Reflections on Paul

Number 6

A short quote from Simone Weil that is relevant to the Philippians hymn - Phil 2:4-11:

"An imaginary divinity has been given to man so that he may strip himself of it like Christ did of his real divinity" (Gravity and Grace, 30)

When it comes to learning about our faith, I feel as if I am standing on a beach trying to drink down the entire ocean one coffee cup full at a time. There is so much to swallow and so little time to swallow it. At moment I am trying to drink in so much so quickly that most of water of knowledge is spilling off my chin onto my previously clean white dress shirt.

Anyway, I have spent some time sharing space with the concept of a grant of imaginary divinity. The connection to the hymn, I suspect, comes from the use of the word form. Jesus was in the form of God but he emptied himself to take the form of a slave that was human in likeness and appearance. We tend to describe things has having both form and substance.  Jesus was in the form of God and then also became in the form of man but he was also in the substance of God and man through the mystery of homeostatic union. His divinity and humanity were not imaginary in and sense.

So what of imaginary divinity? Humans are created in the image of God. In order to be visible or understandable the image must have a form that we can grasp. The form, however, does not have the substance of God. We are promised we that through the promised glorification of the second coming, we will be of the same substance as the risen Christ but for now our divinity has form but no real substance. It is imaginary.

What is the invisible divinity we strip away? Our freedom to choose, to make our decisions, to act on our initiative, to attempt to create what something new. We have to use our God granted free will to empty ourselves of our drive to rule our lives as we wish to chose to be obedient. Like God we have the ability to choose. Unlike God we are not free to determine his will. We have to strip away this notion of freedom in order to find the true freedom of eternal life by becoming obedient.

Peace.