Andrew

The conception of the divine Jesus in Phil. 2:5-11 is indeed the way I should want to understand God- a God of weakness rather than power. This is the way Bonhoeffer conceived God in his final period in prison and the idea receives profound and radical treatment at the hands of Simone Weil.

You will recall in our previous discussion on this point that I could not see how this idea of God could be consistent with Jahweh’s interventions on earth in pursuit of his own purposes. It also seemed to me that your conception of the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem as being divine judgement on Israel recapitulates this God.

The New Testament conception of Jesus’s power is puzzling to me. He heals the sick, raises the dead, reads men’s minds, manipulates the events that lead to his suffering, commands the elements- all supernatural or divine powers. On the other hand, there are also the suggestions that Jesus is a servant, the least of all, the washer of feet. He refuses to use his powers in pursuit of Jewish national interests or against the Romans, his confrontation with the devil in the desert is a stand-off (would Jahweh have done that?), he declines to call on the legions of angels to protect him from those who want to kill him.

As you suggest, this does help in the understanding of Jesus as the God-man. It is also the only way I can reconcile God’s inaction in the face of the slaughter of the innocents.