The problem with theology (word about / study of God) is that it normally starts with God and works from there. But what do we know about ‘God’? As Barth said ‘we cannot say God by saying man (sic) in a loud voice’… So we have to be ever so careful when we talk of the ‘wrath’ of God as if God is me when I am angry but only more so! Likewise ‘forgiveness’ cos if we are not careful we end up with an appeasing of God. So much theology starts with God and then all the ‘omni’ words but they are often articulated without reference to God’s character – I still think somewhat reliant on the ‘Unmoved Mover’ of the Hellenistic world. Take omniscience – God knows all things, but under conventional theology it is closely aligned to predestination . How about the analogy of a master chess player who knows how to respond to every move, only multiplied beyond measure, so that God works toward the one goal with precision, responding to every move and every opposition so that there will ultimately be ‘the reconciliation of all things, things in heaven and on earth’. As one author puts it ‘Love wins’.
As Jesus is the revelation of God we have to start there, and we also add that Jesus is the image of the new / true humanity. Hence, we can affirm that ‘God is love’. I mentally assent to that, but am provoked to believe it – that I think is a life-long journey for us all. However, I do think I believe (cos I am stunned so many times) that ‘God is humble’. I have a long way to go in my faith and I guess if I believe God is humble it it probably a step on the way to understanding that ‘God is love’. Let’s try a few verses from Paul (with my small edit!):
God is patient; God is kind; God is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. God does not insist on her/his own way; God is not irritable; God keeps no record of wrongs; God does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
We so often want a big God – big defined our way. A God who demonstrates not simply who s/he is but demonstrates that we are so right. God is BIG but does not ‘big’ her/himself up. Humility – so key in Scripture, and given the humility of God I am shocked at how arrogant I can be – knowing this, knowing that.
The pre-Pauline Philippian hymn speaks strongly of the humility of God; conventional translations have something along the lines of ‘although he was in the form of God… he humbled / emptied himself’ giving the impression that Jesus did not act in a God-like way. (And of course this plays out when we come to the cross with the view of justice demanded (by God) and mercy offered through sacrifice / appeasement).
[I am not engaging with the passage along the lines of Andrew Perriman who does not view the passage as a pre-Pauline hymn – a fascinating take for those interested… and my point below is not dependent on what the passage is at core. Andrew’s view is put forward in his book but you can get an insight to it here:
https://www.postost.net/2025/07/whats-pauls-letter-philippians-all-about.]
I appreciate we are not all Greek readers but let me simply write below what the manuscripts say:
ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ…
who in the form of God being (no ‘in spite of’, ‘although’ or any such words).
Why did Jesus not grasp at position? Why did Jesus humble himself? Why did Jesus become a slave?Why did Jesus become obedient, even to death? We have to answer it with: because he was God-like.
God is humble. Maybe I am immature and need to deeply bow under the biblical statement that ‘God is love’; but I am hopeful if I know that the God who is revealed in Jesus is humble maybe that will deal with any residual arrogance and one day I will simply need to say ‘God is love’.