THE STRANGE MATH OF JESUS: EMPTYING HIMSELF
BY ADDING HUMAN NATURE
PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY/基督教神学教授
SBTS/南浸信会大学
Dr. Ware is a highly esteemed theologian and author in the evangelical world. He came to Southern Seminary from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he served as Chairman of the Department of Biblical and Systematic Theology. Prior to this, he taught at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary and Bethel Theological Seminary.
在福音派的世界中，Ware博士是一位倍受尊重的神学家与作者。在加入南浸前，他原先为三一神学院圣经与系统神学部门的主任。之前，他任教于西保守浸信会神学院和伯特利神学院。
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, 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.
你们当以基督耶稣的心思为你们的心思：他本有神的形像，不以自己与神同等为强夺的；反倒虚己，取了奴仆的形像，成为人的样式；既有人的样子，就自己卑微，存心顺服，以至於死，且死在十字架上。（根据英文修改）
Philippians 2:5-8/腓利比二5-8
Whereas the eternal Son of the Father, the second person of the Trinity, had no beginning and will have no end, the incarnate Son—the son of David, the son of Mary, the Messiah—had a beginning in time and space. This Son,（1） Jesus the Christ, was brought into being through the power of the Holy Spirit, as the divine nature of the eternal Son was miraculously joined together with a created human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Luke’s account of this miracle—the grand miracle, as C. S. Lewis rightly called it—is riveting. Luke writes:
是否父永恒的儿子，三一神的第二位，无始无终，道成肉身的儿子—大卫的儿子，玛利亚的儿子，弥赛亚—在时间与空间中有一个起始。这位子，耶稣基督，借由圣灵的大能而诞生，永恒之子的神性以一种神迹性的方式，在童女马里亚的腹中，与一个被造的人性联合。路加对于这个神迹的记载—就如同鲁易士（C. S. Lewis）所称之为伟大的奥秘—是非常精彩的。路加写到：
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
到了第六个月，天使加百列奉神的差遣往加利利的一座城去（这城名叫拿撒勒），到一个童女那里，是已经许配大卫家的一个人，名叫约瑟。童女的名字叫马利亚；天使进去，对他说：「蒙大恩的女子，我问你安，主和你同在了！」 马利亚因这话就很惊慌，又反复思想这样问安是什麽意思。天使对他说：「马利亚，不要怕！你在神面前已经蒙恩了。你要怀孕生子，可以给他起名叫耶稣。他要为大，称为至高者的儿子；主神要把他祖大卫的位给他。他要作雅各家的王，直到永远；他的国也没有穷尽。」马利亚对天使说：「我没有出嫁，怎麽有这事呢？」天使回答说：「圣灵要临到你身上，至高者的能力要荫庇你，因此所要生的圣者必称为神的儿子（或作：所要生的，必称为圣，称为神的儿子）。
(Luke 1:26-35/路加福音一26-35)
The conception of Jesus in the Virgin Mary was unique in the history of humankind. Not only did the Holy Spirit supernaturally bring about conception within her apart from the involvement of any human father, but even more remarkable was the uniting of the divine and human natures in Jesus, such that this one would be born the son of Mary (Luke 1:31) and the son of “his father David” (Luke 1:32) while also being “the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32), “the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). That is, he would be fully human (son of Mary) while also being fully divine (Son of the Most High). The miracle the Holy Spirit brought to pass, then, was to conceive in Mary none other than the God-man, the theanthropic person, Jesus Christ, son of David and Son of God.
