Novatian, On the Trinity 22

But why, even though we seem to be rushing on to another part of the discussion, do we skip over that passage in the apostle? He writes of the one who, existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be seized; but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness, and, found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8). Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

The text says, ‘Who, when he was in the form of God.’ If Christ were only a man, he would be in the image of God, not in the form—for we know that man was made according to the image, not according to the form, nor do angels possess the form of God. Who, then, is this one who was found in the form of God, as we have said and as we read? It can only be the preeminent and noble Son of God, the Word of God, the imitator of all the Father’s works, who himself works just as his Father does, and is therefore in the form (as we have expressed it) of God the Father. And rightly was he declared to be in the form of God, since he himself is above all things and holds the divine power over all creation, and is God, an example of the Father. Yet this very status he received from his own Father, that he might be both God and Lord of all, and God in the form of God the Father, begotten and brought forth from him.

Therefore, although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped. For even though he knew himself to be God from God the Father, he never compared or equated himself with God the Father, mindful that he is from his Father and that he possesses his very being because the Father gave it to him. Consequently, both before the assumption of flesh and after the assumption of the body, and after the resurrection itself, he rendered obedience to the Father in all things, and continues to render it. This proves that he never considered it a seizure to claim a certain divinity in order to make himself equal to God the Father. On the contrary, being obedient and subject to every command and will of the Father, he was content even to take the form of a servant—that is, to become a man—and to assume the substance of flesh and body, which, by being born, he took on from the bondage of the Father’s sins according to man. At that time he also emptied himself, by not refusing to take on the frailty of the human condition.

For if he had been born only as a man, he would not have been emptied; a man, when born, grows, he is not emptied. For while he begins to be what he was not, he cannot possess what he did not have; as we have said, he is not emptied but rather grows and is enriched. But if Christ is emptied in his birth by taking the form of a servant, how can he be only a man? Of such a one it would have been more truly said that he was enriched, not emptied, when he was born—unless it is because the authority of the divine Word, resting for a time in order to assume humanity and not exercising his own powers, lowered himself for a time and laid them aside, while bearing the man he had assumed. He empties himself as he descends to injuries and insults, as he hears blasphemies and endures indignities. Yet the fruit of that humility appears at once. For he received the name that is above every name, which we understand to be none other than the name of God. Since it belongs to God alone to be above all things, it follows that the name which is above every name belongs to him who is above all things. That name, therefore, is God’s; and it belongs, consequently, to him who, existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped.

For if Christ were not God, every knee would not bow to him—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—nor would all creation, visible and invisible, every creature, be subjected or made subject to a mere man who remembered that he existed before man. From the fact that Christ is said to be in the form of God, and that he is shown to have emptied himself in his birth according to the flesh, and that it is declared he received from the Father the name that is above every name, and that every knee of heavenly, earthly, and infernal beings is shown to bow and bend at that name, and that this very thing is asserted to happen to the glory of God the Father—it follows, consequently, that he is not a man only because he became obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross. From these preceding realities, which proclaim the divinity of Christ, the Lord Christ Jesus is shown to be God, which the heretics refuse to accept.