September 23, 2026

Fr. John Riccardo

Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also for those of others.

Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those 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 (Philippians 2:1-11).

If you’ve been to Rome, you know that the city is still full of impressive ruins from the days of the Empire, when most of the known world was under the thumb of the Caesars and the Roman Legion. If you walk through the Roman Forum today you will see the Arch of Titus, built by Titus’ brother, Domitian, to commemorate both Titus’ deification and victory in Jerusalem in 71. Among the most visible details on the Arch is the giant Menorah being carried away from the Temple. The Arch, then, is what was called by the Romans a trophy, that is a victory monument.

That’s how Paul saw the cross. That’s how we are to see the cross. It is so important to understand that Good Friday, despite all appearances, was not a defeat. Good Friday was a victory. It was the day the world forever changed. It was the day when the Son, through whom and for whom the universe was created, defeated the powers of Death and Sin and, most especially, the fiend behind them — that angel and his minions who had rebelled against God and gone to war against the entire human race.

We spoke here last week about the background of Philippi, especially the fact that it was the site of a climactic battle between the armies of Mark Antony and Octavian — the future Augustus — and the armies of Cassius and Brutus, the assassins of Julius Caesar. Philippi is forever marked by these events, and is made a Roman colony, populated by a large percentage of retired Legionaries. This detail turns out to be very important for better understanding what Paul is saying in this probably very familiar passage, or at least some of the allusions behind what Paul is saying here.

To be clear, the background for this passage is the Old Testament. Jesus is being contrasted with Adam, who did grasp equality with God back in the Garden (at the prompting of our ancient foe). Paul is also drawing on Isaiah, where the Lord says through the prophet, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Is 45:23). Jesus is being given the name that belongs to God and to God alone: LORD.

But there’s more here than first meets the eye. At one and the same time, both the Old Testament and the Roman Empire, and especially the Roman Legion, can be heard in this passage. Remember the audience: Philippi had no Jewish synagogue, which means less than ten Jewish men lived there. They were through and through Roman. Paul knew his audience, and so while he is writing of Jesus as a well-versed Jew, he’s also very mindful of the recipients of this letter. And they would have heard in these words echoes of a victorious general, like Titus — only infinitely greater.

The “social media” of the ancient world was coinage. Emperors inscribed on coins various things to promote themselves, call attention to their great deeds, and especially to show their victories in battle. From these coins we can see useful comparisons between how Paul describes Jesus and the victorious triumphs of Roman emperors and generals.

We have countless Roman coins depicting defeated soldiers on their knees before the victorious general, together with hands raised, to signify the conquered foes “professing” both that they lost and that the general has won. Only a decisive victory in battle brings these things, and the greater the enemy is who is defeated the greater the glory and honor given to the general. And the truly heroic ones were given a name (or took it for themselves): Imperator, which originally meant victorious general and then with Augustus supreme ruler.

Paul can suspect that his Roman audience in Philippi will hear these things behind the words he uses to describe Jesus. In other words, Jesus is being portrayed not only as the fulfillment of so many Old Testament prophecies, but as the greatest of all generals, who defeated the greatest of all enemies.

How, though, are we to reconcile this with the cross and the humiliating and shameful death it was?

There was in the Roman Legion an act known as a devotio. It took place when a situation seemed hopeless, and the destruction of Rome or the army seemed certain. In this act, a general consecrated himself — devoted himself — to the gods of the underworld, together with the enemy army. In essence, the commander offered himself in connection with the enemy so that his army may live. It was a sacred ritual and was more than an act of bravery. The general did not kill himself privately, nor did he remain behind Roman lines. He armed himself, mounted his horse, and then charged into the enemy. He becomes a consecrated victim. By physically entering the enemy host, he brings the sphere of death into which he has been consecrated into their midst. So powerful and rare was this ritual that it was thought to supernaturally alter the outcome of the battle: victory emerged through apparent defeat. What’s more, and this is key, the enemy was the one who actually brought about their own destruction precisely by killing the general who had offered himself as a victim. Those generals who died this way, and they were very few, were considered the greatest heroes in the Roman Legion. Of course, among the many, many differences between Jesus and the generals who died this way was that Jesus, being God, didn’t and couldn’t stay dead. He IS life itself. By His apparent defeat, at the hands of the enemy — not Rome but Satan acting through Rome — the enemy is defeated and His people, God’s family, is rescued from the clutches of Death.

Now, to repeat, Paul isn’t writing this passage in Philippians 2 making the argument that Jesus on the cross was making an act of devotio. And yet…he is certainly mindful that this is “in the air” in Philippi. He was mindful that Roman Legionaries would be able to see in Jesus and His death on the cross not just an act of humility but the greatest of victories against the greatest of enemies, and the result being the greatest of honors: the name above all names — Lord, Victorious General, Supreme Ruler. Perhaps this is part of the reason why so many Roman Legionaries ended up becoming Christians. Perhaps they were able to recognize in Him not just extraordinary humility and love but victory, heroism, and all the things they thought mistakenly would come to them from expanding the scope of the Empire. And so they traded in their swords and shields for new weapons: the gospel, mercy, forgiveness, virtue, and more.

The Name Above All Other Names

What’s the Big Deal About Philippi?