耶稣在玛丽亚腹中成孕这件事在人类历史中是独一无二的事件。不单单圣灵以超自然的方式在缺乏任何人类父亲参与的情况下，使其成孕，更为令人印象深刻的是在耶稣身上神性与人性的联合，使得这位生为马里亚的儿子（路加一31）和“祂祖大卫”的儿子（路加一32）的这位，同时也是“至高者的儿子”（路加一32），与“神的儿子”（路加一35）。也就是说，祂是个完全的人（玛丽亚的儿子），同时也是完全的神（至高者的儿子）。圣灵所带来的这个神迹，无非就是这位神—人，一个同时是神又人的位格，耶稣基督，大卫的儿子，且是神的儿子。
The Nature of the Kenosis (Self-Emptying) of the Eternal Son
永恒之子Kenosis（自我倒空）的本质
Given that the divine nature in Jesus was eternal and infinite while the human nature in Jesus was created and finite, one of the questions we ponder is just how these two natures could coexist in the one person. Could Jesus as both fully divine and fully human be, for example, simultaneously omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent—qualities of his eternal, divine nature—while also possessing a limited and finite human power, a limited yet growing knowledge and wisdom, and a restricted ability to be only one place at one time—qualities of finite, human nature? It seems clear that some qualities of his eternal, divine nature are simply incompatible with his true and genuine human nature, such that it would be impossible for him truly to live as a human if that so-called human life was also one in which he exhibited fully divine qualities such as omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. In other words, would Jesus be truly and genuinely human if in his human experience he had limitless power, knowledge, wisdom, and spatial presence?
基于耶稣里面的神性是永恒与无限的，同时耶稣里面的人性是被造与有限的，我们会问的一个问题将是，这两个性质如何能够同时存在在一位格之内。耶稣是否可能同时是完整的神与完全的人，例如，同时是无所不能，无所不知，无所不在—祂永恒神性的性质—又同时拥有一个有限的人类能力，一个有限并会虽时间成长的知识与智慧，一个被时间与空间所限制的能力—有限人性的性质？明显的，某些属于祂永恒神圣属性的实质无法与祂真实的人性相容，以至于祂完全无法过一个平常人的生活，因为这个所谓平常人的生活也同时与无所不能，无所不知，无所不在这些属于祂的神圣属性完全是一。换句话说，若耶稣在祂的人类经验中同时拥有无限的能力，知识，智慧，与受时空限制的存在，祂还能够是一个真正的人吗？
The crux of the answer to these questions comes in how Paul in Philippians 2:5-8 expresses the kenosis, the self-emptying, of the eternal Son as he took on human nature. Here Paul writes:
这些问题的核心就是保罗在腓利比二5-8中所表达的kenosis中，永恒的子在取了人性中的倒空。保罗在此处写到：
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, 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.
你们当以基督耶稣的心思为你们的心思：他本有神的形像，不以自己与神同等为强夺的；反倒虚己，取了奴仆的形像，成为人的样式；既有人的样子，就自己卑微，存心顺服，以至於死，且死在十字架上。
Notice some crucial features of this important passage.
读者当主义这段重要经文中的重点。
First, Paul makes clear that Christ Jesus, as the eternal Son of the Father, is fully God. He offers two expressions, each of which conveys the full deity of Christ. Paul writes that Christ existed in the “form of God” (v. 6), using the term morphē, which refers to the inner nature or substance of something, not its external or outward shape. So, while the English word form can convey merely the outward appearance of something (i.e., the shape or contour or facade of some object), not its inner reality, the Greek word morphē conveys just the opposite, as can be seen with Plato's “forms”—i.e., those substances of ultimate realities such as beauty, truth, justice, goodness, etc., that Plato thought existed eternally and apart from any material representation. The Greek morphē, then, is the inner substance or very nature of a thing, not its outer shape or appearance.
首先，保罗清楚的宣告基督也是，作为父永恒的子，是完全的神。他提供了两个表述，以表达基督完全的神格。保罗写到，基督存在于“神的形象（form of God）”（6节）之中，他使用了morphē这个词，指的是某件事物内在的本质或素质，而不是外在的轮廓。故此，当英文的form只能表达某件事物的外在样式（例如某件事物外在的形状，轮廓，或外表），而不是其内在之实际的时候，希腊文的morphē表达了一个完全想法的意思，就如同柏拉图使用‘forms’这个词所表达的一样—例如，那些终极存有（ultimate realities）的素质，如美丽，真理，公义，良善等等，柏拉图认为只有它们能在物质的表象外存到永远。希腊文的morphē就是某件事物内在的素质或真正的本质，而不是它的外在形状或表现。
That Paul intends this understanding can be seen further in his second use of morphē, when he says that Jesus took the “form [morphēn] of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). Surely it is evident that Paul does not mean that Jesus took on merely the outer appearance of a servant, implying perhaps that though he looked like a servant, he was not in his own heart and life a true servant. Just the opposite: Jesus took on the inner substance and very nature, i.e., the form (morphēn), of what it means to be a servant, and that to its highest expression. As a servant, he served to the utmost, as he was obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. So again, “form” (morphē, Philippians 2:6, and morphēn, Philippians 2:7) must mean the very nature of something, not merely its outer appearance. Therefore, Paul’s point in Philippians 2:6 is clear: Jesus, being the “form of God,” exists in very nature as God, with the inner divine substance that is God’s alone. He is fully God since he exists “in the form [morphē] of God.”
