The paradox of the Christian Faith
"Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5–8) This rich Christological hymn from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians articulates the foundational mystery of the Incarnation and the Paschal sacrifice of Christ. It serves not only as a theological doctrine but as a summons to ethical imitation. Paul exhorts the faithful to adopt the "attitude" or phronesis of Christ—the interior disposition that governed His actions. What follows is a sacred descent, a litany of divine self-abasement that reveals not only who Christ is, but what it means to live in communion with Him. The hymn begins with Christ's pre-existence: He was “in the form o...