JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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Phillips Brooks succinctly captures the meaning of this passage with the statement:
"Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity."7
The confession, "Jesus Christ is Lord" (Php 2:11) is the quintessential Christian creed.
In this creed Jesus is given the most august sense that it can bear. This is why Christians in
later generations refused to say, "Ceasar is Lord" because they knew that this was no mere
courtesy title that Caesar claimed; it was a title that implied his right to receive divine honors,
and in this sense they could give it to none but Jesus. There was "only one God, the Father . . .
and . . . only one Lord, Jesus Christ" (1 Co 8:6). In the Septuagint Old Testament Gentile
Christians read that Yahweh was denoted either by "God" (theos) or most often "Lord" (kyrios).
They reserved theos regularly for "God the Father" and kyrios regularly for "Jesus."
When divine honors are thus paid to the humiliated and exalted Jesus, "the glory of God
the Father" (Php 2:11) is not diminished but enhanced. When the Son is honored, the Father is
glorified; for none can bestow on the Son higher honors than the Father Himself has bestowed.
This passage is clear then, that the one who, before becoming human, possessed divine
qualities and did not regard that status as something to take advantage of, something to exploit,
but instead used it as an opportunity for obedient humiliation and death. God the Father
acknowledged such an attitude by exalting Him so share His own divine glory.
Paul used this passage to fulfill the role of his developing argument that Jesus' example is
one that Christians are to imitate. Just as God acknowledged Christ's self-emptying as the true
self-expression of divine equality, so He will acknowledge Christian self-abnegation (vv. 1-4,
12-18) in the same way (3:2,11,21).
People Prayed to Jesus
Orthodox Jews would pray to no one less than God. In the New Testament, however,
both God and Jesus were prayed to as "Lord":
"While they were stoning Him, Stephen prayed, 'Lord Jesus receive my spirit.'
Then He fell on His knees and cried out, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against
them'" (Ac 7:59-60).
Stephen not only prayed to Jesus, but also assumed that Jesus, as God, had the power to
forgive sin, even murder. (Other passages where prayer is offered to Jesus: 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Co 12:8-
9; Ac 8:16,24).