A Psalm of Dark and Light (Hope in Depression)

A Psalm of Dark and Light

(Hope in Depression)

Every corner of my mind hurts 

Every thought wages a war

Every feeling groans in pain 

You understand my thought from afar off 

All my tears are in your bottle, written in your book

Confusion begins to overwhelm

Clarity slips away

O God I am but dust

Your thoughts are not my mine

Your ways are higher, above the hurricane

God you are both my source and my outlet

What is the darkness but a shadow?

The shadow proves the light. 

The Kenosis Hymn: 5 Fascinating Facts about Philippians 2:6-11

“Kenosis” is a Greek word that literally means “the act of emptying”. The verb form is used in Philippians 2:7 to describe Jesus Christ’s awesome act of humility in remaining God but becoming a human as well. This is a beautiful passage of Scripture (And you can review it at the end of this page). 

Unfortunately some have abused it, teaching that Jesus gave up part or all of His Divine nature when He became human or that He didn’t become “God” until after His death and Resurrection. However, the Bible in its whole context – and even the context of this passage in particular – does not teach this. Let’s have a look...

1) An Ancient Hymn

Some scholars believe this portion of the Philippian Epistle to actually be an ancient hymn used by the early Christians to praise their Saviour. They think this because in the original Greek the passage stands out from the rest of the book with its poetic language. 

If true then the Kenosis Hymn would date even earlier than A.D. 61-62 (the date that Paul is believed to have written Philippians). Whether this was an original hymn borrowed by Paul or whether the Apostle was inspired to write it himself, it is a glorious ode to both the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ and His wondrous condescension to this earth. 

2) Jesus Was Fully God 

Before the Kenosis

John’s Gospel chapter 1 clearly teaches that Jesus (“The Word”) was and has always been the second Person of the Trinity and thus fully God. We see in Philippians 2:6 that Paul reaffirms this. 

“Paul, by the use of the Greek word (‘huparchein’) translated ‘being (or ‘was’),’ informs his Greek readers that our Lord’s possession of the divine essence did not cease to be a fact when He came to earth to assume human form.... This word alone is enough to refute the claim of Modernism that our Lord emptied Himself of His Deity when He became Man.” (Wuest)

The latter part of the verse does not mean that Jesus couldn’t mentally or spiritually “grasp” equality with God. A better translation is found in the footnote of the ESV:  Equality with God was not a thing “to be held onto for advantage”.  The King James Version put it this way: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Though He was Creator, Jesus humbled Himself to become like one of His creations.

3) Jesus Was Fully God 

After the Kenosis

So what exactly did Jesus “empty” Himself of in this great passage? There is admittedly some mystery to this question. However, we know from the context of the New Testament that it was not His Divine nature He emptied Himself of but rather His Divine rights; not His Divine attributes but rather His Divine privileges. 

In times of war, a king may have a royal right to stay in the safety of his palace. However, should he choose to relinquish that right and become a soldier on the field that does not mean that he is no longer king. It means that he is now both king and soldier. 

Colossians 2:9 reasserts this truth: “For in him (Jesus Christ) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily…”

It is also significant that in verses 9 and 10 of Philippians 2, Paul refers to Isaiah 45:23:

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” 

It is clear in the Isaiah passage that this prophecy is referring to Yahweh, the Almighty God, and now Paul is boldly applying it to the Lord Jesus. 

4) Jesus Also Became Human 

After the Kenosis

So we see that nothing was subtracted from Jesus’ Divine nature during the Kenosis – but something was added! The term “incarnation” literally means “in the flesh” and refers to God the Son being born as an infant human. 

As the old theologians used to say about Jesus’ Incarnation: “Remaining what He was (God); He became what He was not (human).” In theological terms this is referred to as the Hypostatic Union and is defined as Jesus having two complete but distinct natures simultaneously - one Divine, one human. This is a beautiful paradox.

The two different facial expressions on either side emphasize Christ's dual nature as both divine and human

“And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

5) The Example of Jesus’ Humility 

We have examined this passage in its doctrinal or theological sense but now let’s get to the heart of it. Paul was using the grand condescension of Jesus Christ as an example for all of us believers to follow in how we view ourselves and in how we treat each other. Not only would Jesus step down from his throne in Heaven to take part in our humanity in this broken world; He would go on to suffer the most humiliating and shameful death that a Roman or Jew could think of – crucifixion. 

