Kénōsis (κένωσις), Phil 2 and the paradox of true glory in Love’s self-emptying vs the false glory (kenodoxía) in self-love
[Reading Time: 9 minutes;
Cassian on Vainglory: 8 minutes]
Introduction: The paradox of divine Love
…We will encounter three key words in this next phase of studies that are all intrinsically linked together:
Kénōsis (κένωσις), Désmios (δέσμιος) and Mimētḗs (μιμητής)
What we will find is that to become a true “follower,” which is to say an “imitator (mimētḗs) of Jesus Christ” (I Cor 11:1), we must learn to continually “empty” (kenóō) ourselves of ourselves (Phil 2:5-9), in such a way that we become, in no uncertain terms, a functional “bound slave (désmios) of Jesus Christ” in this world (Eph 3:1).
Yet, herein, as we often find, lies a paradox:
As we strip ourselves of our own will, giving up all power and authority over our lives, we descend into the life of a “slave in bonds” (désmios). That is to say, not merely do we become a “slave” —(doûlos)—but moreover, a ‘slave’ that is literally “bound” [déō]).
Yet in the exact moments when we embrace the extremity of our calling in Christ such that we “look” moment by moment only to the will of our Master, then—and only then—do we begin to experience the truest form of freedom.
This process has been referred to by the Church Fathers as kénōsis, a term that is never actually used in the Greek NT, yet which communicates in a single word the infinite treasures of glory opened to us in Christ’s Incarnation.
The kénōsis of divine Love
With its meaning centered in Philippians 2:5-11, kénōsis describes how the eternal Christ “empties” (kenóō) Himself of His divine “form” (morphḗ Theóu, 2:6) so as to “take” on the “form of a slave” (morphḗ doûlou, 2:7). In this way, kénōsis roots itself in the “self abnegating, redemptive descent of God into human life” wherein there is given the “self-sacrificial self-communication of God to mankind” (Torrance, Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ, 76). Though theories of this process abound, the Scriptures never actually tell us the details of “how this takes place”—
How God, though everlasting, enters into the finite existence of mankind;
How God, though Creator, enters into our created world as a literal, helpless baby;
In short, How the eternal “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
We are not given the How; only the Who, the What and the Why.
“All that is said is that this union is a way of incredible humiliation and Grace” (Ibid).
And in this “humiliation and grace,” the love of JHWH drives our Lord to empty Himself of His divine glory so as to fully enter into our human condition in a way that more completely reveals to us the glory of God’s sacrificial love. The incarnate Christ as “very God” who becomes “very man” is thus able to reconcile man to God, as it were, “from the side of man”, so as to heal our humanity and restore our “communion with God” in a way that “far transcends the original creation” (Ibid, 77).
One more time, in a way “that far transcends the original creation.”
And in this reality, we enter once again into a paradox:
In God’s humiliation (tapeínōsis), He reveals to us His eternal Glory;
In His emptying (kenosis), He displays the majestic fullness of divine Love;
In His entrance into the Fall, the disintegration, the sickness, the disease of creation, He heals and restores our humanity in a way “that far transcends the original creation.”
Philippian 2 as our guide: The four “ifs”
With the words of the Apostle as our guide to the pathway of this “self abnegating, redemptive descent of God into human life,” the passage opens with four “if” statements, the answers to which immediately take us into the communion of love within the Trinity, calling and encouraging us into transformative participation in its life:
If there is any paráklēsis in Christ—That is to ask, have we received and entered into our holy “calling” (kaléō) given to us by the One Who made Himself so close “beside” (pará) us that we could “hear” His voice and, what’s more, “see” Him “with our eyes” and even “touch” Him “with our hands”?
And if we have entered into this calling, we are ready for the next question:
If there is any paramýthion of love—Are we, then, moment-by-moment receiving this Word of life that is continually breaking through to us from the eternal realm (múthos) and, even more, being brought near to us (pará) in the intimacy of love (agápē) in ways that deeply console us and encourage us forward?
If so,
If there is any communion (koinōnía) of the Spirit—Having received Christ’s calling and being urged forward into greater depths of His love, are we being bound more and more to one other as one (koinós)?
Is this our metric of “success” in ministry?
Not numerical growth, but greater degrees of unity in the Spirit. Not continually branching off to “do” our own (ídios) work but entering into the unified work of the Body?
In short, are we entering into the mystical unity of divine love that ever calls us to “be one” in love even as the Father and Son are one through the “koinōnía of the Spirit”? Through the One Who is spoken of by the Fathers as the “absolute love which joins together Father and Son, and joins us also from beneath….”
And finally, the last “if” statement:
If there is any splánchna kai oiktirmói—Are all of these movements flowing out of the emotional depths of a heart poured out in compassion and mercy?
