Corpus-Paul

["Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 AT home.com>]

It strikes me that viewing Phil. 2:6 ff as a source for answering the 
question of
whether Paul thought that Jesus would still have died had he not been 
crucified, is
something of a category mistake. Paul uses the "hymn" not to outline his 
views on who
Jesus was but to remind his readers of what God has revealed as the pattern of
behaviour that they (as citizens of a different poltuema than their native 
identity
might indicate) are to emulate -- perhaps in contrast to the pattern of 
behaviour that
another divine being, Caesar, has validated.

It is the mindset  of the Lord's anointed that Paul wants to hold up before 
the
Philippians eyes -- a mindset  that says servanthood not dominion is God's 
way in the
world and is Gospel. And questions of whether the one who displayed it would 
have died
had he not met with the cross are simply not envisaged.

Yours,

Jeffrey
--
Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon.)
7423 N. Sheridan Road #2A
Chicago, Illinois 60626
e-mail jgibson000 AT home.com