Giving up privilege: A sermon on Philippians 2:5–11

Abstract

The hymn in Phil 2:5–11, which may be the earliest statement about Jesus’s death on the cross, omits typical concepts of substitutionary atonement. This hymn sees the cross within the story that Jesus gave up the privilege of divinity to become human and offers a fresh way to see the intersection of Jesus’s death and Christian discipleship. Feminist and womanist theologians have rightly criticized substitutionary atonement, because the powerful inevitably place the message of sacrifice and suffering upon women and the marginalized. The hymn, however, speaks not of sacrifice and suffering, but of God’s willingness to give up privilege to create solidarity. For those with privilege to be of the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (v. 5), they must choose not to exploit that advantage, but to empty themselves of it and collectively create atonement through solidarity with one another.