This passage is believed by many to prove that the apostle Paul taught that Jesus shared the very, divine nature of God and, thus, he was God.
Not everyone agrees.
The controversy surrounding this passage centers on how the original Greek word morphe should be translated. The NIV cited above has opted to use "nature" for its meaning. (Their adjective "very" is not in the Greek text.)
Their choice reflects a theological opinion, for "nature" is a central word used in the Trinitarian creeds of the 4th and 5th centuries. Jesus, the creeds say, shared the divine Nature of God, the Father, and was thus a coequal member of the Godhead.
However, Greek grammarians and the majority of English Bible translators argue that morphe does not mean "nature."
Lexicon Reports on Morphe
Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich define mophe as "form, outward appearance, shape" (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 2nd ed., 1979, p. 528).
Henry Thayer reads: "The form by which a person or thing strikes the vision; the external appearance." From the Apocrypha, he cites 4 Maccabbees 15:4, where parents say, "We impress upon the character of a small child a wondrous likeness both of mind [psuche] and of form [morphe]" (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1885, 1889, p. 418).
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Morphe in Septuagint (LXX)
The noun morphe occurs very few times. In these three texts, the word denotes physicality, what the eyes can see.
Job 4:15, 16—Job says a "spirit" [pneuma] came before him, but when he looked "there was no form [morphe] before my eyes."
Isaiah 44:13—The idol-maker carpenter chooses a piece of wood and "makes it as the form [morphe] of a man."
Daniel 5:6,9,10—When King Belshazzar sees a mysterious hand write a cryptic message on his palace wall, "his countenance [morphe] changed."
Source: Hatch & Redpath, Concordance to the Septuagint, 2:934
Morphe & Nature in New Testament
Morphe occurs 3x in the NT (Mark 16:12; Phil 2:6, 7).
Mark reports that after the resurrection, Jesus "appeared in a different form [morphe] to two [disciples], while they were walking along on their way."
In Phil 2:6 if Paul wanted to say Jesus shared God's "nature," the word most often used by him and other NT writers is phusis. It is used 14x in the NT [Rom 1:26; 2:14,27; 11:21,24-3x; 1 Cor 11:14; Gal 2:15; 4:8; Eph 2:3; Jac 3:7-2x; 2 Pet 1:4].
Of interest to our discussion is Peter's bold statement: "We are sharers of the divine nature [theias phusis]" (2 Pet 1:4). His usage does not suggest that our share of God's "nature" makes us gods or members of the Godhead.
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The Appearance of Citizens of Heaven
When on the mountain in Galilee, Jesus was "transfigured" [metamorpho-o, verb root of morphe] and his "garments became as white as light" (Matt 17:2; Mark 9:2). Another time, when "he was praying, the appearance of his face became different [heteros], and his clothing became white and gleaming" (Luke 9:29).
John reports this vision of the post-resurrection Jesus: "His head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow; and his eyes were like a flame of fire" (Rev 1:14).
This imagery mirrors the description of the "Ancient of Days" (God, the Father) in Daniel 7:9. The face of the angelic priest-man whom Daniel saw, "had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze" (Dan 10:6). The cherubim "gleamed like burnished bronze" (Ezek 1:7).
Angel Forms
At Jesus's grave, Mary Magdalene saw "an angel of the Lord," whose "appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow" (Matt 28:2-3).
The two angels who apparently rolled away the circular stone from Jesus's tomb, stood outside and waited for the disciples to arrive to witness the empty chamber. They were shrouded with "dazzling apparel" (Luke 24:4).
And the moment Jesus "was lifted up" into the sky (heaven), "a cloud received him." Remaining behind, standing near the disciples, were "two men in white clothing" (Acts 1:9-11).
All these verses suggest that the appearance or physical form of supernatural beings—including that of God himself and the transfigured Jesus—is identical. There is, in other words, a shared heavenly or divine form or appearance. It does not rank them, as if one form is demonstrably more divine. Rather, it bespeaks their origin.
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Theologically Biased Translations
The majority of English versions render morphe in Phil 2:6 literally. That is, before his human birth the Son pre-existed "in the form of God." Then as a human he took up the "form of a bond-servant" (v. 7).
In contrast to literal editions, several English versions have opted to render Phil 2:6 so it coincides with traditional creedal concepts. These editors have imported doctrinal views based on redefining lexical meanings which ultimately distort Paul's choice of words. He used the word "nature" [phusis] eleven times in his other letters. He did not do so here.
Here is a sampling of creedalized versions.
CEV [Contemporary English Version] — Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God.
ERV [Easy-To-Read Version] — He was like God in every way.
GNT [Good News Translation] — He always had the nature of God.
J. B. Phillips — For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's equal.
The Message — He had equal status with God.
NIV, 2011 — Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality to God something to be used to his own advantage.
NLT [New Living Translation] — Though he was God, he did not think of equlity with God as something to cling to.
NLV [New Life Version] — Jesus has always been as God is.
Source: biblegateway.com
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Below is a sample of those versions that represent a literal translation of Phil 2:6. The Greek text is included for comparison.
