Scholarly attention to Philippians 2:6–11 has generated an almost unmanageable bibliography. Much of this work has been preoccupied with issues of ontological Christology, as commentators have sought to clarify the meaning of expressions such as μορφῇ θεοῦ, ἁρπαγμόν, τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, and ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν, and the implications of these phrases for our understanding of the nature of the incarnation. My concerns here relate not to ontology but, rather, to the manner in which Paul's picture of the self-humiliation of Jesus would have resonated in the readers’ social context. I acknowledge that ontological questions can reasonably be asked of the text. Paul's purpose, however, is not to elucidate a static doctrine of the two natures of Christ but, rather, to engender behavior among his readers which he deems appropriate for those whose citizenship is in heaven. To accomplish this end, Paul offers his readers a Jesus who embarks on what can only be viewed from the perspective of the dominant culture as a cursus pudorum – “a succession (or race) of ignominies.” The imitation of Jesus, then, to which Paul calls his readers presupposes a wholesale inversion of the relational orientation of the dominant culture, particularly as we have seen it realized in the pronounced social verticality of the colony of Roman Philippi.

The first section of this work examines social relations in the ancient world, with special attention to the social verticality that was so central to Roman sensibilities. Chapter one adopts a static, snapshot approach to Roman social organization. I will survey the various status groupings of the empire, as the ancients understood them, and then illustrate the ways in which the social hierarchy found expression in public life. The second chapter takes a more dynamic approach to the topic. Particular attention will be directed to the incessant preoccupation with the preservation and acquisition of honor characteristic of Roman elite social praxis and to the replication of these honor-related values and types of behavior at every level of society.

Social stratification in the Roman world

James Littlejohn has defined social stratification as “the name under which sociologists study inequality in society, i.e., the unequal distribution of goods and services, rights and obligations, power and prestige.” Gerhard Lenski, in his seminal treatment of the subject, similarly described social stratification as “the distributive process in human societies – the process by which scarce values are distributed.” Social stratification is inherent in the human species. The forms and degrees of inequality vary considerably, however, from one society to another. Lenski has been particularly helpful in clarifying these cultural distinctions through the construction of a fivefold typology of human societies based on ecology and technology.

Gerd Theissen has recently identified renunciation of status as one of the two basic values of the primitive Christian ethic. Paul's reconstruction of honor and shame in Philippians 2 constitutes an important expression of this value framed in distinctly Christological terms. I conclude my study with a brief overview of the materials covered in the previous chapters, followed by some reflections about the potential importance of my findings for properly situating the defining symbols and social values of early Christianity in their Greco-Roman setting.

Summary: reconstructing honor in Philippi

The summary that follows will proceed in the order in which I presented the materials in the first six chapters of the monograph. I will first provide an overview of the broader world of Roman social life, followed by a brief assessment of the ways in which these cultural values and social codes found expression in the colony at Roman Philippi. The survey concludes with a review of my treatment of the biblical materials relating to Philippi.

Roman social stratification and the cursus honorum

Viewing the population of the empire as broadly consisting of two social strata, the elite and the non-elite (the former representing less than 2 percent of the population), has proven to be a helpful heuristic device for macrosociological analysis of Roman life.

The overview of the social environment of Roman Philippi continues in this chapter with a survey of further evidence for preoccupation with honor and status among both the elite and the non-elite in the colony. The previous chapter introduced the military cursus and examined various honors that were available through the imperial cult. We now turn our attention to the civic cursus and the social environment of local cult groups. I will first demonstrate that concern for honors strongly characterized the public life of Philippi's local elite (generally restricted here to the decurion class and higher). A number of surviving inscriptions detail the ascension of various colonists through a series of honorific posts, culminating with membership in the decurion council and, at times, the highest office in the colony (duumvir). The balance of the chapter highlights the replication of elite values in non-elite circles in Philippi. A generous epigraphic database generates much evidence for honorific posts in voluntary cult groups, such as those dedicated to the veneration of Silvanus and Dionysus, robustly attesting to the vitality of a replicated cursus honorum in non-elite social settings in the colony. Against this background, Paul's portrayal of Jesus’ descent of what I will identify in a later chapter as a cursus pudorum will have special meaning for the small Christ-confessing community in Philippi.

The purpose of this monograph is to situate the New Testament materials relating to Roman Philippi in their proper socio-historical setting. I have suspected for some time that the author of Philippians 2 intentionally structured his portrayal of Jesus with Roman social values and practices directly in view. I am now convinced that Rome's cursus honorum, the formalized sequence of public offices that marked out the prescribed social pilgrimage for aspiring senatorial aristocrats in Rome (and which was replicated in miniature in municipalities and in voluntary associations), forms the background against which Paul has framed his picture of Jesus in the great Christ hymn in Philippians 2.

The layout of my project is quite straightforward. The first two chapters survey the social landscape of the broader Roman world. Chapter one describes the various status groups in the empire, and then reviews the ways in which the Roman elite class sought intentionally to preserve their highly stratified social environment. Chapter two discusses the importance of personal and familial honor to Roman social sensibilities and proceeds to examine Rome's cursus honorum and the replication of cursus ideology in elite and non-elite settings across the empire. The second major portion of the monograph, consisting of the third and fourth chapters, seeks to situate Roman preoccupation with honor and public esteem in the colony at Philippi.

In this chapter I will examine the biblical texts relating to ancient Philippi, in view of the Roman cultural values and social codes that have served as the focus of the earlier portions of this book. I discuss here Paul's ministry in the colony, as narrated in the book of Acts, and also look at select passages in the letter to the Philippians, where Paul intentionally draws upon issues of status and honor for rhetorical effect. The chapter which follows (chapter six) is reserved for an exposition of the great Christological passage Philippians 2:6–11, which presents Jesus as descending a cursus pudorum and ultimately receiving the highest of honors for approaching his status and power in a radically countercultural way.

The Philippian narrative in Acts

The general thrust of the first four chapters of this monograph could be fairly summarized in two simple propositions: (1) Rome was the most status-conscious society in the ancient Mediterranean world, and (2) based on the evidence at hand, no settlement in the East was more Roman, in this regard, than Philippi. The narrative of Paul's ministry in Philippi in Acts 16 underscores the validity of these assertions, portraying the colony as a markedly Roman settlement boasting a population preoccupied with issues of status, honorific office, and citizenship.

Chapters three and four narrow the focus of the present overview of Roman social stratification and honor-seeking to an examination of the Roman colony at Philippi. I will seek to demonstrate that the settlement was deeply marked by the social verticality and concern for personal and familial honor which characterized the broader Roman world. The present chapter briefly surveys the history of Philippi as a military colony, with special emphasis upon the hierarchy of rank and the competition for honors which characterized the Roman army. A discussion of the honors associated with the imperial cult, and the function of the cult in reinforcing the social order of the colony, concludes the chapter. Chapter four will continue to draw upon epigraphic data in order to underline the marked social verticality of Philippi as reflected in burial inscriptions and in municipal honors and public recognition that the local elite received for various acts of benefaction. Similar practices among non-elite cult groups will also be examined. