This detailed Bible research infographic examines Philippians 2:6 and the New Living Translation wording “Though he was God.” It compares this with the Greek expression en morphē Theou, “in the form of God,” and examines the Greek word morphē. It also compares Colossians 1:15, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 2:9, Philippians 2:9, John 17:3 and 1 Corinthians 8:6 to investigate Paul’s distinction between God the Father and Jesus Christ.
QUICK FACTS: PHILIPPIANS 2:6
DID PAUL REALLY SAY ABOUT JESUS: “THOUGH HE WAS GOD”?
Philippians 2:6 is frequently presented as evidence that the apostle Paul explicitly taught that Jesus was God.
The New Living Translation (NLT) reads:
“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.”
— Philippians 2:6, NLT
Read those opening words again:
“THOUGH HE WAS GOD”
If that is exactly what Paul wrote, it would certainly appear that Paul directly called Jesus God.
But is that actually what the Greek text says?
NO.
Paul did not simply write:
“HE WAS GOD.”
There is an important Greek expression that we need to examine.
WHAT DOES THE GREEK TEXT ACTUALLY SAY?
The beginning of Philippians 2:6 reads:
ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων
Word by word:
ὃς — who
ἐν — in
μορφῇ — form
Θεοῦ — of God
ὑπάρχων — existing/being
The Berean Literal Bible therefore reads:
“Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider to be equal with God something to be grasped.”
— Philippians 2:6, BLB
Now compare that carefully with the NLT:
NLT:
“THOUGH HE WAS GOD”
Greek:
“EXISTING IN THE FORM OF GOD”
These statements are not identical.
The crucial Greek word is:
μορφῇ — MORPHĒ
FORM
Paul included this word.
Therefore, we should not simply remove it and then claim that Paul literally wrote:
“JESUS WAS GOD.”
He didn't.
THE WORD “FORM” MATTERS
Strong's Concordance gives:
μορφή — morphē
Definition: form, shape
It can describe the form or outward expression corresponding to what something is.
Whatever theological interpretation we eventually give to this word, one textual fact remains undeniable:
μορφή IS IN THE GREEK TEXT.
Paul did not merely write:
“Who, being God…”
He wrote:
“Who, existing in the form of God…”
That distinction must be allowed to remain in the verse before we decide what Paul meant.
INTERESTINGLY, THE KJV RETAINS “FORM”
The King James Version reads:
“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”
The ESV similarly reads:
“who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.”
And the BLB reads:
“Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider to be equal with God something to be grasped.”
All three preserve Paul's important expression:
“IN THE FORM OF GOD.”
The NLT instead interprets that expression as:
“THOUGH HE WAS GOD.”
That is why readers should understand that the NLT is giving an interpretive rendering, rather than reproducing the Greek expression word for word.
SO WHAT DID PAUL MEAN BY “THE FORM OF GOD”?
This is where we should do something very important:
COMPARE PAUL WITH PAUL.
How does Paul describe Jesus elsewhere?
Look at Colossians 1:15:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
— Colossians 1:15, BLB
Notice:
THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD
Paul does not merely describe Jesus independently.
He describes Jesus in relation to God.
Jesus is:
THE IMAGE OF GOD.
Paul says something similar in 2 Corinthians:
“…Christ, who is the image of God.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:4, BLB
Again:
THE IMAGE OF GOD.
This gives us an important Pauline pattern.
“FORM OF GOD” AND “IMAGE OF GOD”
Put Paul's statements together:
Philippians 2:6
“IN THE FORM OF GOD”
Colossians 1:15
“THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD”
2 Corinthians 4:4
“THE IMAGE OF GOD”
These expressions are not identical Greek phrases, and we should not pretend that they are.
But they clearly give us closely related descriptions of Christ in relation to God.
Paul presents Jesus as uniquely expressing, revealing and representing God.
This is far more precise than simply deleting Paul's word μορφή — “form” and replacing the expression with:
“HE WAS GOD.”
WHAT ABOUT HEBREWS 1:3?
Hebrews gives another closely related description of the Son:
“…who being the radiance of His glory and the exact expression of His substance…”
— Hebrews 1:3, BLB
Notice again the language:
RADIANCE OF HIS GLORY
and:
EXACT EXPRESSION OF HIS SUBSTANCE
The Son perfectly expresses and reveals His God and Father.
This helps us understand why Jesus could say:
“The one having seen Me has seen the Father.”
— John 14:9, BLB
Jesus perfectly represents the Father.
But representation and identity should not simply be assumed to mean the same thing.
NOW LOOK AT COLOSSIANS 2:9
This brings us to another important Pauline passage.
Paul writes:
“For in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily.”
— Colossians 2:9, BLB
The Greek expression here is different from Philippians 2:6.
Philippians uses:
μορφῇ Θεοῦ
“FORM OF GOD”
Colossians 2:9 speaks about:
πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος
“THE FULLNESS OF DEITY”
Therefore, we should NOT say these two Greek expressions have exactly the same lexical meaning.
They don't.
But they express closely related Pauline ideas concerning Christ and the divine fullness/nature associated with God.
And the surrounding context makes this particularly interesting.
GOD'S FULLNESS DWELLS IN CHRIST
Earlier in Colossians Paul says:
“For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him.”
— Colossians 1:19, BLB
Then:
“For in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily.”
— Colossians 2:9, BLB
One particularly explanatory translation, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, rendered Colossians 2:9:
“For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ.”
That is useful for understanding the interpretation being expressed.
Notice the wording:
GOD'S NATURE DWELLS BODILY IN CHRIST.
This provides a meaningful comparison with Philippians 2:6:
“IN THE FORM OF GOD”
Again, the Greek expressions are different.
But Paul is describing Christ in extraordinary relationship to the divine nature and fullness of God.
PUT PAUL'S DESCRIPTIONS TOGETHER
Now look at the overall pattern:
PHILIPPIANS 2:6
“in the form of God”
COLOSSIANS 1:15
“the image of the invisible God”
2 CORINTHIANS 4:4
“the image of God”
COLOSSIANS 2:9
“all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily” in Him
HEBREWS 1:3
“the radiance of His glory and the exact expression of His substance”
These passages strongly exalt Jesus.
They present Him as God's unique Son, image, representative and the one in whom divine fullness dwells.
But none of this gives translators permission simply to remove:
“IN THE FORM OF”
from Philippians 2:6 and present:
“THOUGH HE WAS GOD”
as though those were Paul's literal Greek words.
They are not.
PAUL HIMSELF IDENTIFIES WHO THE “ONE GOD” IS
We now come to one of the most important controls on our interpretation.
Who did Paul explicitly identify as the one God?
Paul tells us:
“Yet to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6, BLB
Look carefully:
ONE GOD — THE FATHER
and:
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST
Paul distinguishes between:
THE FATHER
and:
JESUS CHRIST.
And it is the Father whom Paul explicitly identifies here as:
THE ONE GOD.
Therefore, when we encounter Philippians 2:6, we should interpret it in harmony with Paul's explicit statements rather than beginning with an interpretive translation and reading that theology back into Paul.
JESUS HIMSELF IDENTIFIED THE FATHER AS THE ONLY TRUE GOD
Jesus prayed:
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3, BLB
Notice the distinction again:
YOU — THE ONLY TRUE GOD
and:
JESUS CHRIST — WHOM YOU SENT
Jesus did not identify Himself as the God to whom He was praying.
He identified His Father as:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
WHAT ABOUT “EQUALITY WITH GOD”?
Philippians 2:6 continues:
“…did not consider to be equal with God something to be grasped.”
— Philippians 2:6, BLB
This statement itself distinguishes Christ from:
GOD.
Jesus is the one being discussed.
God is the one with whom equality is being considered.
And what does Paul say?
Christ did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped.
That fits perfectly with the humility Paul is describing throughout the passage.
JESUS DID NOT EXALT HIMSELF
Continue reading Philippians 2.
Christ humbled Himself.
He became obedient.
He became obedient even unto death.
And then something extremely important happens:
“Therefore God also highly exalted Him…”
— Philippians 2:9, BLB
Who exalted Jesus?
GOD DID.
Therefore we again have:
GOD
and:
JESUS, WHOM GOD EXALTED.
Paul maintains this distinction throughout the passage.
JESUS HIMSELF SAID THE FATHER WAS GREATER
Jesus said:
“…the Father is greater than I.”
— John 14:28, BLB
Jesus also said:
“I am able to do nothing from Myself.”
— John 5:30, BLB
Rather than grasping at equality with God, Jesus continually submitted Himself to His Father and gave glory to Him.
That fits beautifully with Paul's argument in Philippians 2.
Paul's subject is:
CHRIST'S HUMILITY.
Jesus did not exalt Himself.
He humbled Himself.
