Dr. Dan Hayden •
If you want it bad enough, you’ll “go for it.” You’ll grab the initiative. You’ll seize the opportunity. After all—that’s how you get ahead in the world.
Listen, there’s another side to this idea of getting ahead in the world. You see, if you already have it—you don’t have to “go for it.” If it’s already yours, you don’t have to seize the opportunity. That is the meaning of the word in Philippians 2:6, when it says that Jesus “…although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.”
This word actually means “a thing to be seized or greatly desired.” It comes from a verb that means “to take something by force.” So this word has the idea of seizing something that you desire to have, which implies that you don’t have it to start with. Now what Paul is saying is that Jesus is already equal with God, so He doesn’t have to try to become equal. He is equal.
Prince William is the heir apparent of the English crown. So one day he will be King of England. It’s already his, so he doesn’t have to try to take it by force. He doesn’t have to grab it from the Queen Mother.
Even so, Philippians 2:6 is saying that Jesus is equal, in every respect, with God. So He didn’t have to grab the initiative and seize the opportunity to become equal with God. He is equal—so it wasn’t a thing to be grasped.
Say—if Jesus is really God, then He deserves our worship and obedience, doesn’t He?!