Paul describes only three aspects of mind of Christ helps us to understand Christmas. (Philippians 2: 6-8)
1) Form of God: He is God but did not want to grasp or hang on to be in the status of equal to God, the second person of Trinity. Lord Jesus the self-existing God, and not an evolved being who became god. He was willing to set aside the power, authority, glory and throne for a time to complete His task of redemption.
2) Emptied: Lord Jesus emptied Himself to become a Servant as described by Isaiah, that to a suffering servant. (Isaiah 53) Prophets, priests and kings were all servants of God. These positions or offices have some status in the society. Yes, servants of God are many times treated like demi-gods. Lord Jesus emptied further and was human, which means humanity was added to him. That means he became an incarnation like an ordinary human, without any aura or glory or extra-ordinary power. Ancient kings could disguise themselves as peasants and try to be with common citizens, in disguise, king does not cease to be a king, so is Lord Jesus. In Bethlehem, he was an infant, vulnerable and could have been killed by Herod. The soldiers took great joy in beating, spitting, and also plucking his beard. Third, Paul writes he was in the likeness or similar to humans, because of limitations, imperfect environment, temptations, needing rest, sleep and food.
3) Humbled: Paul goes further to state that as though emptying was not enough, Lord humbled himself to be obedient. Lord was obedient to the Father as Isaac was obedient to his father Abraham. The cost of obedience was too high. Lord Jesus had to pay for his life and go through death that were ordained because of the Fall of humans. In fact, it was not an ordinary death, but also a violent death in the history of humanity. It was a cruel, shameful and gory death on the cross of Calvary. His obedience was voluntary, willing, joyful, and purposeful.
Do I have the mind of Christ?