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INNER CIRCLE: Our Equality With God

INNER CIRCLE: Our Equality With God

Last updated on: October 23, 2026 at 6:09 pm by Keith Giles

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INNER CIRCLE: Our Equality With God 2026-10-23T18:09:38+00:00 Keith Giles

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Philippians 2:5-11

“Be of that disposition in yourselves that was also in the Anointed One Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

“Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (emphasis mine)

The Greek word for “worship” is proskyneō and it is translated as “to kiss, to lower oneself in humility or reverence, to adore, to surrender completely to another”.

So, when Jesus let go of His equality with God and humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, and became nothing, he was doing exactly what anyone does when they worship something.

Jesus “lowered himself in humility”
Jesus became a servant to mankind.
Jesus adored us and gave himself up for us.
Jesus looked upon us and loved us.
Jesus completely surrendered his life to us.
Jesus placed his life and safety in the hands of his earthly parents.
Jesus gave us power over himself, even to the point of abusing him and putting him to death.

Jesus, in essence, went from being the One who was worshiped night and day by the cherubim of heaven to become a servant who washed the feet of his own disciples.

In his own words, Jesus declares that he did not come to be served – as a God might expect to be – but that he came to serve us. [See Mark 10:45]

This was an act of worship.

Now, it is quite normal for us to think of God as someone that we should worship, although Jesus refused worship from his disciples and ran away from the crowds who tried to exalt him and make him king. (See the Gospel of John 6:15)

But what is not normal and totally unexpected is for a god to let go of their godhood and humble themselves to become not only like us, but to position themselves beneath us to serve us, even to the point of death by our hands.

Imagine a god who worships us; a god who has all the power in the universe and then hands us the power to abuse them, beat them, mistreat them, torture them, and even to execute them. Imagine then that same god loving us unto their very last breath, and then rising from the dead to speak peace to us instead of wrath or fury.

This is the mindset Paul wants us to adopt. A mindset that humbles, serves, loves, and forgives.

The only problem with this teaching is how many of those who hold power in the Church (primarily men) have abused this concept to subjugate and exploit those around them. Obviously, anyone who expects someone else to suffer abuse while they do the abusing isn’t following this teaching themselves. To follow this teaching, everyone should submit to everyone else out of love, and no one should ever use their power to abuse or exploit anyone else.

Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, Coast To Coast with George Noory, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.

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