Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
⁷ Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; 

he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
⁸     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Phil 2:6-8 NLT 

Footsteps #399.  The design of Philippians doesn’t develop one single idea from beginning to end, like many of Paul’s other letters. Rather, Paul has arranged a series of short reflective essays or vignettes. They all revolve around the centre of gravity in this letter, which is a poem in chapter 2. The poem of Phil.2:6-11 is one of the most profound passages in the entire Bible. It discusses the pre-existence of Christ, His divinity, His incarnation as an infant, His humanity, and His acceptance of death on the cross. It describes the long difficult, downward Rd that took Jesus from heaven to Calvary. It also describes how the Father exalts Him to a position of universal worship. A lot of amazing truth is packed into these verses.  

Then in each of the following vignettes, Paul will take up keywords or ideas from this poem to show how living as a Christian means seeing your own story as a lived expression of Jesus’ story. So Paul opens the letter with a prayer of gratefulness. He thanks God for the Philippian’s generosity, for their faithfulness and he expresses his confidence that the life-transforming work that God has begun in them will continue into greater and more beautiful expressions of faithfulness and love.  

Paul then focuses on their obvious concern at the moment, which is his status in prison. (1:12-26). Being in a Roman prison was no picnic, but, paradoxically it has turned out for good, to advance the good news about Jesus. So all of the Roman guards and the administrators all know that Paul is in prison for announcing Jesus is the risen Lord. His imprisonment has inspired confidence in other Christians to talk about Jesus more openly. Paul is optimistic he will be released from prison but it is possible that he could be executed. As he reflects on it, that actually would not be so bad because, “For me,” says Paul, “Life is the Messiah. So dying would be gain.” For Paul, his life in the present and in the future is defined by the life and love of Jesus for him. If he is executed then the next thing he will now, after the resurrection at the second coming (1 Corinthians 15:23), would be to be present with Jesus, which will be great for him. And if he is released, well that would mean he could keep working to start more Jesus communities, which would be better for other people, so that is what he hopes for. Notice how his train of thought works here. Dying for Jesus is not the true sacrifice for Paul. Rather it is staying alive to serve others. So that is Paul’s way of participating in the story of Jesus, to suffer in order to love others more than himself.