Kenosis

Kenosis

 (By R. P. Martin)

This Greek term is formed from the verb heauton ekenōsen, ‘he emptied himself’, which the AV of Phil. 2:7 renders ‘he made himself of no reputation’. As a substantive it is used, in the technical sense, of the Christological theory which sets out ‘to show how the Second Person of the Trinity could so enter into human life as that there resulted the genuinely human experience which is described by the evangelists’ (H. R. Mackintosh). In its classic form this Christology goes back no farther than the middle of the last century, to Thomasius of Erlangen in Germany.

The essence of the original kenotic view is stated clearly by J. M. Creed. ‘The Divine Logos by His Incarnation divested Himself of His divine attributes of omniscience and omnipotence, so that in His incarnate life the Divine Person is revealed and solely revealed through a human consciousness’ (art. ‘Recent Tendencies in English Christology’ in Mysterium Christi, ed. Bell and Deissmann, 1930, p. 133). This Christological statement is open to damaging theological objections; and, on exegetical grounds too, there is little support for it.

The verb kenoun means simply ‘to empty’. In the literal sense it is used, for example, of Rebekah’s emptying the water from her pitcher into the trough (Gn. 24:20, lxx: the verb is exekenōsen). In Je. 14:2; 15:9 the lxx uses the verb kenoun to render the pu‘al of ’amal, which the RV translates as ‘languish’; and this translation points to a metaphorical usage which prepares the way for the interpretation of the Philippians text. The use of kenoun there in the active voice is unique in the NT and the whole phrase with the reflexive is not only un-Pauline but un-Greek too. This fact supports the suggestion that the phrase is a rendering into Gk. of a Sem. original, the linguistic solecism being explained by the literal translation from one language into another. Recent scholars (H. W. Robinson, J. Jeremias) have found this original in Is. 53:12: ‘He poured out his soul to death’. On this reading of Phil. 2:7, the ‘kenosis’ is not that of his incarnation but the final surrender of his life, in utter self-giving and sacrifice, on the cross. Even if this novel interpretation is regarded as somewhat forced (for a critique, see R. P. Martin, Carmen Christi, 1967, ch. 7) it puts us on the right track. The words ‘he emptied himself’ in the Pauline context say nothing about the abandonment of the divine attributes, and to that extent the kenotic theory is an entire misunderstanding of the scriptural words. Linguistically the self-emptying is to be interpreted in the light of the words which immediately follow. It refers to the ‘pre-incarnate renunciation coincident with the act of ‘taking the form of a servant’’ (V. Taylor, The Person of Christ in New Testament Teaching, 1958, p. 77). His taking of the servant’s form involved the necessary limitation of the glory which he laid aside that he might be born ‘in the likeness of men’. That glory of his pre-existent oneness with the Father (see Jn. 17:5, 24) was his because from all eternity he existed ‘in the form of God’ (Phil. 2:6). It was concealed in the ‘form of a servant’ which he took when he assumed our nature and appeared in our likeness; and with the acceptance of our humanity he took also his destiny as the Servant of the Lord who humbled himself to the sacrifice of himself at Calvary. The ‘kenosis’ then began in his Father’s presence with his preincarnate choice to assume our nature; it led inevitably to the final obedience of the cross when he did, to the fullest extent, pour out his soul unto death (see Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 8:9; Gal. 4:4-5; Heb. 2:14-16; 10:5ff.).

Bibliography. 

The fullest modern treatment of the kenosis doctrine, both historically and theologically, is that by P. Henry, art. ‘Kēnose‘ in DBS, Fasc. 24, 1950, cols. 7-161; D. G. Dawe, The Form of a Servant, 1964; T. A. Thomas, EQ 42, 1970, pp. 142-151. For a modern theological discussion, see R. S. Anderson, Historical Transcendence and the Reality of God, 1975.

Source: Douglas, New Bible Dictionary.