ACC ~ Philippians 2 v8a

NO REASON FOR SAYING “FOUND IN HUMAN FORM” UNLESS HE WAS GOD. AMBROSIASTER: Why is he “found in human form,” if not because he was also God? Before he allowed himself to descend he was always seen in the power of God. But having subsequently been made weak he was “found in human form?” … And the reason for saying like is to indicate that he was also God. EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS 2.8.5-6.

THE FORM OF GOD INVISIBLE. GAUDENTIUS: He added “being found in human form” because the form of God, which is properly God himself, has never been seen by anyone. TREATISE 19, ON THE PRIORITY OF THE FATHER 28.

THE MANHOOD NONETHELESS REAL. TERTULLIAN: Suppose the terms figure (or image or fashion), likeness and form referred merely to a phantom. There would then have been no substance to Christ’s humanity. But in this case figure, likeness and form all point to the reality of his humanity. He is truly God, as Son of the Father, in his figure and image. He is truly man, as the Son of Man, found in the figure and image of man. It is noteworthy that elsewhere Paul calls Christ the “image of the invisible God.” And indeed he had a reason for saying found, meaning that Christ was most certainly a man; for what is found surely must exist. Just as he was found to be God in power, so too he was a man in flesh. The apostle would not have declared him to become obedient to death if he had not been constituted of a mortal substance. Still more plainly does this appear when he adds the heavily laden words “even unto the death of the cross.” For he would not exaggerate the atrocity in extolling his power in a conflict which he knew to have been imaginary or a mere fantasy. In that case Christ would rather have eluded the cross than experienced it. There would then have been no virtue in his suffering but only an illusion. AGAINST MARCION 5.20.4-5.

HIS HUMANITY AS REAL AS HIS DIVINITY. BASIL OF CAESAREA: It is apparent that the Lord accepted natural feelings to confirm that his humanity was real and not illusory, but the feelings that come from wickedness, all those that besmirch the purity of our lives, he repudiated as being unworthy of his unsullied Godhead. LETTER 261.

Phil