Denver Seminary

death on a cross!" And then comes the seemingly innocuous word "therefore," which signals the vindication of God's upside-down kingdom. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9–11, emphasis mine). Let us be clear, Christ is not being "promoted" here, as if He weren't exalted before His crucifixion. But the "therefore" makes plain the fact that it is the crucified Christ who is vindicated and exalted. As Michael Gorman eloquently puts it, "Jesus' exaltation is not the divine reward for his incarnation and death as God's suffering servant … but divine recognition that his suffering- servant behavior is in fact truly 'lordly,' even godly, behavior." 3 Paul's letter to the Philippians shows the cross to be the watershed moment in the mission of God. On the cross, the self-giving love of God was revealed, and it is precisely this self- giving love that is vindicated in Christ's exaltation. THE FOOLISHNESS OF THE CROSS Paul recognized how absurd the message of the cross really was. His impressive résumé included "Hebrew of Hebrews," Pharisee, Roman citizen, and so on (Phil. 3:4–6). He was educated and skilled in rhetoric and argument. Yet he repeatedly said that neither his pedigree nor his accomplishments meant anything in light of Christ's death on the cross. To the Corinthians he proclaimed, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Christ and him crucified." Paul audaciously asserted that the cross was "foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). The offensiveness of the cross, which turns all qualifications and accomplishments upside down, was at the heart of Paul's understanding of what it meant to follow Christ. Christians are perhaps too quick to forget the scandal of the cross: worshiping a God who submitted Himself to the most shameful of deaths. As Jürgen Moltmann said, "Christians who do not have the feeling that they must flee the crucified Christ have probably not yet understood him in a sufficiently radical way." 4 Paul's letter to the Philippians shows the cross to be the watershed moment in the mission of God. THE HOPE OF THE CROSS Paradoxically, the cross—a symbol of suffering— is the anchor of Christian hope. It is essential to Christ's mission, and we can participate in that mission to the extent that we are willing to identify with the crucified Messiah. Just as Christ's crucifixion ended in His glorification, our co-crucifixion with Christ results not in our humiliation and defeat, but in our co-glorification with Christ (Rom. 8:17; 2 Cor. 13:4). Fleming Rutledge, in her book The Crucifixion, observes that "the resurrection … does not cancel out the contradiction and shame of the cross in this present life; rather, the resurrection ratifies the cross as the way 'until he comes.'" 5 Thus it is through our identification with the cross that we can truly hope for the redemption of the world, the completion of God's mission when the cosmos will be finally and forever set right. ENGAGE 9 Erin Heim, PhD ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT Dr. Erin Heim joined the faculty at Denver Seminary in 2015 as an assistant professor of New Testament. She is the author of Adoption in Galatians and Romans and several essays and articles in the area of Pauline theology. She is married to Peter Heim, who serves as a pastor at Garden Park Church in the Ruby Hill Neighborhood of Denver. They have two children: Elise (5) and Finn (3). 3 Michael Gorman. Inhabiting the Cruciform God: Kenosis, Justification, and Theosis in Paul's Narrative Soteriology, 2009, p. 30–31. 4 Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology, 1993, p. 38. 5 Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, reprinted, 2017, p. 44. idildemir Ekaterina Golubkova

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