Psalms, Philippians 2:6-11, and the Origins of Christology

Abstract

Students of early Christianity recognized long ago that the canonical psalms of the Jewish Bible provided a framework of meaning in which the followers of Jesus could make sense of his crucifixion. This novel hermeneutic is evident in the allusions to the Psalms in the passion narrative of the Gospel according to Mark. It appears also in the Markan Jesus's explanation of the need for the Son of Man to suffer. Most students of the New Testament today understand Philippians 2:6-11 as a pre-Pauline hymn that was composed for early Christian worship. More recent studies suggest that it is exalted prose rather than poetry. The hypothesis of this article is that Paul composed it, either for worship or for the purposes of the argument of his letter to the Philippians. In doing so, he adapted a common social practice of the local culture. The "theologos" was an official in the organized worship of an ancient deity whose duty it was to compose brief speeches, sometimes in prose, sometimes in poetry, in honor of the deity. The organized worship of the emperor included such officials. Paul acted as a "theologos" in writing a brief speech in exalted prose honoring Jesus Christ, whom he had taught the Philippians to honor instead of the emperor.

The Philippians ‘Christ Hymn’: Trends in Critical Scholarship

“…2.5-11 as a hymn. In her study, Collins situates the passage in the first-century practice of using hymns in a liturgical context, appealing to several examples found in early Christianity, Hellenistic culture, and early Judaism (Collins 2003: 361-71). In due course, Collins considers Paul’s exposure to Hellenism as good evidence to suggest that Phil.…”

`Poetry', `Hymns' and `Traditional Material' in New Testament Epistles or How to Do Things with Indentations*

“…Similarly it shows the close relationship between the prose hymn in praise of a god and the prose encomium in praise of a human being. Yarbro Collins (2003) prefers the genre of encomium for Phil. 2.6-11, since the text lacks any invocation of the deity or a concluding prayer.…”

On Docetic Christology in Early Christianity. Pt. 2.3

“…О том, что автором отрывка был Павел и текст написан прозой, см. : Fee 1992;Collins 2002 (Павел «adapted the form of the Greek prose hymn»: 372); о том, что Флп 2.6-11 «was transmitted in Greek for a Greek reading public» и «written according to the principles of classical rhetoric», возможно, самим Павлом, см. : Robins 1980: 82; ср.…”