保罗期盼在他第二次使用morphē这个词，就是当他说也是取了“奴仆的形状（form，morphē）”的时候，能够进一步加深这样的理会。当然，保罗的意思不是也是只披上了奴仆外在的样子，或者暗示虽然祂看起来像是个奴仆，然而他的内心和生命不是一个真正的奴仆。恰恰想法：耶稣取了奴仆内在的素质与本质，例如，form（morphē），含示的作为奴仆的最高彰显。作为一个奴仆，祂尽其所能的服侍，就像祂也顺服死，甚至死在十字架上。再者，“form” (腓利比二6的morphē与腓利比二7的morphēn)必然指着某个事物的性质，而不单单是外在的样子。故此，保罗在腓利比二6的重点是明确的：也是，作为‘神的形像（form of God）’乃是以作为神之性质的方式存在，也只存在于只属于神的内在神圣素质之中。祂是完全的神，因为祂存在于“神的形像（form，morphē）之中”。
Paul also refers to Christ as possessing “equality [isa] with God” (Philippians 2:6), which likewise makes clear his full deity. Nothing is equal to God except God! As God declares of himself, through the prophet Isaiah, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” (Isaiah 46:9; cf. Exodus 8:10; Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 3:24; 2 Samuel 7:22; 1 Kings 8:23;Psalms 71:19; Micah 7:18). Indeed, there is no god other than the one true and living God—so God is exclusively God—and there is no god who is like the one true and living God—so God is incomparably God. With this background in mind, Paul’s declaration that Christ possesses “equality with God” is stunning. It can mean only one thing: by virtue of the fact that no one can be equal to God but God himself, Christ, who possesses equality with God, must himself be fully God. Of course, as we often find where the deity of Christ is expressed, we see hints or outright declarations that someone other than Christ likewise is God. Since he is equal to God, this means that there is another who is God, in relation to whom Christ is his equal. So, as John puts it, the Word is both “with God” and is “God” (John 1:1), and Hebrews declares that Christ is the “exact imprint” of the nature of God (Hebrews 1:3). Likewise here in Philippians 2, Christ is both other than the one who is God (understood as the Father, no doubt) while he also is equal to this other one who is God and so is himself fully God.
保罗也指出基督“与神同等”（腓利比二6），同样的也清楚的指明祂完全的神格。除了神以外，没有什么事物能够与神同等！就像神借由先知以赛亚所宣告的，“我是神，并无别神；我是神，再没有能比我的”（以赛亚四十六9；参考出埃及八10；出埃及十五11；申命记三24；撒母耳下七22；列王上八23；诗篇七十一19；弥迦七18）。确实，除了那位真实的活神外，没有别神—故此，只有神是神—也没有别神能够与那一位真实的活神向比拟—因此，神是无法比拟的神。在这个基础上，保罗对于基督“与神同等”的宣告，是震耳欲聋的！它只能代表一件事：基于除神以外没有人能够与神同等的事实，与神同等的基督必然是完全的神。当然，常常在我们能够找到基督之神格的经文中，我们也能够找到在基督外有另一位神的宣告。因为祂与神同等，这就代表有另一位神。故此，约翰这样说，道既‘与神同在’，也‘就是神’（约翰一1），希伯来书宣告基督乃是神本质的‘印像’（exact imprint of the nature of God）（希伯来一3）。此处的腓利比二章也是一样，基督同时与那位是神的不同（毫无疑问的，必须理解为父），祂又同时与那位是神的同等，故此祂乃是完全的神。
Second, when Paul writes that Christ “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6), he cannot mean that Christ gave up equality with God or that he ceased being fully God. Since he is fully God, he cannot cease to be fully God. God is eternal, self-existent, immortal, and immutable, and thus he cannot cease to exist as God, nor can he fail to be fully God. Surely what Paul means is this: Christ being fully God, possessing the very nature of God and being fully equal to God in every respect, did not thereby insist on holding onto all the privileges and benefits of his position of equality with God (the Father) and thereby refuse to accept coming as a man. He did not clutch or grasp his place of equality with the Father and all this brought to him in such a way that he would refuse the condescension and humiliation of the servant role he was being called to accept. Just how he could accept his calling to become a man while being (and remaining!) fully God, we’ll explore next. But here it is crucial to see that Christ’s not “grasping” equality with God cannot rightly be taken to mean that Christ gave up being God or became in any way less than fully God when he took on also a fully human nature. No, rather, he did not grasp or clutch onto the privileged position, rights, and prerogatives that his full equality with God, his Father, afforded him, in order to fulfill his calling to become fully a man who would be, amazingly, servant of all.