And therefore:
GOD EXALTED HIM.
DOES “FORM OF GOD” MEAN JESUS HAS GOD'S NATURE?
There is a legitimate theological discussion here.
Some translations render morphē in terms of nature.
For example, the NIV reads:
“Who, being in very nature God…”
The Good News Translation similarly speaks of Christ having the nature of God.
But we should distinguish translation from interpretation.
The actual Greek word remains:
μορφή — MORPHĒ
FORM
If morphē is understood as expressing Christ's divine nature or qualities, that still does not automatically settle the separate question:
IS JESUS THE SAME ONE GOD WHOM PAUL IDENTIFIES AS THE FATHER?
That conclusion has to be demonstrated from Scripture.
It cannot simply be inserted into the translation.
A SON CAN SHARE HIS FATHER'S NATURE WITHOUT BEING HIS FATHER
There is a simple illustration.
A human son shares the same human nature as his father.
He can strongly resemble his father.
He can bear his father's image.
He can display his father's characteristics.
But:
THE SON IS NOT HIS FATHER.
Likewise, Scripture repeatedly calls Jesus:
THE SON OF GOD.
Jesus uniquely reveals His Father.
He is God's image.
He expresses God's character.
Divine fullness dwells in Him.
But those statements should be allowed to mean what they say rather than immediately being rewritten as:
“JESUS IS THE ONE GOD.”
Especially when Paul himself identifies:
THE ONE GOD — THE FATHER.
AN IMPORTANT FACT ABOUT PHILIPPIANS 2:6
We should also distinguish Philippians 2:6 from passages involving genuine textual variants.
The issue here is not primarily that somebody changed the ancient Greek manuscript.
The Greek expression:
ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ
is there.
The question is how translators interpret it.
Therefore, the strongest and most accurate criticism of the NLT is:
“THOUGH HE WAS GOD” IS AN INTERPRETIVE TRANSLATION.
It is not a literal reproduction of:
“IN THE FORM OF GOD.”
That is the textual fact readers deserve to know.
QUICK FACTS — WHAT HAVE WE DISCOVERED?
1. PAUL DID NOT LITERALLY WRITE “THOUGH HE WAS GOD.”
The Greek contains:
“IN THE FORM OF GOD.”
2. THE GREEK WORD μορφή — MORPHĒ — MUST NOT BE IGNORED.
It means form and carries the idea of form/expression.
3. PAUL DESCRIBES JESUS AS “THE IMAGE OF GOD.”
Colossians 1:15
2 Corinthians 4:4
4. COLOSSIANS 2:9 EXPRESSES A CLOSELY RELATED IDEA.
“For in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily.”
This is not the same Greek expression as Philippians 2:6, but both passages describe Christ in extraordinary relationship to God's divine nature/fullness.
5. PAUL IDENTIFIES THE ONE GOD AS THE FATHER.
“Yet to us there is one God, the Father…”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6
6. JESUS DID NOT GRASP AT EQUALITY WITH GOD.
Instead, He humbled Himself.
7. GOD THEN EXALTED JESUS.
“Therefore God also highly exalted Him…”
— Philippians 2:9
The one who exalts and the one who is exalted remain distinguished.
FINAL CONCLUSION
So did Paul actually write about Jesus:
“THOUGH HE WAS GOD”?
NO — NOT IN THOSE WORDS.
Paul wrote:
ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων
“WHO, EXISTING IN THE FORM OF GOD…”
The word:
μορφῇ — MORPHĒ — FORM
is part of Paul's statement.
We should not remove it.
And when we compare Paul with Paul, we find a consistent pattern:
Jesus is:
IN THE FORM OF GOD
Jesus is:
THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD
Jesus is:
THE IMAGE OF GOD
Jesus is described as the one in whom:
THE FULLNESS OF DEITY DWELLS BODILY
and God:
HIGHLY EXALTED HIM.
Yet Paul explicitly identifies:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
Therefore, Philippians 2:6 should not simply be rewritten as:
“JESUS WAS GOD.”
The NLT's “Though he was God” represents an interpretation of Paul's Greek expression rather than Paul's literal wording.
Whatever conclusion anyone ultimately reaches concerning Christ's nature, the starting point should always be the same:
DON'T REMOVE PAUL'S WORDS.
CHECK THE GREEK.
COMPARE SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE.
AND LET PAUL EXPLAIN PAUL.
“Yet to us there is one God, the Father… and one Lord, Jesus Christ…”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6, BLB
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com
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