Commentator, Lynn H. Cohick, writes: “The imperial family, including Augustus, his wife Livia, and her grandson Claudius were all worshiped in the imperial cult in Philippi when Paul wrote this letter. Each member of the imperial family mentioned was granted an apotheosis; that is, they were understood at their death to be changed into a god… But the hymn of Christ speaks of kenosis (emptying), not apotheosis; the hymn declares humiliation/death rather than earthly glorification/divination.”

If Jesus Christ can take on this humiliation, how much more can I?







Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV):

2:5 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[fn] 
2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 
2:7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[fn] being born in the likeness of men. 
2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 
2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Two Types of Guilt: Conviction vs Condemnation

“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” 2 Corinthians 7:9-10

Here Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian Church, makes an extremely important distinction for us all – that is the difference between “worldly grief” and “godly grief”. The former produces death, he says, but the latter leads to salvation!

In this blog we want to look at these types of sorrow or as I’ve put it, “Guilt”. For the sake of this blog we will talk about godly sorrow/ guilt as “Conviction” and we will refer to worldly sorrow/ guilt as “Condemnation”*. 

Condemnation (Worldly Grief)

“Act of pronouncing someone guilty after weighing the evidence.” (Holman’s Bible Dictionary)

Greek - Katakrima:  “damnatory sentence”

Condemnation results in despair not hope. It loudly and obnoxiously tells us about the problem but gives no solution or tries to make you forget that there is a solution. This is not the type of guilt that comes from the cross: 

“For God so loved the world,[fn] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17

Jesus and the two criminals on the crosses at Calvary were condemned by the Romans. The second criminal recognized that he was worthy of the condemnation but that Jesus was innocent: 

“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him,[fn] saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Luke 23:39-42

Once we have repented as a result of our godly sorrow/ guilt it is covered by the blood of Jesus and washed away. We need never think of it again. Yet it is clear that we have an Enemy that loves nothing more than to condemn or “accuse” us for things that are already under the blood of Jesus. He wants us to live in this negative, toxic and tormenting world of condemnation which will hinder our joy in Christ and our effectiveness for Him. 

“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers[fn] has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Revelation 12:9-11

Conviction (Godly Grief)

“A sense of guilt and shame leading to repentance.” (Holman’s Bible Dictionary) 

Greek - Elencho:  "to convict, confute, refute"

Conviction results in hope not despair. It calmly but consistently and firmly reminds us that we have unrepentant sin in our lives and continually offers the solution – the cross of Christ:

 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9

Jesus reminded his disciples that the Helper (that is the Holy Spirit) would come and “convict” the world:

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment…” 

John 16:7-8

Jesus Himself convicts us. The greek word “elencho” is here translated as “reprove”:

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:19

It is so very important to distinguish between these two types of guilt – these two very different “voices” in our hearts. Whereas the devil is angry and accusatory and wants to lead you to misery, the Holy Spirit has a “still small voice” and wants to lead you to abundant life!

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” 

Romans 8:1-2

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*The words “convict” and “condemn” are used in various ways in the Bible but the principle of distinguishing godly sorrow from worldly sorrow is clearly taught throughout Scripture. 

The Old and New Covenants: What Are They and What Is the Difference?

First of all, what is a covenant in the Bible?

Wayne Grudem, in his Systematic Theology defines it as: “An unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship.” 

The Hebrew word for covenant means “to bind”. The Greek translators of the Old Testament made sure to use the word “diatheke” which refers to a promise given by one party (God) rather than the word “syntheke” which would indicate that God and humankind were on the same level in making up the terms of the agreement.  

So what is the “Old Covenant” and the “New Covenant”?

In short, the Old Covenant is The Law of Moses and 

the New Covenant is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth

 came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17

Martin Luther once said that:

“Distinguishing between the law and the gospel is the highest art in Christendom, one who every person who values the name Christian ought to recognize, know, and possess. Where this is lacking, it is not possible to tell who is a Christian and who is a pagan or Jew. That much is at stake in this distinction.”*

The New Covenant is first prophesied of in Jeremiah 31 but can really be traced back to right after Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden when God promises a Saviour to come (Genesis 3:15). Paul also reminds us:  “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” (Galatians 3:8). These, and all God/man covenants in the Bible, are references to the coming incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – the Gospel. 

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. 

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 

 Jeremiah 31:31-34

At the Last Supper Jesus reminds His disciples that the time for the New Covenant is about to come through the events of the cross at Calvary: 

“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Luke 22:19-20

A distinguishing mark of the true Gospel of Jesus is grace. Grace means God’s unmerited favour – in other words, it means we get what we do not deserve. Grace is, in fact, in direct opposition to the Law of Moses. 

