Jesus Took the Form of a Slave Though He Was Equal with God

The idea that we are servants, that we are slaves, that we are totally dependent on the will of God, is woven into the whole fabric of the Gospel. And that is why the apostle Paul always regarded himself precisely as a servant and a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. In almost all his epistles, the apostle Paul identified himself as Paul, a servant, a doulos of Jesus Christ.

For example, in Philippians chapter 1, verse 1, Paul introduces himself this way: “Paul and Timothy, servants, douloi,” right? That is the Greek word for slaves, “slaves of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,” and so on. Paul always regarded himself as a mere slave of the Lord because he wanted to emphasize that his life was entirely at the Father’s disposal, for whatever God might wish to do with him. He saw himself as a mere instrument.

What is more, he called himself one of the greatest sinners, saying that he did not deserve to serve God because he had persecuted the Church. He says that he regarded everything as rubbish so that he might know Jesus Christ better. He considered himself dead to the world and to himself because he wanted God to fill him and possess him, and to express Himself fully through him.

As John the Baptist said of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ must increase and I must decrease—or we must decrease—so that Christ may be magnified. That is the attitude Paul certainly exemplified in his own life, and that we too are supposed to exemplify. Every servant of God, man or woman, should be—and must be—distinguished by a posture of complete surrender to the Lord’s will, almost crawling on the ground, in a sense, to please the Father.

And when I say that, remember that at some point I will also be speaking about the great dignity God grants us; that, too, is another part of this teaching. But at the most basic level, our attitude must be one of complete service, complete surrender, complete submission to the Father’s will, and of not governing ourselves.

And not only that: even if we have done everything, carried out tremendously heroic acts, given our whole lives to the Lord, and been greatly used by God to bring about great advances for the Kingdom of God, even after doing all those things, our posture should be this: you know what? I haven’t done very much. Compared with what God has done for me, it is nothing. We must always be, as it were, humbling ourselves.

Not in a compulsive, negative, psychological way, out of low self-esteem or a depressive attitude, but rather out of a healthy recognition that, in truth, ultimately we do nothing except what God allows us to do, and that often God allows us to do things in His Kingdom because of His great generosity, mercy, and goodness—not because we deserve the privilege of doing something for God, for in truth we do not even deserve that.

And not only did Paul regard himself as a doulos, a slave, a mere servant of Jesus Christ, inviting us as well—and continuing to invite us through the Word—to adopt that same attitude, but Scripture also calls us to meditate on Jesus Christ, who did the same in His own life and made Himself a mere servant of God.

You remember the famous passage in Philippians chapter 2, where, in verse 5, Paul says: “Let this mind be in you”—that attitude spoken of in that parable in John 17—“the same mind that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to cling to, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a doulos, taking the form of a slave, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and, being in the condition of a doulos, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” Do you not see here a reflection of that same attitude?

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in His own ministerial and spiritual journey, took on that form of a slave although He was equal to God. That is why it says He did not treat equality with God as something to grasp, but let it go. He adopted that attitude of self-emptying, setting aside His greatness and His full dignity and becoming a mere man—not a mere man, but one in human form—and a servant, someone wholly surrendered to the Father’s will. And Paul says: let that same attitude be in you that was in our Lord Jesus Christ, who became a slave of God although He was equal to God.

And we will see that, in a sense, this is our own situation, because God has granted us great dignity, made us members of His family, made us members of His intimate circle of friends. But we must also understand that, besides all that, we are servants of God, we are ultimately slaves of God, and we must not lose sight of that fundamental condition, which must be the foundation of our lives.

God bless you, and we will continue drawing lessons from this illustration in our next meditation.