In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
This Scripture represents on of the famous “creed” texts in the New Testament. However, let familiarity cause you to miss how it opens however. God wants us to have this same self-giving mindset.
To continue what we learned yesterday, remember that the Council of Ephesus ruled that the mystery of Jesus was that He was simultaneously fully God and fully man. The council agreed on 12 anathema statements drafted by Cyril of Alexandria in contrast to the heretical views of Nestorius of Constantinople.
We viewed the first 6 yesterday and find the remaining 6 below.
“7. If anyone says that as man Jesus was activated by the Word of God and was clothed with the glory of the Only-begotten, as a being separate from Him, let him be anathema.
8. If anyone dares to say that the man who was assumed ought to be worshipped and glorified together with the divine Word and be called God along with Him, while being separate from Him, (for the addition of “with” must always compel us to think in this way), and will not rather worship Immanuel with one veneration and send up to Him one doxology, even as “the Word became flesh”, let him be anathema.
9. If anyone says that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the Spirit, as making use of an alien power that worked through Him and as having received from Him the power to master unclean spirits and to work divine wonders among people, and does not rather say that it was His own proper Spirit through whom He worked the divine wonders, let him be anathema.
10. The divine Scripture says Christ became “the High Priest and Apostle of our confession”; He offered himself to God the Father in an odor of sweetness for our sake. If anyone, therefore, says that it was not the very Word from God who became our High Priest and Apostle, when He became flesh and a man like us, but as it were another who was separate from Him, in particular a man from a woman, or if anyone says that He offered the sacrifice also for Himself and not rather for us alone (for He who knew no sin needed no offering), let him be anathema.
11. If anyone does not confess that the flesh of the Lord is life-giving and belongs to the Word from God the Father, but maintains that it belongs to another besides Him, united with Him in dignity or as enjoying a mere divine indwelling, and is not rather life-giving, as we said, since it became the flesh belonging to the Word who has power to bring all things to life, let him be anathema.
12. If anyone does not confess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh and was crucified in the flesh and tasted death in the flesh and became the first born of the dead, although as God He is life and life-giving, let him be anathema.”
The Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) confirmed these statements to bring clarity to the church and to address heresies that had emerged causing division and dissension. Again, here is where this council falls in the bigger picture looking back.
1. Council of Nicea (A.D. 325)
2. Council of Constantinople (A.D. 381)
3. Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431)
4. Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451)
5. Second Council of Constantinople (A.D. 553)
6. Third Council of Constantinople (A.D. 680)
7. Second Council of Nicea (A.D. 787)
And don’t miss the header photo from the cathedral at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra that dates back to A.D. 1050. It illustrates the third of the seven councils.
Notice how it portrays the proceedings. You see Emperor Theodosius II in the middle, Cyril of Alexandria on the right, Nestorius of Constantinople on the left, and about 250 bishops looking on.
As stated yesterday, Cyril prevailed, and the victory was not for him or his camp but for Jesus, who offered Himself for us as statement #10 states. The One who needed no offering become the offering.
As this syncs with today’s Scripture, we get to follow this example in our relationships. Even as Christ emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, we get to do likewise.
Only when we empty ourselves do we realize that God is our never-ending source of provision and blessing for living, giving, serving, and loving sacrificially.
For whom has God called you to offer yourself?