When we read Philippians 2:5, we see without much brainstorming that the mind of Christ is a mind of humility, selflessness and great reverence for The Father. We’ve discussed these 3 attributes of the mind of Christ in the first 2 parts of this series.

Is there anything else we see about the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:5?

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of Himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of Himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. he didn’t claim special privileges. Instead He lived a selfless, obedient life and then dies a selfless, obedient death-and the worst kind of death -a crucifixion.” ERV.

Well, I see something else;

4. A mind conscious of the God-status

5. A mind conscious of the privileges and advantages of the God-status.

So we see that Christ had equal status with God the Father, then we are admonished to have same mind as Christ

Question: Should we think of ourselves as having equal status with God the Father?

To help answer that question, we need to understand what the scripture mean by ‘Christ had equal status with God’?

In Blogpost 1, we mentioned that Jesus Christ did not misunderstand His position in the Godhead. He was the Son, there is God The Father (the supreme head) and the Holy Spirit. The 3 existed in the beginning having EQUAL status, power, authority, but their roles and interactions with man is distinct.  One of the things that fascinated me as a young Christian was getting to understand the person of the Holy Spirit. I’d read a book by Benny Hinn on the Holy Spirit (not about miracles) where he said that Christians were currently in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit; The Teacher & Comforter. I loved the revelation so much I started writing a book on the Holy Spirit ……don’t ask me where my notes are 🙂

Colossians 1:15 describes Christ as the firstborn;

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation”. NKJV.

In Hebrews 1:5-10, we see a very interesting narrative of the Father-Son relationship;

“….You are My Son, today I have begotten You? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says; “Let all the angels of God worship Him” And of the angels He says: ‘Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of  Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions”. And You Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands…” NKJV

We can tease out a lot about Christ Jesus (and His status) from Hebrews 1 {referenced from Psalm 45:6-7};

He was in the beginning. The heavens are the works of His hands. He laid the foundation of the earth. God is His God. The Father God calls Him both God & My Son. He is the firstborn.  He has an everlasting throne, etc

Now, we see how God describes Christ. How do we (Christians) fit in? Who are we?

Galatians 3:26-29;

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Christ is the firstborn.

We are all sons of God.

We are Abraham’s seed.

We are heirs of the promise.

Question: What privileges or advantages do we have as sons? What’s our status? What does scripture mean by ‘we are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promise?

We’ll look into the scriptures to provide answers to these questions in the next part.

What have we learnt so far?

We should have a mind of great reverence for the Father, we should stay humble, remain selfless and never attempt to usurp the position of the Father, nonetheless living in the consciousness of our status as sons of God, being fully aware of the privileges and advantages we have as sons.