In Philippians 2:5-11 we find the great early church kenosis hymn. Kenosis refers to the self-emptying of the Son of God, voluntarily descending by incarnation into our world and following that self-emptying all the way to the ignominious death of the cross. Life can sometimes force an unchosen kenosis upon us, in what it strips from us, leaving us very empty. When Jesus came, He voluntarily “emptied himself”. When we are assaulted by what we did not want, it is at that moment that we can choose to live out a voluntary kenosis, because this is the “attitude that is in Christ Jesus” (v. 5).
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8 (NRSV)
