“Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…. he humbled himself” (Phil 2:5-6)
Paul places Christ and his attitude as the model to imitate. The whole dynamics consist of the following movement. If you want to achieve true glory, then empty yourself and become humble. Jesus, the son of God, received the great glory of the resurrection and victory over death and sin for a simple reason. He emptied himself. He did not act as God. But he acted as a servant. If you want to have a lasting glory, follow him. Be humble.
Humility is not a favorite word nor attitude for human beings. We want to be “someone”. Our hearts desire greatness. We want to be free and decide for ourselves. We do not want to be slaves and “told what to do”.
But what is humility? Small-mindedness? Underestimating ourselves? Making ourselves losers? Jesus taught us that humility is poverty in spirit: “blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of God is theirs” (Mt 5:3) The poor in spirit are those who recognize their own need for mercy, being aware of their weaknesses and failures. Humility is deprived of self-sufficiency. The humble, the poor in spirit, are like children who rely on their parents. Who run to their parents for help, for acknowledgment, for shelter, for comfort, for re-affirmation… Thus, humility starts with self-knowledge, recognition of our limits and weaknesses. Of our ambitions and desires. Recognizing the lack of power to fulfill the deepest ambition of our hearts. Humility is the consciousness of one’s existential misery.
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For Origen humility is the absence of conceit. For him it is moderation, the middle way between vanity and small mindedness. It should become the general attitude of the human heart. St. Basil says that humility prevents from attributing the gifts of God to oneself. (“Homilies” 20). Abba Isaiah, one of the Desert Fathers, teaches that humility is practiced by silence, obedience to one’s superior, accepting one’s status and surrendering to physical labor (“Oratio” 20). Another monk, Evagrius, speaks of humility as not forgetting to ascribe the victories over (spiritual) enemies to God.
One way to better understand humility is to look at the opposite. The opposite is vain glory or pride. The Fathers of Desert teach that vain glory seeks reward and admiration of men. There is an interesting quote from Evagrius: “vain glory leads to desire to make the struggles and victories known publicly, to hunt after the praise of men” (“Praktikos,” 13).
Pride and vain glory are a forgetfulness of God. It is an attitude in which the I (ego) is in the center. Self-will as the operating center of life. There is no need to change or improve. Everything is achieved by my own skills, talents, and virtues. It often manifests itself in despising others and viewing them as “imperfect.” Saint Augustine teaches that the lack of humility is indeed an obstacle to God’s mercy. I do prevent God from acting in my life, touching my wounds and healing, lifting me up and transforming. (“De liber arbitrio,” 3.10.29)
“Being in the image of God, humanity still needed to receive the likeness. The Word, having been sent into the world to perfect this, first of all, took on our own form, even though in history it has been stained by many sins, so that we for our part, on whose account he bore it, should be once again capable of partaking in his divine nature. Hence it is now possible for us to receive God’s likeness. Think of a skilled painter painting a likeness of himself on a surface. So, we may now imitate the same characteristics that God himself has displayed in his becoming a human being. We hold these characteristics before us as we go in discipleship along the path he set out. His purpose in consenting to put on human flesh when he was God was this: that we, upon seeing the divine image in this tablet, so to speak, might imitate this incomparable artist.” (Methodius, “Symposium,” 1.4.24)
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Being humble is not so much a pragmatic attitude, so to speak, ‘to secure for myself my own glory and lasting success’. Rather, it is the way of salvation. Without making himself humble, emptying himself, we would never be able to recognize the presence of God. We would not be able to come close to him and be healed, freed, or forgiven. Without his humility, we would carry forever the unbearable burden of our mistakes, weaknesses, failures, and sins. We would live in a never-ending inner tension and emptiness. On whose account he bore it, should be once again capable of partaking in his divine nature. Hence it is now possible for us to receive God’s likeness.
“He humbled himself, according to the Scriptures, taking on himself the form of a slave. He became like us that we might become like him. The work of the Spirit [then] seeks to transform us by grace.” St. Cyril of Alexandria (“Festal Letter” 10.4) This transformation, this becoming ‘like him’, is realized step by step by practicing humility. Therefore, humility is the way of salvation.
By practicing humility – when we acknowledge our limitations and weaknesses, failures, and therefore we rely on God and do not push through our own will, nor do we seek the praise acknowledgment of others – we in fact ascend to God. It seems to be a contradiction for our human thinking. Nevertheless, such (in our eyes) abasement in fact, imitates Christ, and therefore it is also sharing in the mystery of his resurrection and exaltation. In his lasting glory.
The way to salvation, to the new life of resurrection, greatness, lasting glory and personal satisfaction – as well as peace, unity and communal prosperity – is humility. Just as Jesus showed us. This is the reason Paul begs us to have the same attitude as Christ.