The Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians 2:8 that Christ “humbled Himself” in accomplishing the work of redemption. The Book of the Foundations of Faith expresses this idea as follows:
“Christ’s humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition; in His being made under the law; in undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.”
According to this statement, the first stage of Christ’s humility was His birth. He is the Lord of Glory who shares in the splendor and majesty of God the Father, yet He chose to take on a nature that was far beneath His divine nature—maintaining personal and continuous unity with it. Even if He had entered the world as a king, robed in purple and crowned with gold, that would have been a profound condescension. But to be born as a helpless infant, completely dependent on His mother, and to be so poor that He had no place to lay His head, and to have His life threatened by Herod’s persecution to the point that His parents had to flee with Him to Egypt—this all reveals His total condescension and absolute humility for our sake. This is something our minds can scarcely comprehend. Though He was the very source of the Law, He submitted Himself to the limitations of human nature and to the requirements of circumcision. He thus placed Himself under the Law as if He were an ordinary Jew.
Christ lived in a humble house in the lowly and despised village of Nazareth, among rough neighbors and in a small, insignificant setting, ignored by the important people of the world. Though He was the Lord of all, He submitted to Joseph and Mary as a normal human child. He worked hard in the carpenter’s shop and subjected Himself to the hardships of the poor and the lowly. His public ministry led Him to interact with all types and classes of people, especially the weak and the sinful, including the outcasts and the degraded. He did not hesitate to associate with any of them. Though He was a holy and pure God, He lived among them day by day as though He were one of them. He dined with despised tax collectors and proud Pharisees alike. He experienced hunger and thirst many times. He had nowhere to rest His head, and He lacked even what the humblest prophets of His time possessed. He suffered bitter hostility and persecution from the leaders of the Jews. And although Christ’s humility marked all the stages of His earthly life, His sufferings intensified as His redemptive mission approached its end.
In the final phase of His earthly life, He endured the harshest and most profound trial: the shame and hatred of His enemies. His humiliation reached its peak when His enemies dragged Him away in scorn and disgrace amid the heartless cries and inflamed passions of the people, who ignorantly and foolishly shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” He began to bear the dreadful judgment He foresaw coming upon the Jewish nation—a heavy burden upon Himself. His suffering and death on the cross were the most terrifying and agonizing kind of death.
The physical pain was not all that He endured on the cross. Since He was performing His redemptive work on behalf of His people—offering Himself as a ransom—He was treated as if He Himself had sinned and deserved punishment. Even the presence of the Father, who had always been with Him, was withdrawn in that moment—just as darkness hides the light of the sun. His sensitive soul was left to suffer alone, in a violent struggle against the ruthless powers of evil, which fought with unspeakable desperation in that final moment, hoping to thwart His work of redemption. His cry of agony, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” testifies to the intensity of His suffering. We cannot even partially understand the anguish He endured while hanging on the cross. But we know that He committed no sin, and that death had no claim on Him. He took our place by His own will and bore the punishment we deserved. Thus, He became the atonement for our sins.
Therefore, we cannot lay the blame for His crucifixion on the Jews and Romans of that era alone. What we must do is acknowledge with repentance and humility the broader dimension of the crime—for it was our sin, and theirs, that brought upon Him such intense suffering. He suffered in a unique way on behalf of the afflicted—both individuals and groups—regardless of the age they live in, for He bore their burden.
Finally, the humility of Christ was crowned by His burial in a tomb prepared for men whose death was not just expected, but inevitable. In His burial, He shared in the common fate of all who die and are buried, and whose bodies decay and perish. Yet His body did not see decay. He rose from the dead in glorious resurrection after three days.
