The Poetry of Philippians 2:6-11. Link to Marg’s Blog.
The Most Widely Discussed Passage of Philippians by Bar Ehram, May 2025.
The reasons for thinking that Paul is quoting rather than composing it are pretty compelling, and I will get to them eventually. For now I want to point out the rhythmic structure.
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These verses also have the characteristics of early Christian hymns. The Christological scheme presented in Philippians 2:6-11 is of Christ’s pre-existence, humiliation, and exaltation which were common themes of many early church hymns.
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…the “Christ-poem” of 2:6-11, where Paul indicates that Christ was first a divine being in the heavenly realm who then came to earth as a human to die for the sins of others, and then was exalted to an even higher position than before, when God made him the Lord of All.
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This passage in Philippians uses uncommon words, and words used differently from the way Paul generally used them in his letters. This seems to indicate that Paul was not the original author of this creed-hymn. The fact that there is no mention of salvation or the resurrection in this hymn further suggests that it is not Paul’s composition, as these themes were of vital importance to the apostle (2 Cor. 15:1ff).
Links to Bart’s four posts about Philippians in his “In a Nutshell” series in 2025.
- Philippians in a Nutshell
- Philippians: Who Wrote It? When and Why?
- Philippians: For Further Reading
- The Most Widely Discussed Passage of Philippians
