In our last visit we discovered that Jesus suffered not only for our redemption but also for righteousness sake. Now let’s consider the last statement in Romans 8:17, “share in his glory.” 

 

Jesus Christ, as God the Son, shared with His heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit the effulgent glory of their being. This is clear in His high priestly prayer in John 17:1 & 5, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” 

 

This would not be easy to understand were it not for Paul’s profound statement in Philippians 2:5-6, “Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” 

 

Jesus Christ, as God the Son, could never be anything less than God. That’s what “being in very nature God” means. What does it mean when Paul continues; “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing”? 

 

Jesus Christ was and remained equal with God the Father as to His essential essence, but He didn’t have to hold on to the outward expression of who He is; that is, the effulgence of glory that He shared with His Father throughout eternity past. He laid that expression aside during His earthly sojourn so that He could give outward expression of His very nature as a servant.