Daily Lesson for Thursday 22nd of January 2026
A popular verse in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 8:2: “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (NKJV). There is no subject about which we know everything. We can always learn something more about anything. How much more true is that of eternal realities connected with the Godhead and the Incarnation? Paul frequently refers to Christ’s amazing condescension in becoming a human being. It’s a subject that even eternity will be inadequate to exhaust.
Read Romans 8:3, Hebrews 2:14-18, and Hebrews 4:15. What characterized Jesus’ condescension and His taking of human nature?
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How was it possible for the eternal Son of God, through the operation of the Holy Spirit (see Luke 1:35), to become a divine-human being in Mary’s womb? It boggles the mind how the infinite and eternal could suddenly become a finite human being subject to death. That is the heart of what Paul calls “the mystery of godliness” (1 Timothy 3:16).
In the beautiful hymn of Philippians 2:1-30, Paul here elaborates on this condescension more fully in some respects than anywhere else in Scripture.
• “Being in the form of God” (Philippians 2:6). The word morphē (form) refers to His divine nature, that Jesus was equal to the Father (compare John 1:1).
• “Emptied Himself” (Philippians 2:7, NASB). The mysterious nature of Jesus emptying Himself of His divine prerogatives—so that He could become truly human and tempted as we are—is astonishing.
• “He humbled himself” (Philippians 2:8). In taking human nature, Jesus moved from universal supremacy to utter servanthood, the opposite of Lucifer’s aim.
• “Death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). There was no more ignominious way to die than the way Jesus chose, having planned it with the Father in the “counsel of peace” (Zechariah 6:13), illustrating it beforehand through Moses lifting up the serpent (Numbers 21:9, John 3:14), and thus becoming “sin for us . . . that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
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How can, and should, focusing on what Jesus did for us at the cross—seeing the Cross as our example of surrender and humility—make us more humble, as well as more submissive to God? |
