Popular hymn with heresy?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I took issue with a certain hymn in my weekly tidbits on interpretation. (Available on https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6148e96e337f1c2aacf522b7.)

The hugely popular hymn and a staple at Keswick teaching Conventions especially, And Can it Be has an incarnation line which says “emptied Himself of all save love ...”. This line is a spin-off of Philippians 2:7, but with an unfortunate addition. The Philippians verse is regarded as dealing succinctly with the ‘self-emptying by our Lord’. The text reads, in part:

“But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant ... ” (King James Version, KJV).

“He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave ...” (Holman Christian Standard Bible).

“... emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant ...” (New American Standard Bible).

The KJV is not faithful to the Greek text, ‘... made Himself of no reputation’, which is more properly what the Holman and American versions have: ‘He emptied Himself’’, but there is nothing in the verse or context that supports the idea of emptying Himself of all save love. That addition, though popular doctrinally because of the hymn, is not correct at all. Without getting into the details of what the incarnation really means regarding divine attributes, the flow of the Greek text of the verse suggests that he emptied Himself not of anything, but into the form of a man. My translation of verse 7 would be “But emptied Himself after taking the form of a servant and became in the likeness of a man.”

Space limitation will not allow me to attempt proving the point here, but our Lord lost/gave up none of his divine attributes that were not essentially incompatible with being the God-man, but used them only in voluntary submission to the Father’s will. Obviously, being incarnate, He could not be omnipresent. That would be a logical oddity!

As I say in music seminars, the tune and rhythm of songs must take second place in importance to the lyrics and the theology they convey.

Sing well and correctly this Christmas, and dare to suggest changes to carols and hymns that are not faithful to Scripture.

Have a reflective Christmas and focus on why Christ came, rather than on the break from work which resulted from the fact that He came.

REV CLINTON CHISHOLM