In his “On the Grace of Christ”, Augustine of Hippo says:

“Thus the law and grace are so different that the law is not only useless but actually an obstacle in many ways unless grace assists. This shows, moreover, the function of the law: it makes people guilty of transgression and forces them to take refuge in grace in order to be liberated and helped to overcome evil desires.

It (the Law) commands more than liberates; it diagnoses illness but does not cure. Indeed, far from healing the infirmity, the law actually makes it worse in order to move a person to seek the medicine of grace more anxiously and insistently, because “the letter kills but the spirit gives life” [2 Cor. 3:6]”

Or as another put it:

“The law demands strength from one who has none and curses him if he can’t display it. Grace gives strength to one who has none and blesses him in the exhibition of it.” **

The Law of Moses is not a bad thing by the way. It is actually just a reality check that we cannot please God on our own efforts. It is meant, as Paul put it, to be a tutor or teacher to bring us to Christ and His Gospel. 

Like myself though and, I fear, many other Christians, the Galatian Church had forgotten what the Gospel and grace meant to the life of the believer and had returned to their own efforts of trying to earn God’s favour through the laws, ceremonies and feast days etc of the Old Covenant. Paul admonishes them:

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore,

and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

Another way that the Greek word “freedom” is translated is “liberty”. It is the goal of every Christian to avoid the legalism of the Galatians on one extreme and the licentiousness (lacking legal or moral restraints) of the Corinthians on the other extreme and to focus rather on the liberty found in Jesus Christ, His grace and His Gospel – in the New Covenant. 

Let us understand the difference between the Old and the New Covenant (not just in our heads but also in our hearts) and let us stand firm in the New Covenant – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

“The law is something to be kept. Grace is something that keeps.” 

William MacDonald 

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*Martin Luther, The Distinction between the Law and Gospel,” January 1, 1532, Willard Burce, translator, Concordia Journal 18 (April 1992), 153.

**Quoted in “Here’s the Difference” by William MacDonald, p116

The Spirit Vs. the Flesh: How A Mixed Martial Arts Analogy Could Help Us In Our Christian Walk

The Bible teaches that we once we are “born again” (John 3) we receive a new “nature” in addition to our old “nature”. Our old nature is our sinful human condition – something that belongs to every human being – and the Bible often refers to it as our “flesh” (Not our body per se, but the sinful nature within it). Our sinful nature (or “flesh”) is something that we are both born with (because of the curse brought upon all humanity after the rebellion in the Garden of Eden) and also something we individually choose each and every day. 

“Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you,

 ‘You must be born again.’” John 3:5-7

The new nature on the other hand is what the Bible often refers to as our “spirit” – people’s spirits are dead until they have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit (i.e. being “born again” as Jesus put it). Note that in the Bible a lower case “s” helps us differentiate between our spirit and God’s Holy Spirit (The Third Person of the Trinity).

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:1-6

So the unbeliever does not have a “new nature” yet or the true power of the Holy Spirit working in him and through him. We cannot expect the same type of moral results from an unbeliever as we should of a believer who has both of these things. 

Now Jesus warned us about the battle between the flesh and the spirit: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

And Paul confirmed it: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Galatians 5:16-17

A friend recently gave me a very helpful analogy on the spirit vs. the flesh. It goes like this – Let’s say that you have been tasked with entering the octagon each day with the fiercest MMA heavy weight of all time (I’ll let you debate who that is) and you must defeat him each and every day. How is that possible?

Well, let’s face it – it’s not possible. But what if we were allowed to control our training, sleep and diet each day? Well we would get stronger and better at MMA but unless we were somehow born with the raw talent and massive size of our opponent, defeat would be inevitable every time. But let’s say we were allowed to control the training, sleep and diet of our opponent! With this ability we can deprive him of exercise and nutrition… and guess what? Before long he would be so weak that we could defeat him easily.

This is the point - if we “starve” our flesh and nourish our spirit we are on a road to daily victory. We starve our flesh by not taking that second look at that attractive person, not watching that soft porn movie on Netflix or not hanging out with those friends who drag us down. We nourish the spirit by walking in step with the Holy Spirit – reading God’s Word, praying and fellowshipping with other believers.

Let us be very clear – there can be no victory over sin or the flesh without the continual grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. And if you read Romans 7 you’ll realize we all fall sometimes. But of course, we must be willing to deny the flesh and allow the Spirit to work in us and through us. 

Christ in Gethsemane, Heinrich Hofmann, 1886

“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:12-13

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:13-14