Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
Philippians 2:5-7
The early Church spent four hundred years from the time of the Resurrection until 451 AD before agreeing on the Formula of Chalcedon (BCP page 864) which defined “The Union of the Devine and Human Natures in the Person of Christ”. It seems that, whenever we approach a truth about God, we encounter paradox. Then, what did that man of flesh and blood, Jesus of Nazareth, understand about himself? Many scholars think that Jesus’ self-understanding unfolded as time went on. At least from the time of his baptism in the Jordan, his was a life of self-offering, self-oblation. It was a life of saying “Yes” to the Father and ultimately going willingly to his death on the cross. Along the way he must have at least glimpsed the truth of his own divinity. It is a wholesome thing to acknowledge something of a divine spark in each of us, else how could it be said that we are made in the image and likeness of God? We can regard this as an invitiation to holiness, which is the simple choice each of us can make—to conform ourselves to God’s will for us.
John Huntington+
