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Thread: The truest sign of someone who is divine

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    The truest sign of someone who is divine

    Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves

    That is easy for a human being to do. It should be much harder for someone who is divine to actually do that. Two verses later :

    5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

    Does that have something to do with verse 3 ? Of course it does. How is that ?

    6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be seized

    That doesn't sound like a great starting point for coming up with humility, especially not towards sinful human beings.

    7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

    Already in that act, he humbled himself before us beyond what we can conceive of. From God to human being in the space of the incarnation.

    8a And being found in appearance as a man

    Why did I cut the verse there ? Because that part is very important. He walked the Earth for over thirty years and nothing he ever did amounted to exalting himself out of being a human being and to where he was something that didn't qualify as human any longer. To someone who is essentially God, that could have been the greatest test of all, prior to his ordeal. It gets worse.

    8b he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

    He couldn't have gotten any lower than that, to suffer the worst death the Roman empire had for a rank criminal. And he underwent that willingly.

    9a Therefore God exalted him

    It is easy to read the verse as if it doesn't say "therefore", as if that word doesn't refer back to the previous 3 verses. As if it merely says that God exalted him since he was really divine. It doesn't say that. It says that he exalted him because he had humbled himself from divine and to where he was held to be the lowest among human beings. What does it mean ? It means that he considered others, all of us, better than himself. In the sense that he was willing to humble himself to death so that we could have life.

    In that very act he proved that he is in fact divine. Not simply by birthright, but by conduct. To where did God exalt Jesus ?

    9b to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name
    10 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.

    God can do that. He doesn't have to keep humbling Jesus to where the others are better than him. He is God and he can do whatever he wants. Back to where this started, verse 5 :

    5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

    Want to show yourself to be a parttaker in the divine nature ?

    Now you know how.

    Jesus is looking for servants who will be true to this principle unto death
    Last edited by Colonel; 07-26-2015 at 02:27 AM.

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Isaiah 14:13 “But you said in your heart,
    ‘I will ascend to heaven;
    I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
    And I will sit on the mount of assembly
    In the recesses of the north.
    14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
    15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
    To the recesses of the pit.

    Satan's sin started with him exalting himself. Humility before God is the most precious quality that a man can have in his heart. It should be priority number one to guard that, apart from remaining in the faith itself.

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    Humility seems to be a lost virtue; it just doesn't mesh well with our culture that emphasizes individualism, self-promotion, and self-aggrandizement. And it's a topic that, personally speaking, I rarely hear preached.

    Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. -- Matt 18

    Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. -- Matt 23

    Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. -- Matt 5

    Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. -- Matt 11

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Note that humility before God (and therefore before men) is not the same as always trying to be humble before men. Religious people have tried all kinds of versions of the latter before other human beings and have often made a complete mess.

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    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    Note that humility before God (and therefore before men) is not the same as always trying to be humble before men. Religious people have tried all kinds of versions of the latter before other human beings and have often made a complete mess.
    Do you find it hard to humble yourself before men

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cardinal TT View Post
    Do you find it hard to humble yourself before men
    You mean like this ?

    Matthew 5:41 Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

    A : Jesus go one mile with me
    Jesus : Okay, I'll go two miles with you
    B : Jesus go one mile with me
    Jesus : Okay, I'll go two miles with you too
    C : Jesus go one mile with me
    Jesus : Okay, i'll go two miles with you as well
    and so on until Jesus dies from exhaustion

    Is that what you call humility ?

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    Senior Member Cardinal TT's Avatar
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    Stick with the verse instead of manipulating it

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    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cardinal TT View Post
    Stick with the verse instead of manipulating it
    That was an example of how some people have interpreted Jesus' teaching about humility. The implicit was that I do not believe in interpreting it that way and then trying to follow it that way.

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    Super Moderator Quest's Avatar
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    People humble before God WILL BE humble before men...it's simple really...when God reveals ourselves to us we see clearly there is nothing to be prideful about...all we see is HIM, all He did FOR us, and all He does IN us and then all HE does through us...

    We can't be truly humble before me if we are not humble before the Father and if we are humble before the Father we can't help but be humble before men...In His presence we see HIS true self and we see OUR true self and all we can say is..LORD! None of me and all of YOU..PLEASE!!

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