The Incarnation
The Humiliation of Christ
The Kenosis - Self-Emptying
Description
The incarnation involved a profound humiliation, described in Philippians 2 as Christ 'emptying Himself.' This kenosis does not mean He ceased to be God or surrendered divine attributes; rather, He voluntarily veiled His glory, declined to exercise certain divine prerogatives independently, and submitted to human limitations. The eternal, infinite, omnipotent God became a helpless infant, grew tired, thirsted, and ultimately died. He who was rich became poor; He who was served became a servant; He who was worshiped was mocked. This self-emptying reached its nadir at Calvary, where the Lord of glory hung naked between criminals.
Key Verses
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.