Philippians 2:8

Jesus Christ appeared to other people just as any other man. This was another mark of His humility. There were no visual clues in His appearance that He was sinless or divine.

". . . having said that Christ came in the ’likeness’ of human beings (Philippians 2:7 b), Paul now moves the narrative on to its next point, by saying he ’appeared’ in a way that was clearly recognizable as human. Together the two phrases accent the reality of his humanity, just as the first two phrases in the preceding sentence accent his deity." [Note: Fee, Paul’s Letter . . ., p. 215.]

Jesus further humbled Himself by becoming obedient to His Father’s will to the point of laying down His life in death (cf. Isaiah 53:12; Hebrews 5:8).

Beyond that, He was willing to undergo death by crucifixion, a form of execution that was without equal in its pain and humiliation.

"It is difficult after sixteen centuries and more during which the cross has been a sacred symbol, to realize the unspeakable horror and loathing which the very mention or thought of the cross provoked in Paul’s day. The word crux was unmentionable in polite Roman society (Cicero, Pro Rabirio 16); even when one was being condemned to death by crucifixion the sentence used an archaic formula which served as a sort of euphemism: arbori infelici suspendito, ’hang him on the unlucky tree’ (Cicero, ibid. 13)." [Note: F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, p. 271.]

The Phoenicians and Persians practiced crucifixion before the Greeks and Romans adopted it. It was a form of execution from which Roman citizens were exempt. Only the worst criminals among the slaves and foreigners underwent crucifixion. [Note: See The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Crucifixion," by D. H. Wheaton.] Hanging on a tree was a sign to the Jews that the person so disgraced was under the curse of God (Deuteronomy 21:23; cf. Galatians 3:13).

The advance on Christ’s example in this verse is the extent to which He was willing to go in humble submissiveness in obedience to His Father’s will. All believers should be willing to do the same (Philippians 2:5).

"Several years ago, while I was engaged in a study of the Philippian Epistle, a letter come to me bearing news of the death of a friend and former classmate who had laid down his life for Christ in foreign missionary service. He had been a brilliant student, was wealthy in his own right, and at the completion of the seminary course he was married to a beautiful and talented young woman. In this country he might have had everything ordinarily desirable to men-business success, comfort, ease, and luxury. But there was in him the mind of Christ; if I may dare to use the word reverently, he freely ’emptied himself’ of all these prospects, becoming a servant of the cross in Egypt. There, having given what he could in service, he was obedient ’unto death.’" [Note: Alva J. McClain, "The Doctrine of the Kenosis in Philippians 2:5-8," Biblical Review 13:4 (October 1928):524-25.]

"The test of the submissive mind is not just how much we are willing to take in terms of suffering, but how much we are willing to give in terms of sacrifice." [Note: Wiersbe, The Bible . . ., 2:76. See also David J. MacLeod, "Imitating the Incarnation of Christ: An Exposition of Philippians 2:5-8," Bibliotheca Sacra 158:631 (July-September 2001):308-30.]