Philippians 2:5
Philippians 2:55Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
Jehovah's Witnesses read as an exhortation to imitate Jesus' humility, which they take as proof that he was always subordinate to the Father. Because Jesus had the right attitude — not grasping at equality — he must have recognised that equality with God was never rightfully his. The Watchtower uses this verse to frame the entire hymn as a lesson in creaturely submission rather than a statement about pre-existent divine nature.
The Reformed reading sees verse 5 as introducing the theological framework that resolves the JW's most persistent objection. Paul tells believers to adopt the mindset Christ had — the mindset described in verses 6-8, where Jesus was already "in the form of God" and possessed "equality with God" before he voluntarily emptied himself. The call to humility only works if the one being imitated had something genuinely great to lay down. If Jesus were merely a created angel, his self- emptying would be unremarkable. The passage presupposes that Jesus' pre-incarnate status was divine, and his descent into human servanthood was therefore an act of extraordinary condescension. This verse sets up the Incarnation framework that transforms the JW's strongest proof texts — prayer, "the Father is greater than I" — into evidence of voluntary self-humbling, not ontological inferiority.