Journal: Interdisciplinary Journal on Biblical Authority
Volume: IJOBA 02:4 (Fall 2021)
Article: Holding Fast The Word Of Life: Exegeting Philippians 2:12–18 By Contextually Prioritizing The "Carmen Christi"
Author: Mark T. Walker

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Holding Fast The Word Of Life: Exegeting Philippians 2:12–18 By Contextually Prioritizing The Carmen Christi

Mark T. Walker

Founding Director, The Cell Church
Westminster, CO
Ph.D. Student, Calvary University
Kansas City, MO

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Abstract

Paul employed exalted theology such as that of the Carmen Christi to motivate recipients of his epistles to comply with ethical parenesis specific to their circumstances. This study proposes resolutions for exegetical difficulties in the exhortation of Phil 2:12–18 by prioritizing consideration of the mechanism by which the Carmen Christi motivated the Philippians’ obedience. The exemplified methodology offers a pattern for exegetical problem-solving throughout the epistle and supports both the unity of Philippians and the ethical interpretation of the Christ hymn.

In scholarly discussion of Paul’s epistle to the Philippians no passage has received more attention than the Carmen Christi of Phil 2:5–11. From structure, to grammar, to source, to theology—every aspect of these verses has been analyzed and debated in excruciating detail. The sheer volume of secondary literature is breathtaking, and the conclusions of scholars cover a wide range of possible interpretations.1 Unfortunately, recent focus on the possible

IJOBA 2:4 (Fall 2021) p. 104

pre-Pauline origins of the hymn has led to extensive debate on issues such as form, source, hymnic structure, background, redaction, and Christology that has tended to abstract the pericope from the flow of Paul’s thought and parenetic purpose.2 Consequent disagreement regarding Paul’s design for the location and function of 2:5–11 has led multiple commentators to propose alternatives to the traditional “ethical” understanding that in the Carmen Christi Paul offered Christ’s example for the Philippians’ imitation.3

The present study proceeds on the premise that any attempt to understand the Carmen Christi apart from its context in the epistle—and particularly from the immediate context of Paul’s ethical exhortation in 1:27–2:4 and 2:12–18—is a fundamental interpretive error that will inevitably distort one�...