Philippians 2:6

[Wootah]

Here is a list of all bible translations of the verse.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/philipp ... mpare.html

NIV: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage
ESV: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped

NWT: who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God.

I'd like to get into the greek, of this and try to see where the translation came from. I'll be learning as we go as well.

First question - what does the NWT mean gave no consideration to a seizure?

[Wootah]

[Replying to Wootah in post #1]
As the ESV says...Jesus did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped. That word in the Greek indicates something that someone did not have previously but then takes it with some force. It would be a "seizure." Jesus did not even consider it.

After reading the replies: I still think it is phrased strangely in the NWT but they intend it to mean what the other translations mean.

[PinSeeker]

Here is a list of all bible translations of the verse.

https://www.biblestudytools.com/philipp ... mpare.html

NIV: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage
ESV: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped

NWT: who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God.

I'd like to get into the greek, of this and try to see where the translation came from. I'll be learning as we go as well.

First question - what does the NWT mean gave no consideration to a seizure?

I'll just say that none of these three translations make any outward statement concerning whether Jesus had or did not have equality of God, before, during, or after His life on earth. But the clear implication of all three is that He had it before, during, and after His life on earth... That's Paul's very point. He just didn't use or exploit it during His life on earth, and this was for the sake of man. What immediately follows this verse is Paul's assertion of the self-emptying of Christ, that He set aside His own life as an act of total obedience to the will of the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. So He didn’t cease to be God in any sense. He was always truly God; during His life on earth, He was truly God and truly man. There was no diminishing of His glory as God and no diminishing of His glory as man. All the person of Christ was bound to lower Himself to the point of a slave, as it says in Philippians 2. That language is so important. Paul defined the kenosis, or self-emptying, by using the word “slave.” All the way down, Jesus was the One who was face-to-face with God, pros ton theon, as it says in the gospel of John. Then, He prayed in John 17 to be restored to that pros ton theon, face-to-face with God, because He had made a slave of Himself, voluntarily submitting to the will of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Grace and peace to all.

[PinSeeker]

After reading the replies: I still think it is phrased strangely in the NWT but they intend it to mean what the other translations mean.

Agreed.