Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 2:7

"but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;" — Philippians 2:7 (ASV)

But made himself . . .—This verse needs a more exact translation. It should be, But emptied (or, stripped) Himself of His glory by having taken on Himself the form of a slave and having been made (or, born) in likeness of men.

The “glory” is the glory which He had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5), clearly corresponding to the Shechinah of the Divine Presence.

He stripped Himself of this glory in the Incarnation, taking on Himself the “form (or, nature) of a servant” of God. He resumed it for a moment in the Transfiguration and was crowned with it anew at the Ascension.

Made in the likeness of man.—This clause, at first sight, seems to weaken the previous clause, as it does not distinctly express our Lord’s true humanity. But we note that the phrase is “the likeness of men”—that is, of men in general, as they actually are. Therefore, the key to the meaning is found in passages such as Romans 8:3, God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh; or Hebrews 2:17, It behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, and Hebrews 4:15, in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

It would have been an infinite humiliation to assume humanity, even in unique and visible glory. But our Lord went beyond this, by deigning to seem like other men in all things, one only of the multitude, and that, too, in a station which confused Him with the commoner types of mankind. The truth of His humanity is expressed in the phrase “form of a servant”; its unique and ideal character is hinted at when it is said that He wore only the “likeness of men.”