What unity in the Spirit looks like
If each of these are beginning to happen—entering into our calling in Christ in a way that drives us forward in love into deeper communion with one another through the Spirit Who is operating in the depths of our being unto compassion and mercy—then we are ready to take the next step to
Fulfill (plēróō) my joy (chará)
Which joy (chará), to go back to its roots, is derived from the gift (chárisma) of grace (cháris) of our annointing (christós) into the body of Christ Jesus? For Love’s anointing through the Spirit is that which draws us together into the joy of true unity, where we become, in the words of the Apostle:
like-minded (phronéō [hína to autó phronéte])—that is, with the depths of our mind/heart/soul/nous now “led by the Spirit” (Mt 4:1-> Rom 12:1-3) such that we are corporately living/thinking/desiring the “same thing” (to autó) that is “according to Christ Jesus” (katá Christón)
having the same love (auten agápēn)—Drawn by the Spirit into an eternal love that reflects in This Fallen Age the unity of divine Love within the Trinity itself
being of one accord (sýmpsychoi)—Literally, having the “same (sým) psychḗ” such that we together desire in the depths of our heart and soul the same thing (to autó), which can only occur as we are continually
of one mind (phronéō [en phronountes])—desiring, seeking, striving after the eternal realities of Christ’s Kingdom.
How we do operate in such divine unity; and how we do not
With the DNA of unity articulated through each of this statements, the Apostle then reveals what will begin to happen if we, “having begun in the Spirit” begin to operate as though we were “made perfect by the flesh.” And if this happens, the mindset of our flesh will drive us into actions motivated principally by
selfish ambition (katá eritheían)—a word derived from erithos: ‘one who works for hire,’ a ‘hireling,’ or even more, a ‘self-seeking mercenary’ who acts for his ‘own gain regardless of the discord and strife it causes.’
It should be noted that this term was used by Aristotle in his Politics when specifying (as we are in a rather intensely partisan election year…)
“what are the number and the nature of the causes that give rise to revolutions in constitutions, and what are the causes that destroy each form of constitution…” (Book 5, 1301a).
When outlining the “origins and causes” of “party factions and revolutions” (1302a), he pinpoints eritheía in his list of seven. Along with “insolence, fear, excessive predominance, contempt, disproportionate growth of power,” etc., he includes eritheía so as to designate those who “electioneer for office” (δι᾽ ἐριθείαν, Book 5, 1302b)…whose end effect is to bring “factious strife” (διά τε τὰς ἐριθείας, 1303a).
When this “strife”, then, moves from the political realm into the Church, Paul identifies it as a “work of the flesh.” And this becomes operative in the Church when we become “entangled again with a yoke of bondage”, being progressively “estranged from Christ” to the degree that we are “fallen from grace” (Gal 5:1-4). In such a spiritual environment, we do not bear the “fruit of the Spirit” for the “healing of the nations”, but rather bear a particular kind of of false fruit that dies on the vine of pharisaical externals of anxiety-ridden religion…which ‘religion’, we come to find, is marked by “hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions (eritheía), dissensions, factions (haíresis…i.e. ‘heresies’, Gal 5:20).
Kyrie elieson!
Yet the Apostle moves on from selfish ambition (katá eritheían) to one further characteristic,
vainglory (katá kenodoxían)—This word, which literally means ‘empty (kenós) glory (dóxa),’ has its only occurrence in the NT here. As such, kenodoxía conveys the idea that our selfish ambition leads us into a total emptiness that, nevertheless, parades itself to all onlookers as if it were actual glory.
Again, Kyrie elieson!
A word from the Desert on vainglory (kenodoxía)
As this Biblical word occurs only once in the NT, as noted above, we move into the writings of the Fathers, who developed keen insight into the dynamics of this “spirit” in their warfare in the Deserts of This Age. This “spirit”, Cassian writes from his synthesis of years spent under the tutelage of the Egyptian Fathers, “takes many shapes, and is changeable and subtle, so that it can with difficulty, I will not say be guarded against, but be seen through and discovered even by the keenest eyes” (Institutes, Book XI).
How, then, can we see through it, given that it cannot be totally guarded against?
First, the awareness that vainglory will attack us on not only on our “carnal side” but will “insinuate itself by craft and guile” into our minds “so that those who cannot be deceived by carnal vices are more grievously wounded through their spiritual proficiency,” making it “so much the worse to fight against, as it is harder to guard against.”
How so?
Cassian continues,
“For the attack of all other vices is more open and straightforward, and in the case of each of them, when he who stirs them up is met by a determined refusal, he will go away the weaker for it, and the adversary who has been beaten will on the next occasion attack his victim with less vigour.”
This is why many disciplines in the Christian life which we have to strive to carry out the attacks of “the world, the flesh and the devil” eventually give way in the grace of the Gospel; yet not with vainglory…which will first attack us by vice (i.e. “on the left hand”)…then by virtue (“on our right hand”):
“But this malady when it has attacked the mind by means of carnal pride, and has been repulsed by the shield of reply, again, like some wickedness that takes many shapes, changes its former guise and character, and under the appearance of the virtues tries to strike down and destroy its conqueror.”
As such, Cassian goes onto say that vainglory will attack us at home, in our work, in our dress, in our voice (as we all know when someone transitions into a ‘spiritual’ voice…), in our reading, in knowledge, prayers, silence, fasting, humility, patience, obedience…even in our humility…
“And like some most dangerous rock hidden by surging waves, it causes an unforeseen and miserable shipwreck to those who are sailing with a fair breeze, while they are not on the lookout for it or guarding against it.”
