Joshua and Judges: Circumcision of the heart, part 3. Jos 5:2-3; Col 2:8-11; Php 2:6-7.

Title: Joshua and Judges: Circumcision of the heart, part 3. JOS 5:2-3; COL 2:8-11; Php 2:6-7.

 

 

COL 2:8 See to it [be constantly on your guard] that no one takes you captive through philosophy and [even] empty deception [description of philosophy], according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

 

COL 2:9 For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

 

COL 2:10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

 

COL 2:11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;

 

If "in Him" dwells the fullness and you are in Him, then you are made full in Him. In other words, through Him, you lack nothing. Your fullness comes from His fullness.

 

This does not make us deity but it does open up for us certain attributes of deity such as holiness, righteousness and love.

 

"And you are in Him, having been filled full, with the present result that you are in a state of fullness."

 

He is not far from you and you are trying to imitate Him. He is in you and you are in Him. You have entered into the sphere of the love of Him and the Father. This is who you are as a new creature in Christ, and when you behold Him you are beholding the fullness of deity in bodily form. This bodily form is the expression that He has taken upon Himself. During the incarnation He set aside the full expression of deity, as if deity could express itself in any other way, and He took upon Himself the expression of a bond-slave, but no ordinary bond-slave. He became a bond-slave that possessed the fullness of deity. Of course the deity shines through, but its full expression was laid aside.

 

The indwelling of the divine fullness in Him is characteristic of Him as Christ, from all ages and to all ages.

 

Hence the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him before His incarnation, when He was 'in the form of God' (Php 2:6).

 

Fullness of the Godhead before the incarnation:

 

Php 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped

 

"form" - morfh,[morphe] = Not essence itself, but the perfect expression of perfect divine essence.

 

"This mode of expression, this setting of the divine essence, is not identical with the essence itself, but is identified with it as its natural and appropriate expression.

 

Our Lord was in the form of God. The word "God" is without the definite article in the Greek text, and therefore refers to the divine essence.

 

The time at which the apostle says our Lord gave expression to His essential nature, that of Deity, was previous to His coming to earth to become incarnate as the Man Christ Jesus.

 

The Greek word huparcho (being) is not the simple verb of being, but a word that speaks of an antecedent condition protracted into the present.

 

Possession of the divine essence is not spoken of here (that is a given), but the expression of the divine essence is referred to, although you can't have the expression of deity without possessing deity.

 

Equality with God here refers to our Lord's co-participation with the other members of the Trinity in the expression of the divine essence.

 

This is a very important point, for when we come to consider the fact that our Lord laid aside something, we will see that it was not the possession but the expression of the divine essence.

 

This is one of the most important things we see of Him when we turn our circumcised hearts towards Him in order to behold Him. So many, and I do mean Christians, do not behold this because they are stiff necked with arrogant self-preoccupation.

 

Php 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

 

Php 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;

 

Php 2:4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

 

Php 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

 

Php 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped

 

This comes from a circumcised heart that turns to the Lord to behold Him in His word and by means of His Holy Spirit, without whom we cannot comprehend or understand any of it. We see it in Him and we conform to it as we conform to Him. What creatures God has set out to make of us!

 

We must now consider carefully the word "robbery." [thing to be grasped; NASB]

 

"thing to be grasped" - a`rpagmo,j[harpagmos] = robbery, to seize. "A thing unlawfully seized" or "a treasure to be clutched and retained at all costs."

 

The Greek word has two distinct meanings. "a thing unlawfully seized," and "a treasure to be clutched and retained at all hazards." When a Greek word has more than one meaning, the rule of interpretation is to take the one which agrees with the context in which it is found. The passage which we are studying is the illustration of the virtues mentioned in 2:2-4, namely, humility, and self-abnegation for the benefit of others. If our Lord did not consider it a thing to be unlawfully seized to be equal with God in the expression of the divine essence, then He would be asserting His rights to that expression. He would be declaring His rightful ownership of that prerogative to express His deity. In other words, He would not be seizing the expression of divine essence unlawfully but rather would be asserting His right to express divine essence. This meaning will not do since asserting one's right to a thing is not to partake of an attitude of humility.