The Humility of being Humbled

I have the privilege of leading a small group of guys with Chi Alpha at VCU, and this past week we studied Philippians 2:3-6. We ended up getting into a discussion about humility (naturally, considering the passage) and I taught according to what I interpreted certain passages to mean. Admittedly, I didn't prepare as thoroughly as I should have, and after studying much more the following day, I typed up a 'retraction' e-mail to send to my guys. Below is the body of my e-mail; what I believe humility to be according to the Holy Scriptures.

Food for thought:

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. -CS Lewis

Humility cannot be achieved by human effort alone, but it's a natural fruit born from a strong relationship with the Lord. (John 15:5) That being said, Paul does call us to "put on... humility" at least twice (Eph. 4:2, Col. 3:12), so it's evident that we have a responsibility to discipline ourselves in growing in our relationship with the Lord. The believer grows towards humility as his understanding of how amazing God is expands. The greater our knowledge becomes, the more we absolutely are humbled, knowing that we cannot begin to compare to something so incredible. As we Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves, humility will come (Mark 12:30-31).

Humility is seeking God's approval alone- not man's praise. (Galatians 1:10; Luke 18:18-19)
When Jesus says "Why do you call me good? There is none good but God alone." I used to assume that he meant that He didn't consider Himself good and was distancing Himself from the Father. After reading Matthew Henry's commentary on the passage, however, it is not that Jesus didn't consider Himself equal with God, but instead He was not seeking man's praise, but giving it to God. He understood that He IS good and the very essence of God (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15), but because his purpose was to exalt God in all that He did, when the man tried to heap praise on Jesus, He so desired for God to receive the glory that He responded with a question and gave it to Him. He did not deny being good, which is something I never noticed before. Henry finishes the conversation: "Why callest thou me good? Thou knowest there is none good but one, that is, God. And doest thou take me for God? If so, thou art right."
Rob Rhoden wrote in a recent blog post that "[Jesus] never looked for affirmation from those around Him but only from His heavenly Father", and as we're called to follow His example, this must be our attitude towards praise, as well.
Adam Clarke writes in his commentary of Philippians 2:5-6: "...the word arpagmon, which we translate 'robbery', has been supposed to imply a thing eagerly to be seized, coveted, or desired; and on this interpretation the passage has been translated: 'Who, being in the form of God, did not think it a matter to be earnestly desired to appear equal to God, but made Himself of no reputation"... However the word be translated, it does not affect the deity of God.
In the ESV Study Bible, it writes "Remarkably, Christ did not imagine that having 'equality with God' (which he already possessed) should lead Him to hold onto His privileges at all costs. It was not something to be grasped, to be kept and exploited for his own benefit or advantage. Instead, He had a mind-set of service. "Christ did not please Himself" (Romans 15:3). In humility, He counted the interests of others as more significant than His own." So although Christ knew He was equal with God, He didn't exploit that or use it to His own advantage, but instead gave God all the credit and glory (although He Himself was God).

Humility is striving to make much of God in everything you think, say and do. (Philippians 1:20; John 3:30) Just as Paul desired for Christ to be magnified in his body, whether that meant life or death, and John the Baptist understood this truth as well, stating the importance of making much of God in all he did: "He must increase, but I must decrease." The more we seek to make much of God, the less we will think of ourselves. The more we seek to put on the "mind of Christ", the less we will dwell on whether or not we can think this or that and be swept away by the majesty of our Awesome God.

Humility is putting others before yourself, literally esteeming their needs and desires as more significant than your own (Phil 2:3-4)- God first and always, and other people around the world as a way of putting God first (Matthew 25; Mark 12:30-31).

Humility never thinks of oneself as "too good" for anyone or anything, but 'associates with the lowly'/gives itself to humble tasks. (Romans 12:16)

In summary, I now believe that I was wrong in my interpretation of Philippians 2:6. I believe that Jesus knew He was God incarnate and did not choose not to think about it, but He just had no desire for human praise or affirmation, which makes sense with His response in Luke 18. He was so caught up in the Father's glory and making Him known that He 'did not think it a matter to be earnestly desired to appear equal to God', although He knew that He was.

I think if we ask ourselves "if we're the best at what we do, how can we be humble about it?" The simple answer is to think of how amazing God is, and that alone should humble us. But as we persist in finding ways to be arrogant, we should strive to make much of God in all we do (the purpose of the Gospel, according to David Platt, Radical) and to put others before ourselves. In this way we will learn humility through action and fulfill Paul's exhortations in Ephesians and Colossians.

When our ultimate goal is to glorify and exalt God in all that we think, say, and do, and our greatest desire is to know God and make Him known, we stop thinking about ourselves and humility is born by Him, through Him and for Him.

Luke