Der „Raub“ der Gottgleichheit. Ein religionsgeschichtlicher Vorschlag zu Phil 2,6(–11)

Abstract

Phil 2:6b should be given a clearly negative interpretation (“robbery”) and not regarded as an idiom. The key to Phil 2:6b can be found in biblical, Jewish and Hellenistic traditions surrounding a usurpation of equality with God by kings and rulers. The self-humiliating Christ (who did not claim equality with God) is conceived as an antitypos of the self-elevating rulers of the world; his divine rule is not based on usurpation. Phil 2:6-11 is keenly aware of the Jewish notion of the one and only God; the mantle of God’s oneness also embraces Christ as the Lord.