Again, we say with the publican, Kyrie eleison!
How to guard against vainglory??
The breath of the Spirit
We must, in short, be guided through these continual temptations “with discretion at the helm, and the Spirit of the Lord breathing on us, since we know that if we deviate ever so little to the right hand or to the left, we shall presently be dashed against most dangerous crags.”
And so we are “warned by Solomon, the wisest of men:
“Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left.”
i.e. “Do not flatter yourself on your virtues and be puffed up by your spiritual achievements on the right hand; nor, swerving to the path of vices on the left hand, seek from them for yourself (to use the words of the Apostle) “glory in your shame.”
For where the devil cannot…drag a man down by honor, he overthrows him by humility.
If he cannot make him puffed up by the grace of knowledge and eloquence, he pulls him down by the weight of silence.
If a man fasts openly, he is attacked by the pride of vanity.
If he conceals it for the sake of despising the glory of it, he is assailed by the same sin of pride…”
Like an onion
“OUR elders admirably describe the nature of this malady as like that of an onion, and of those bulbs which, when stripped of one covering, you find to be sheathed in another; and as often as you strip them, you find them still protected.”
The summary
All to say,
“Nor does this malady endeavor to wound a man except through his virtues; introducing hindrances which lead to death by means of those very things through which the supplies of life are sought…
“And so it results that those of us who could not be vanquished in the conflict with the foe are overcome by the very greatness of our triumph.”
Why it is so difficult to war against?
As he has commented above, yet speaks of in greater detail here,
“ALL, vices when overcome grow feeble, and when beaten are day by day rendered weaker, and both in regard to place and time grow less and subside, or at any rate, as they are unlike the opposite virtues, are more easily shunned and avoided: but this one when it is beaten rises again keener than ever for the struggle; and when we think that it is destroyed, it revives again, the stronger for its death…
“And herein lies the crafty cunning of our adversary, namely, in the fact that, where he cannot overcome the soldier of Christ by the weapons of the foe, he lays him low by his own spear.”
The example of King Hezekiah
“FOR so we read that Hezekiah, King of Judah, a man of most perfect righteousness in all things, and one approved by the witness of Holy Scripture, after unnumbered commendations for his virtues, was overthrown by a single dart of vainglory.
“And he who by a single prayer of his was able to procure the death of a hundred and eighty- five thousand of the army of the Assyrians, whom the angel destroyed m one night, is overcome by boasting and vanity. Of whom—to pass over the long list of his virtues, which it would take a long time to unfold—I will say but this one thing.
“He was a man who, after the close of his life had been decreed and the day of his death determined by the Lord’s sentence, prevailed by a single prayer to extend the limits set to his life by fifteen years, the sun returning by ten steps, on which it had already shone in its course towards its setting, and by its return dispersing those lines which the shadow that followed its course had already marked, and by this giving two days in one to the whole world, by a stupendous miracle contrary to the fixed laws of nature.
“Yet after signs so great and so incredible, after such immense proofs of his goodness, hear the Scripture tell how he was destroyed by his very successes. ‘In those days,’ we are told, ‘Hezekiah was sick unto death: and he prayed to the Lord, and He heard him and gave him a sign,” that, namely of which we read in the fourth book of the kingdoms, which was given by Isaiah the prophet through the going back of the sun.
‘But,’ it says, ‘he did not render again according to the benefits which he had received, for his heart was lifted up; and wrath was kindled against him and against Judah and Jerusalem: and he humbled himself afterwards because his heart had been lifted up, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and therefore the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.’
“How dangerous, how terrible is the malady of vanity!
So much goodness, so many virtues, faith and devotion, great enough to prevail to change nature itself and the laws of the whole world, perish by a single act of pride!”
The remedy, the great weapon in our battle: Humility
Cassian does not, however, leave us in despair but offers us the remedy:
“So that all his good deeds would have been forgotten as if they had never been, and he would at once have been subject to the wrath of the Lord unless he had appeased Him by recovering his humility.”
Back to Philippians 2: From tapeínōsis through kénōsis unto true (not empty!) glory
This, then, leads us back to the remedy of the Apostle, where we will bring this writing to a close:
but in lowliness of mind (tapeinophrosýnē: tapeinós + phrḗn) let each esteem others better than himself.
This lowliness of mind, we then find, is demonstrated to us gloriously in the historical fact that Christ, though
“being in the form (morphḗ) of God” so “emptied himself” (kenóō heauton) that he “took on the form (morphḗ) of a slave.”
Yet even more,
“Being born in the likeness (homoíōma) of men. And being found in human form (schēmti hōs ánthrōpos),
He humbled Himself (tapeinóō) and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil 2:7-8).
This was His descent into the poverty of our condition which involved His tapeínōsis unto kénōsis that drove Him into slavery and death.
And in the words of Flannery O’Connor,
"You Can't Be Any Poorer Than Dead."
Yet what follows is His ascent, exaltation and glorification:
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-11).
And with these words, we bring this writing to a close.