The Christ - Hymn in Philippians 2 : 5 - 11

s 9:3 (1964-65) no. 1021. It should be emphasized that Geyser's interpretation of the hymn (whether or not it be regarded as 'heretical') is not substantiated by Martin's exegesis. 41 At the same time, I should not want to understand μορφή purely in terms of role or outward form. Incidentally, Martin does not seem to have faced up fully to the arguments brought forward by Käsemann for understanding the word to mean ‘Daseinsweise’. THE CHRIST-HYMN IN PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11 127 nο doubt that in the case of Dr Martin's book the reverse is the case. Here is a sound basis for further advance. 42 Misprints and errors have been noted as follows: p. 40; Lohmeyer's commentary on Die Offenbarung des Johannes is in the HzNT (cf p. 331), not Meyer series. P. 55: the first sentence in the second paragraph is clumsily expressed. P. 67, note 4: read '80' for '70'. P. 78 note 2: the summary of Cullmann's approach should be included here rather than on p. 76. P. 87, line 13: read 'concluded' for ‘excluded'. P. 110, line 5 from foot: read 'revelations' for 'revelation'. P. 343, s.v. ‘Käsemann, E': read '83' and '173' for '82' and '172' respectively. P. 354: read 'Wisdom.' for ‘Widsom’. On pp. 26 and 329 a reference to the original publication of E. Käsemann's article in ZTK 47 (1950) 313-360 should have been included. Additional note: A valuable contribution to the study of Philippians 2:6-11 which appeared after the completion of the above article is R. Deichgräber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frühen Christenheit, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen (1967). This thesis is of special interest because it independently confirms several of Martin's results although it sets doubts against others. The author is interested more in the form, language and style of early Christian hymns than in their theology, and discusses Philippians 2:6-11: in the context of a thorough study of early hymns. Philippians 2:6-11 is the oldest example of a Christ-hymn and expresses the early church's rejoicing in God's historical act of salvation in His Son. Deichgräber accepts the structure of the hymn suggested by Bultmann and Jeremias and followed by Martin; he lays great stress on the use of parallelisms membrorum, whose presence he regards as fatal to Lohmeyer's analysis. (He rejects, however, Jeremias's strophic divisions, and his derivation of verse 7a from Is. 53:12.) He accepts the excision of θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ, but is less sure about the other excisions proposed by Jeremias; their language is not specifically Pauline, but they do disturb the length of the lines of the hymn. Of especial importance are Deichgräber's strong criticisms of the arguments for a Semitic basis for the hymn, and the list of features in it which he finds to be clearly Hellenistic. The hymn, he concludes, is not Palestinian Jewish Christian, but Hellenistic Jewish Christian. Finally, he argues that there is no sufficient evidence to associate the hymn specifically with either baptism or eucharist and proposes a general connection with Christian worship. With regard to the present context of the hymn, it is argued that hymns were used secondarily in paraenesis and that this is the function which this hymn fulfils in Philippians. This view is confirmed by a careful refutation of Käsemann's rendering of Philippians 2:5 and by the argument that the theme of humiliation and exaltation in the hymn could readily be used in paraenesis.