Revelation of the Risen and Exalted Christ to Paul on Damascus RoadOPDC Part 5/6
A. The Risen and Exalted Christ
First, the apostle learned that Jesus was still alive – though in a form transcending mere flesh and blood. If Jesus after his death had been exalted in heaven, then this surely meant Jesus’ claims, or at least the claims made about Jesus, had been vindicated. Thus, Paul in Romans 1:4 says that Jesus was vindicated as or designated to be the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead.
B. The Preexistence of the Divine Jesus
Paul regarded Jesus as a preexistent person who was sent by God to earth and became human. Galatians 4:4 and Romans 8:3. Paul twice declares that God “sent” his “Son” underscores the Son’s origins with God and his full participation in humanity.
C. Philippians 2:5–11 – Christ’s Humiliation and Exaltation
v. 6 – Pre-existence and divine status
Note the distinction between Morphe and Schema
Morphe identified with the essence of a person or thing. The classical use of the word closely links it with ousia (essence), which then suggests that being in the form of God means possessing deity. Paul affirms that Christ, “existing in the form of God” (en morphē theou hyparchōn), possessed divine glory prior to the incarnation.
v. 7 – Voluntary self-emptying and incarnation
ἁρπαγμός harpagmos – something one already possesses (status, qualities) but decline to exploit for one’s own advantage. Instead Christ chose kenosis. The parallel between “form of God” and “form of servant” indicates not loss of deity but addition of humanity, pointing to humiliation through incarnation and obedience – Christ veiled his deity by assuming existence in the form of flesh.
v. 8 – Climactic humiliation in obedience unto death
Christ’s self-humbling reaches its climax in obedience “to the point of death – even death on a cross.”
The logic is downward: divine glory → servanthood → human likeness → obedient death → cross.
vv. 9–11 – Divine exaltation and universal lordship
In response, “God highly exalted him” (hyperypsōsen) and bestowed “the name above every name,” most plausibly “Lord” (Kyrios), echoing Isaiah 45:23. The one who humbled himself is now enthroned in universal sovereignty, receiving the worship due to YHWH.
The shift from “form of God” to “form of a slave” implies a transition from a heavenly position to human form. The text thus implies a V-shaped narrative, with Jesus’ divine preexistence (Phil. 2:6), humanity and humiliation (Phil. 2:7–8), and subsequent exaltation (Phil. 2:9–11).
D. Phil. 2: 5-11 and the NT Salvation Historical Framework
The emphasis is not just an isolated metaphysical hymn but a coherent New Testament Salvation-history framework. Philippians 2:5–11 should be read as:
1. Pre-Existence and the Eternal Starting Point of Salvation History (v. 6).
2. Adamic Failure and Christ’s Reversal (v. 6).
3. Incarnation as the Turning Point of History (v. 7).
4. Obedience unto Death as the Redemptive Climax (v. 8)
5. Exaltation as God’s Eschatological Verdict (v. 9).
6. The Gift of the Name and the Reconfiguration of Monotheism (vv. 9–11).
Narrated Christology (what God has done in history)
• Interpreted teleologically (toward God’s final purpose).
• Integrated with biblical-theological motifs (Last Adam, Servant, Lordship).
Paul’s concern is not how divinity works in itself, but how God’s saving action unfolds in time through the Son.
Conclusion
Paul, shaped by his cosmopolitan background and Jewish heritage and above all his climatic vision of the resurrected Christ on Damascus Road presents an unparalleled vision of the person and work of Christ.
Philippians 2:5–11 presents salvation history as the story of God’s eternal Son entering human history in obedient humility, accomplishing redemption through the cross, and being exalted as universal Lord– thereby inaugurating the new creation and defining the shape of redeemed human existence.
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Revelation of the Risen and Exalted Christ to Paul on Damascus Road. OPDC Part 5/6