Text: Philippians 2:5-11, especially verse 8: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion, Series A

Scripture has been analyzed more than any other book. One of the things that experts have suggested about this text is that these might not be Paul’s own words. He may have borrowed them from some other source. They speculate about this because there are a number of expressions in this text that do not occur in any of Paul’s other writings. Experts who analyze writing know that every writer develops styles and phrases that they tend to use repeatedly.

Scholars suggest that this text might be made up of words that Paul borrowed, possibly from an early Christian hymn. Of course the early believers already had a hymn book, the book of Psalm from the OT most certainly served as a hymn book for many of the early years of the church.

There is a good chance that the people to whom Paul writes these words, the Philippians, were already familiar with them. That would explain why Paul does not credit any source for these words. He just quotes them and knows that the Philippians will know exactly where they come from.

If you do any kind of writing or creating you know that if you borrow from another source you are to give credit to the person from whom you are borrowing. The writers of the New Testament, when quoting from the OT, would typically record the name of the prophet from which they were quoting, “As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,” and so on.

One of my favorite stories is from Dr. Dean Nadasdy who, in my opinion, is one of the best preachers in our Synod. He used to teach classes on preaching at the seminary and many of his sermons have been published in books of sermons that other pastors can use.

Dr Nadasdy tells of a time he was visiting a church somewhere and when it came time for the sermon he quickly realized that the pastor was preaching one of his sermons. Unfortunately the pastor did not mention at any point that the sermon was not his own but was one that had been written by Dr. Nadasdy.

It is certainly understandable why Paul would borrow these words; they are beautiful. They beautifully express both the justification and sanctification aspects of our wonderful faith.

Jesus did not stay up in heaven but humbled himself, taking on our human nature so that he could die for us on the cross as we heard in great detail in our Gospel reading for today. As a result of his willingness to humbly die for us, God the Father exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.

At the beginning of the text Paul says that our attitude is to be the same as that of Jesus. Purely by God’s grace, through the waters of Holy Baptism, we are made to be the beloved children of God and heirs of eternal life. But rather than be proud and arrogant about our exalted position as God’s children we are to humble ourselves as Jesus did. We are to be obedient to the will of God even if it costs us our lives. If we do so, God promises to exalt us, not to the highest place, Jesus is already there, but God promises to exalt us and honor us as his beloved children.

So we have justification, Jesus humbly dying for our sins, and sanctification, the humble lives we live in response to God’s love, side by side in one, great text.

Getting back to the idea that Paul may have borrowed from someone else for this text, it is important to point out that, even if he did borrow from someone else this text still remains God’s inspired and inerrant word. 

One of the most beloved Lenten hymns is “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.” One of the verses of this hymn talks about borrowing language to use to thank and praise God for his wonderful love in Christ.

“What language can I borrow to thank you, dearest friend,

For this your dying sorrow, your mercy without end?

Bind me to you forever, give courage from above;

Let not my weakness sever your bond of lasting love.”(Lutheran Service Book, hymn 449, verse 3)

The writer of the hymn can’t find words of his own to use to thank Jesus for his dying sorrow, his mercy without end. So he asks, “What language can I borrow?” “Where can I find words better than my own to praise my dearest Friend who died for me?”

The honest truth is that, just as we cannot ever do enough good works ever to pay for all of our sins, so, too, we can never praise and thank God enough for the gracious love he has shown to us in Christ.

We do a lot of borrowing throughout our liturgy, the divine service. We borrow from other sources, mostly directly from the Bible, to praise and thank Jesus for his dying sorrow, his mercy without end. Imagine if every week when we gather for worship we would have to come up with all new words to use to praise our dearest Friend.

Scholars readily acknowledge that Paul also wrote many of his own words. And many people borrow from him because he was a very accomplished writer. He wrote so much that scholars can easily recognize his style.

So when it comes to expressing our faith it is perfectly fine to borrow from the excellent and praiseworthy words of others. Just be sure that when you do so you give the author the credit that he or she deserves.

But it is also important to use our own words to witness to our faith, especially in more informal settings like with our family and friends. Jesus promises to give us the words we need to bear witness to him especially when we are called upon to defend our faith. We should not remain silent in response to the great love that God has shown to us in Christ.

Conclusion. Whether it is in words we borrow from others or our own words, we have such a great Savior that we should never stop praising him and we should never stop humbly serving him just as he served us.