Tag Archives: Philippians 2:7

Philippians 2:7 and the Incarnation

Jack Cottrell Posted on by

            QUESTION:   In our Bible study we are examining Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  In chapter 2, verse 7, the text we are using (the NASB) translates it as saying that Jesus “emptied Himself.”  Our preacher says that this means that when God the Son became a human being, “he laid down his divinity” or “gave up his divine nature.”  Is this really what that verse is saying?           ANSWER:  I’m sorry that I have to disagree with your preacher, but this is an impossible understanding of this passage.  Here Paul is talking about the second person of the Trinity, … Continue reading →

WAS JESUS OMNISCIENT?

Jack Cottrell Posted on by

QUESTION: Did Jesus’ divine nature include omniscience? Was Jesus all-knowing? If so, how do we explain Matthew 24:36? ANSWER: Many crucial Christian beliefs are involved in the answer to such questions, e.g., the immutability (unchangeableness) of God, the nature of the incarnation, and especially the divine nature of Jesus, which is the presupposition for the substitutionary atonement. Unless Jesus was fully divine and thus infinite in nature, He could not have been the propitiation for our sins, suffering the equivalent of eternity in hell for the entire human race in the finite event of the cross. (See my book, What … Continue reading →