Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 April 2001
Phil 2.6b should not be understood in the manner of an idiom but in a clearly negative way (‘booty’). The central key to Phil 2.6b is offered by biblical, Jewish and Hellenistic traditions about a usurpation of equality with God by kings and rulers (cf. Isa 14.12–15; hubris of god-like kings like Alexander, who ‘robbed’ their position). The self-humiliating Christ (who did not claim equality with God) is conceived as an antitype to the self-elevating rulers of the world; his Lordship is not based on usurpation. Phil 2.6–11 is keenly aware of the Jewish notion of the One and Only God (cf. John 5.18); the mantle of God's Oneness also embraces Christ as the Lord.