How far did God humble himself?

We cannot grasp how much God humbled himself

I am persuaded that no man has any idea how wonderful a stoop it was for God to dwell like this in human flesh, and to be “God with us.” –Charles Spurgeon

As our church is exploring the doctrine of the Incarnation this Advent, I have found that no other aspect of the reality of God becoming man causes me to tremble in wonder so much as when I have meditated on how far God truly humbled himself. It is this idea (the humility of God) that is offensive to many other worldviews, especially Islam. And yet, it is the very rock on which Christianity stands—that although God is transcendent and glorious, majestic and powerful, creator and sustainer, he became limited and weak, poor and frail, humble and lowly in the Incarnation.

1. God came, emptying …

Paul states in Philippians 2 that “though [Jesus] was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself…” (2:6-7a). Though Jesus was God, he didn’t hold onto his position but “emptied” himself. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for even bible-believing Christians to think that Jesus was somehow “subtracting” some of his divine nature and attributes in order to become man. But this is not true. Jesus did not remove some of his divine nature to become human, he added on a human nature. In this, he continued to be truly God (in every sense) in his divine nature and was truly Human (in every sense) in his human nature. 

As Paul explains, Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7, emphasis added). The incarnation was not an act of subtraction but addition. The “emptying of himself” that Jesus did was not an emptying of his divine nature. It was an emptying of what his divine nature deserved. He humbled himself and emptied himself, by adding on the lowly likeness of human form. 

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. –2 Corinthians 8:9

The great and glorious king of the universe took on beggar’s clothes and walked among us—the infinitely valuable took on poverty. This is what J.I Packer calls the “real kenosis: a laying aside of glory” (Packer, Knowing God, 62). Imagine that your child’s bicycle chain broke and needed to be fixed. Imagine you came home to find that your spouse used their priceless wedding ring to replace the broken link in the chain. We would be rightly shocked. Why? Because it is unthinkable to use something of such value and honor for something so lowly and mundane. Yet, this is exactly what God did. He set aside all that his nature, glory, and beauty deserved. He willingly took on a nature and position infinitely below him, as the ultimate act of humility.

2. God came, serving …

As 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, it was for “your sake” God became poor. As Philippians 2:7 says, Jesus emptied himself, by “taking the form of a servant.” The creator of the universe came as one who was birthed by one of his own creatures to serve human beings. 

Consider Matthew 20. James and John (at the request of their mother) ask Jesus for places of honor in his kingdom. He corrects them for asking this and the rest of the disciples get angry at them. Then Jesus says this…

25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” –Matthew 20:25-28

Although the rulers of this world grasp onto their power and lord over others, God’s kingdom is different. Greatness comes from servantheartedness. And what is the ultimate example Jesus gives for such humble service? Himself. He claims the title “Son of Man” for himself (a title of great majesty and authority) and says that when he came, he didn’t come to be served but to serve others and give his life away to ransom them. This means that humility wasn’t a secondary thing or a means to an end. Humility was all the way at the center of the Incarnation. There were things about God’s self-giving heart, truths about God nature, purposes, holiness, and mission deep within him that could not be expressed without Jesus incarnating as a poor human and taking the role of a humble servant. Jesus, in the Incarnation, wasn’t just pretending to be humble. It was the deepest manifestation of his gracious and loving heart.

3. God came, dying …

How far did God’s humility go? How far did Jesus’ loving heart go for us? Paul gives us the answer.

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:7-8

The heart of Jesus was so humble and lowly that, even though he was the one who created the ones who murdered him and was “sustaining them by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3), he allowed them to seize him in the dead of night, falsely accuse him, mock him, betray him, deny him, whip him, strip him naked, cast lots for his clothes, press down a ring of thorns into his head, drive nails into his hands and feet, and lift him up on a wooden cross on a hill between two criminals for all to make fun of.

It was not that Jesus was helpless either. He could have stopped it at any moment. When the mob came to take him, the disciples tried to stop them by force and Jesus rebuked them saying, “Put your sword back in its place… Do you think I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:52-53). While people were mocking him saying, “If you’re the Messiah, save yourself! Come down off that cross, you coward…” Jesus could have called an army of 72,000 angels to stop everything! He had so much power and authority he could have grasped but he didn’t. Instead he said, “Father, forgive them! They don’t understand.”

Can you imagine the angels in heaven crying out as they watched the holy Son of God who made them—the one on whom they awaited every order, the master they joyfully followed—watching in agony as the Holy One was tortured and murdered, all the while saying, “Do nothing. Let it happen.” No wonder the sky grew dark and the earth shook and the curtain of the temple torn in half as the glorious God over all, in his human form, humbled himself to the point of death in the most shameful and horrifying of ways.

In a world where we often find it hard to trust and feel secure in the love of others, when we come to Jesus and ask him, “Oh Jesus, will your love really go all the way? When I am at my worst? When I am needy? When I am broken? When I am hurt and torn and tempted and tried and am a failure? Will your love remain?” Jesus looks back and says, “No one has greater love than that which is willing to lay down his own life” (John 15:13). Jesus’ love drove him from a humility that came from deep in his heart and drove him all the way to the edges, all the way to the bottom, all the way into a grave. Because of this, you can know he will never leave or forsake you. His love will endure.

Have you lost your wonder at the Incarnation?

If we are not in awe and wonder at the reality of God becoming man in Jesus Christ, it might be that we have forgotten this dimension of the Incarnation: God’s shocking humility. In his emptying, in his serving, in his dying … we see the depth of the humility of God’s heart. The proper response to such humility is to first receive it (surrendering to Jesus and receiving his love), then to rejoice in it (worshiping and enjoying Jesus for it), and then to reflect it (humbling ourselves like Jesus and to start serving). The “mind of Christ” we are called to have in Philippians 2 is one that looks “not to our interests but to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4). This mind is available for us to “have” and receive (Phil. 2:5). But the outcome of such humility from God is the unbridled worship for and joy in Jesus Christ. As Paul concludes …

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Phil. 2:9-11

May the humility of God in the Incarnation drive us to such unbridled worship and joy now, this Christmas, and for the rest of our lives. One day we will see his fleshly body in real-time, bearing the scars of his humility, and our knees will drop in joy-ridden awe at the God-man who came so far down to rescue sinners like us, those who did nothing to deserve it.