--- title: Philippians 2:6 url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/philippians-2-6/ markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/philippians-2-6.md type: verse perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching reference: Philippians 2:6 testament: NT section: Letters index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt --- # Philippians 2:6 ## Text (Berean Standard Bible) > Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase - NWT (1984 edition): "who, although he was existing in God's form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God" - NWT (2013 revision): "who, although he was existing in God's form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God" ## JW Usage The NWT renders the verse "who, although he was existing in God's form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God." JWs read this as denying any pre-incarnate equality: Jesus was in a glorious angelic "form" but never even contemplated reaching for equality with Jehovah, which was never his to have. The Watchtower uses the verse to flatten the kenosis hymn into a story about a loyal creature who refused promotion. ## Protestant Usage Paul's hymn explicitly grants the equality the NWT tries to deny. "In the form of God" (en morphē theou hyparchōn) uses morphē — the outward expression of an inward reality — to assert that Jesus shared the divine essence. The contested phrase ouch harpagmon hēgēsato to einai isa theō is properly read as Murray Harris, Wright, and Hawthorne render it: he did not regard equality with God as something to be selfishly clung to. The grammar treats equality as a present possession that was not exploited, not a prize to be reached for. Verses 7-11 only make sense on the Trinitarian reading: he "emptied himself" (ekenōsen), "took the form of a servant" (morphēn doulou — same morphē, indicating a real assumption of human nature, not a costume), was found in human likeness, and was then exalted with "the name above every name" before whom "every knee will bend" and "every tongue confess" — language Paul takes directly from Isaiah 45:23 where Jehovah swears the same homage will be given to him alone. The exaltation is not a promotion of a creature but a restoration of the glory the Son had alongside the Father before the world (cf. John 17:5). ## NWT Issue The KIT interlinear glosses the Greek literally as "form of god… snatching… equal things to God." The NWT smooth column restructures the clause into "gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God" — recasting the hymn so that equality is something Jesus declined to grasp at, rather than something he already had and chose not to exploit. The NWT's reading is grammatically defensible only if you import a creature-Christology that the Greek does not require. No major translation reads the verse the NWT's way; ESV, NIV, NASB, KJV, NRSV, CSB and NET all preserve "did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped" — equality already possessed. ## Arguments Using This Verse - [Jesus' Eternality](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm102-hebrews1.md) — Psalm 102 → Hebrews 1 [Deity of Christ] - [The Incarnation Framework](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/philippians2.md) — Philippians 2:5–8 [Deity of Christ] - [The Father Calls the Son 'God'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/hebrews1-8-throne.md) — Hebrews 1:8 quoting Psalm 45:6 [Deity of Christ] - [Honour the Son Just As You Honour the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john5-equal-honour.md) — John 5:22-23 / Isaiah 42:8 / Revelation 5:13-14 [Deity of Christ] - [The Son Hands Over the Kingdom — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1corinthians15-subjection.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 / John 17:5 / Philippians 2:9-11 [Deity of Christ] - [Christ Is Already Reigning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christ-reigning-now.md) — Acts 2:30-36 / Ephesians 1:20-22 / 1 Corinthians 15:25 [Eschatology] - [When 'Is' Becomes 'Means'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/is-to-means-broader-pattern.md) — The NWT's Pattern of Paraphrasing the Greek Copula [NWT Translation] - [Volunteer or Servant? — Why the Son's Obedience Cannot Be Angelic](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/voluntary-submission-vs-angelic.md) — John 10:18 / Philippians 2:6-8 / Hebrews 1:14 [Deity of Christ] - [Only God Can Know Good and Evil and Never Sin](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/sinless-knowing-deity.md) — Genesis 3:22 → Hebrews 4:15 [Deity of Christ] - [If Jesus Is God, Who Raised Him?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/god-cannot-die-jw-closing.md) — Acts 20:28 / 1 Corinthians 2:8 — the two natures of the one Person [Deity of Christ] - [Divine but Not God — The JW Half-Step](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/divine-but-not-god-jw-position.md) — Colossians 2:9 — fullness of the Godhead bodily forecloses the distinction [Deity of Christ] - [You're Already a Trinitarian — The Watchtower's Eternal Logos Problem](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/watchtower-eternal-logos-tu-quoque.md) — If two persons existed before creation, where's the "one"? [Deity of Christ] - [The Incarnation Is Addition, Not Compression](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/word-became-flesh-not-michael.md) — Why the Logos-to-Michael-to-Jesus-to-Michael cycle does not match the New Testament [Deity of Christ] - ["Nor the Son" — and "You Are Aware of All Things"](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-knowledge-mark-13-32.md) — Mark 13:32 / Revelation 1:1 / Revelation 14:14-16 — what the Son didn't know, and what he did [Deity of Christ]