the whole universe is made holy. Besides, Christ’s humbling himself in human form and not in any other lower form, the theology of image of God is reaffirmed (cf. 2:7). Second, soteriological aspects flows from Christology that in and through Christ, the Father actualizes every creation to himself (cf. 1:11; 3:21). This will be fulfilled at parousia in Christ (cf. 1:10; 2:16), who is the eschaton (cf. 4:5). Third, Christ who humbled himself, but exalted by the Father is the model for all believers (cf. 2:1-11; 4:2-3). Hence the community of faith will be united in Christ (cf. 1:27-28; 2:2-3), and manifested in joy (cf. 1:18; 4:4,11) in spite of affliction and temptation (cf. 1:27-30).
5.CONCLUSION
Thus Paul has theologized in the letter to Philippians based on his Christ experience as a starting point to present the Christ event to his milieu. He makes use of the titles, imageries, and hymns common to the people to profess his faith. His limitless titles of Jesus firmly affirm that Christ, whom he met on the road to Damascus is the Lord who has stooped to be a perfect human in order to fulfill the mission of his Father. This plan will be entirely actualized at parousia. Until then, the community of the faithful will be modeled after Christ, and remain a sign to the world by manifesting unity and joy.
G. Robert John Kennedy
31 August 2003
[1] Henceforth, all quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, The New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition for India, Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1999. They are immediately noted by permitted abbreviations for the particular book in the Bible.
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