第二，当保罗写到基督‘不以自己与神同等为强夺的’的时候（腓利比二6），他不可能指基督放弃了与神同等，或祂不再是完全的神。因为祂是完全的神，祂不可能不再是完全的神。神是永恒，自存，不死，和不改变的，故此，祂不可能不再是神，祂也不可能变为不完全的神。保罗所意指的必然是这个：作为完全的神的基督，拥有神的本质，并在各方面完全与神同等，然而祂并没有因此紧抓着因其与神（父）同等之地位而有的权力与益处不放，而拒绝降世为人。祂也没有紧持祂与父同等的地位而拒绝因被召而赋予的奴仆角色所产生的屈尊俯就和羞辱。我们接下来将会探讨祂如何接受成为人的呼召，并同时（仍然继续）是完全的神这件事实。然而，我们在此处必须看见基督的不‘紧持’与神的同等不能被视为基督在披上完全的人性时，就放弃其为神的事实或在任何方面成为比完全的神更小的一位。不！祂反而不紧抓着因完全与神，祂的父同等而有的地位，权利和君权，使得祂能够履行成为完全的人的责任，而更令人惊叹的，也成为众人的奴仆。
Third, as one who is fully God, Christ Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). The word that here is translated “emptied himself,” ekenōsen (third aorist indicative of kenoō), means literally just this: that Christ “emptied himself” or “poured out himself.” Note that Paul is not saying that Christ emptied something from himself or poured something out of himself, as if in so doing he became less fully God than he was before (which, as we have seen, is impossible). Rather, he emptied himself; he poured out himself. That is, all of who Christ is as eternal God, all that he is as the one who is in the form of God and is equal with God, is poured out. Christ, then, as God remains fully God. He loses nothing of his divine nature, and no divine qualities are removed from him as he pours himself out. No, Christ remains in his divine nature fully who and what he is in his existence as the eternal second person of the Trinity. He has eternally been fully God, and now in the incarnation he pours out fully who he is as God, remaining fully God as he does so.
第三，基督耶稣作为完全的神，‘借由取了奴仆的形像倒空自己（emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant）’（腓利比二7）。这里的ekenōsen (kenoō的第三人称不定式的陈述语气)这个词被译作‘倒空自己’，其字面的意义就是：基督“倒空了自己”或“倒出自己”。当注意，保罗在此处并不是说基督倒空了自己里面的事物，或从自己里面倒出了某些事物，以至于祂变得比神更小了。（我们前面已经看见，这是不可能的。）相反的，祂倒空了自己；祂倾倒出自己。也就是说，基督作为永恒的神，在神的形像中，并与神同等中所是的一切，都被倒出来了。（意思是，基督从神而出，但仍然是神—译者。）接着，基督作为神，仍然是完全的神。祂并不会失去哪怕一丁点的神性，当祂倒出自己的时候，没有任何神性的属性被丢失。不！基督在祂的神性中，仍然完全是那位三一神中的第二位的存有。祂永远是完全的神，如今在道成肉身中，祂完全倾倒出作为神的自己，因此，祂仍然是完全的神。
The question then becomes just what this means—that Christ, the one who exists in the form of God (morphē) and as equal (isa) to God, pours himself out (ekenōsen). The answer comes, amazingly, in the three participles (particularly the first one) that follow ekenōsen. Christ poured himself out, taking the form of a servant. Yes, he pours out by taking; he empties by adding. Here, then, is a strange sort of math that envisions a subtraction by addition, an emptying by adding. What can this mean?
