There cannot possibly be any fair denying that the whole course of the papacy is the display of sheer selfishness-- selfishness supreme, and self-exaltation absolute.
But Christianity is the direct and extreme opposite of selfishness. It is the complete emptying of self. It is self-renunciation absolute.
To all people in the world it is spoken by the Word of God:
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:5-8)
The idea conveyed in the term translated "robbery" may be more clearly discerned by noting the different translations. The "Emphatic Diaglot" remarks that the original--harpagmon --being a word of very rare occurrence, a great variety of translations have been given, and cites as examples:
"Did not think it a matter to be earnestly desired."-- Clarke.
"Did not earnestly affect."--Cyprian.
"Did not think of eagerly retaining."--Wakefield.
"Did not regard--as an object of solicitous desire."--Stuart.
"Thought it not a thing to be seized."--Sharpe.
"Did not earnestly grasp."--Kneeland.
"Did not violently strive."--Dickinson.
"Did not meditate a usurpation."--Trumbull.
To these may be added:
"Counted it not a prize."--R. V., with margin, "or a thing to be grasped."
"Deemed it no trespass."--Murdock's Syriac.
In the "Emphatic Diaglott" itself the translation is the same as Trumbull's:
"Who [Christ Jesus] being in God's form, yet did not meditate a usurpation to be like God."
And this, it will be seen, more nearly expresses the intended thought of the Scripture than any other; as where the idea of government is involved, a robber of government is a usurper.
The thought, therefore, which is conveyed in the text is this:
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God thought it NOT a thing to be seized upon, to be violently striven for, and eagerly retained, --thought it not a usurpation to be meditated,--to be equal with God."
This is Christianity.
The Spirit of the Papacy
But it is not in any sense the papacy. The inception of the papacy was found even in the days of the apostles:
"The mystery of iniquity does already work;" (2 Thessalonians 2:7)
And up to the proclamation of the essential divinity of the papacy by Pope Pius IX, every step of the way was but a man ifestation of the mind that has thought it:
* a thing to be earnestly desired,
* a prize to be seized upon,
* to be violently striven for, and eagerly retained,
* a usurpation to be meditated,
...to be equal with God.
If that word and thought expressing the mind that was NOT in Christ, had been written since 1870, instead of before A.D. 70, it could not have more fitly defined the essential spirit of the papacy than it does.
And that for eighteen hundred years, throughout the blackest record in the whole world, there should be a succession of men perpetually actuated by this one spirit of violently striving for, seizing, and eagerly retaining, equality with God, is a matter of sufficient interest to demand inquiry as to its origin.
The Nature of Christ
The key to this inquiry, the key that unlocks this mystery, is the word of God in the text here cited:
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it NOT a thing to be seized upon, to be violently striven for, and eagerly retained, --thought it not a usurpation to be meditated,--to be equal with God; but emptied himself and took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Words express thoughts. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is therefore the expression of the thought of God. God's thought is manifested in...
"...the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:11)
Jesus Christ is the revelation of that eternal purpose of the Eternal God. Jesus Christ is.
"...the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power..." (Hebrews 1:3)
From the Father He spoke all things into existence:
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." (Psalm 33:6,9)
"...by whom also he made the worlds;" (Hebrews 1:2)
"By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him." (Colossians 1:16)
By Him all things hold together:
"And he is before all things, and by him all things consist... For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;" (Colossians 1:17,19)
He is the One who was one with the Lord from everlasting:
"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: ... Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;" (Proverbs 8:22-25,30)
His goings forth have been from everlasting:
"But you, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2)
He is the only begotten of the Father, and is therefore in very substance of the nature of God:
"For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9)
He, therefore, by divine right of "inheritance," bears from the Father the name of "God." Thus Christ Jesus was indeed by divine and eternal right one of God--"equal with God."
Yet, being this, "He thought it not a thing to be violently striven for, and held fast, to be equal with God."