μορφή,
μορφῆς,
ἡ (from root signifying 'to lay hold of', 'seize' (cf. German
Fassung);
Fick, Part i., p. 174;
Vanicek, p. 719), from
Homer down,
the form by which a person or thing strikes the vision; the external appearance: children are said to reflect
ψυχῆς τέ καί μορφῆς ὁμοιότητα (of their parents), 4 Macc. 15:3 (4);
ἐφανερώθη ἐν ἑτέρα μορφή,
Mark 16:12; ἐν μορφή Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, Philippians 2:6; μορφήν δούλου λαβών, Philippians 2:7; — this whole passage (as I have shown more fully in the Zeitschr. f. wissensch. Theol. for 1873, pp. 33ff, with which compare the different view given by Holsten in the Jahrbb. f. protest. Theol. for 1875, p. 449ff) is to be explained as follows: who, although (formerly when he was λόγος ἄσαρκος) "he bore the form (in which he appeared to the inhabitants of heaven) of God (the sovereign, opposed to μορφή δούλου), yet did not think that this equality with God was to be eagerly clung to or retained (see ἁρπαγμός, 2), but emptied himself of it (see κενόω, 1 BLB DISCLAIMER) so as to assume the form of a servant, in that he became like unto men (for angels also are δοῦλοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:8f) and was found in fashion as a man". (God μένει ἀεί ἁπλῶς ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ μορφή, Plato, de rep. 2, p. 381 c., and it is denied that God φαντάζεσθαι ἄλλοτε ἐν ἀλλαις ἰδέαις... καί ἀλλαττοντα τό αὐτοῦ εἶδος εἰς πολλάς μορφας... καί τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἰδεας ἐκβαίνειν, p. 380 d.; ἡκιστ' ἄν πολλάς μορφας ἰσχοι ὁ Θεός, p. 381 b.; ἑνός σώματος οὐσίαν μετασχηματίζειν καί μεταχαράττειν εἰς πολυτροπους μορφας, Philo leg. ad Gaium § 11; οὐ γάρ ὥσπερ τό νόμισμα παρακομμα καί Θεοῦ μορφή γίνεται, ibid. § 14 at the end; God ἔργοις μέν καί χαρισιν ἐνεργής καί παντός ὁυτινοσουν φανερωτερος, μορφήν δέ καί μέγεθος ἡμῖν ἀφανεστατος, Josephus, contra Apion 2, 22, 2.)
THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used by permission. BibleSoft.com
BLB Disclaimer
Thayer’s Lexical entry for κενόω stating that Christ "laid aside equality with or the form of God" is confusing and erroneous if understood as the removal of Christ’s divine nature. Such interpretation is not supported here nor elsewhere in Scripture. The text does not state that Christ "emptied himself" of anything, but rather that he "emptied Himself" by taking the form of a human and a servant to the point of death, for our good and for our salvation. Beginning in Philippians 2:5, Paul sets forth Christ as the consummate example of the very kind of selflessness to which he exhorts believers in 2:3–4, and which he himself exemplifies in 2:17.
BLB Scripture Index of Thayer's
-
Mark
-
16:12
-
Philippians
-
2:6; 2:7; 2:5; 2:2-3; 2:17
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Revelation
-
19:10; 22:8
