Week 18 Matthew 1
Last spring I was in a Philippians bible study group and by about the third week we landed on a pretty interesting paragraph where Paul described what had been going on behind-the-scenes when Jesus came to earth. Paul said Jesus:
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
So starting in on Matthew I know that even though I’ve turned-the-page on the Old Testament (starting fresh on the New) Philippians is my reminder that I’m actually coming in at midstory. A reader naturally assumes that Jesus began his life there in Matthew when his mom discovered she was pregnant. But according to Paul there was a whole pre-Matthew-1 story of Jesus – a time when he already existed in the form of God.
Prior to Matthew 1 Jesus had never been physically conceived & had not had a human body & could not die. But all that changed. Jesus now could – and would – experience all of those things. So that’s a big part of the novelty of the New Testament. The mostly unknown God who was up-there (out-there) has been alchemized into a human being who is down-here (in-here).
Note: quotes from Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV) & 2:2 (NASB)