Paulson Post

The famous song ‘Servant King’ by Graham Kendricks begins with this line: ‘From heaven You came helpless babe.’ It is indeed a wonderful song which goes on to describe Jesus who is ‘The Servant King.’ However, the phrase ‘helpless babe’ needs to be explored. How helpless was this babe born to Mary in a little manger in Bethlehem whom we celebrate during the season of Christmas? Or put in other words who was Jesus in his incarnation? The christological hymn in Philippians 2:6-10 is certainly profound. However, the phrase ‘but made himself nothing’ (Phil 2:7) has given rise to much speculattion. The Greek phrase literally means ‘but he emptied himself’ as CEB puts it. However most English translations avoid the literal meaning. The English Standard Version has it as ‘but made himself nothing’ and KJV has it as ‘But made himself of no reputation.’ The original word comes from the Greek word KENOW which means ‘empty.’ The resason why the translations avoid the literal translation is t...

When my wife is away, I get into the kitchen for my culiniary experiments. Having followed the recipe in all its details, I leave it to be cooked on the stove and get back to my desk. Most of the time, I get so engrossed in my work and remember my cooking only when the burning smell wafts to my office from the kitchen. That is when I remember that I had left a vessel on a burning stove. Genesis 8:1 surprises us with this obervation: ‘But God remembered Noah’ (ESV). This is the first time the word ‘remember’ occurs in the Bible. Does this mean that God had forgotten Noah and all that he has in the ark? What would have happened if God did not remember them—certainly it would have been disastrous. The supply of food would not last for ever for all of them. This short phrase brings out the turning point in whole story—a turning point from the devastating flood to the new earth and newness of life. In other words it is the fulcrum on which the events turn from annihiliation to reconstru...