V - The Pre-existent Being (verse 6 a)

Summary

ἐν μορϕῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων

(verse 6a)

Our interest in this phrase is immediately focused upon the word υορφή, translated in the A.V. and R.V. as ‘form’. That this is the most adequate rendering of the Greek word is doubted, even by those commentators (such as M. R. Vincent) who cannot propose a better alternative. L. Cerfaux comments that ‘le substantif υορφή)…est intraduisible en français’; and the same admission must be made in respect of all attempts to render the word into any modern language (as D. M. Stanley remarks).

The discovering of the exact meaning is handicapped by the fact that the term is found only here in St Paul's writing, although it is true that cognate forms of the root μορφ- are elsewhere used by him. In recent discussion three main explanations of the word in the context of Philippians ii. 6 have been offered; and to a survey of these explanations we turn.

But a word of explanation about this method of treatment itself is required before we embark upon the classification of the various views which have been propounded. Ostensibly we are concerned with the task of discovering the meaning of a single Greek word in the context of a phrase. But this one Greek term stands at the head of the Christ-hymn; and in a way it sets the stage for all that follows in the next six verses.