Body of Humiliation

October 3, 2014

The “body of our humiliation” in Philippians 3:21 is similar to what Paul writes elsewhere about “our mortal bodies” (Rom 6:12; cf “the body of this death,” Rom 7:24). It corresponds to Jesus humbling Himself to the point of death (Phi 2:8), and contrasts to His present “body of glory” (3:21).

There is a connection between humility and humiliation; the former is commanded and commended in Phi 2:3: we are to put away rivalry and conceit in favour of in humility counting others of greater significance than ourselves. Interestingly, glory fundamentally has the idea of weight, thus positing an interesting juxtaposition of counting others to be greater than ourselves with the weight of glory. Humility means making light of ourselves (which is not the same thing as self-denigration; Jesus is our pattern) and giving glory to others. This is the way of the cross.

Thus, within the context of the broken form of the present world, this humility involves humiliation—giving ourselves up in obedience to death, as the Messiah Himself did (Phi 3:8). It is precisely in view of this that God has highly exalted Him as Lord (3:9); and so too as we follow this pathway of the cross, we are assured that He will employ His Lordship to exalt us, to change our bodies to share in the same glory as His resurrected body. We will be given a weight that will overcome death itself.