此处的问题就是该处经文的意义—基督，那位存在于神的形像中(morphē)，并与神同等(morphē)的那位，倾倒出(ekenōsen)了自己。而出乎人意料的，其答案则在紧接ekenōsen之后的三个分词之中。基督倾倒出了自己，取了奴仆的形像。使得！祂借由取而倾倒；祂借由加入而倒空。在此展现出一个非常简单的，借由加而减的数学，借由加入而倒空。这是什么意思呢？
In brief, what this must mean is this: Christ Jesus, existing and remaining fully who he is as God, accepts his divine calling to come to earth and carry out the mission assigned him from the Father. As the eternal Son of God, who is himself the form (morphē, i.e., very nature) of God, he must come in the form (morphēn, i.e., very nature) of a servant. That is, he must come fully as a man, and as a man he must live his life and give his life as one of us. In so doing, Christ pours himself out (all of who he is) as he takes on, in addition to his full divine nature, a full human nature. Again, it is crucial to see that in the self-emptying (ekenōsen) of the eternal Son, Paul does not say that he poured something “out of” himself. No, absolutely not! Rather, he poured out himself. All of who he is as the eternal Son of the Father, as the one who is the form (morphē) of the Father, is poured out fully. Here, then, is no subtraction, strictly speaking. It is a “subtraction” (i.e., a pouring out, an emptying) by adding human nature to his divine nature. He came, then, to become the God-man—the one whose very divine nature took on fully the existence of a created human nature. He poured himself out by adding to himself the nature of a man, indeed, the nature of a servant par excellence who would give his life in obedience on the cross to fulfill the will of his Father.
简单的说，它必然意指：那位是神的基督耶稣，仍然存在，并继续是完的神，祂接受了神圣的呼召降世，并带着父所赋予祂的人物。作为永恒之神的儿子，祂自己就是神的形像（morphē，例如，其本质），祂必须也在奴仆的形像（morphē，例如，其本质）而来。也就是说，祂必须来成为一个完全的人，作为一个人，祂必须活出我们的生活。为了这样，基督在祂取的时候，倾倒出了自己（祂所有的所是），将一个完全的人性加入到祂完全的神性里面。再者，我们必须看见永恒之子的自我倒空(ekenōsen)，保罗并不是说祂从自己里面‘倒出’了某种东西。不！绝非如此！反而，祂倾倒出了祂的自己。作为父永恒之子的所有所是，并作为父的行形像（morphē），完全被倾倒出来。因此，严格的说，在这里并没有减少。它乃是借由将人性加入其神性而有的减法（例如，倾倒出，倒空）。祂来成为神—人，一位其神性披上了完全被造人性之存有者。祂借由加入人的本性而倾倒出自己，确实，奴仆那个卓越的性情在顺服中将自己的性命献在十字架上，成全了祂父亲的旨意。
Endnotes:
1. The appellation “Son” is used of the second person of the Trinity in three distinct yet related senses in Scripture. (1) The eternal Word (John 1:1) is often referred to as “Son,” and in this sense he is the eternal Son of the eternal Father (e.g., John 3:16-17; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 1:1-2; 1 John 4:9-10). (2) Jesus the Christ, Son of David and Son of Mary, who is the incarnate God-man, is referred to as the “Son” of God, and in this sense he is the incarnate and historic Son of the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary (e.g., Luke 1:31-35; John 1:33-34, John 1:49; Galatians 2:20). (3) The crucified but risen, ascended, reigning, and exalted Messiah is also referred to in a distinct way as the “Son” of God, and in this sense he is the risen and triumphant Son of the Father (e.g., Acts 13:32-33; Romans 1:3-4; 1 Corinthians 15:27-28; Hebrews 4:14).
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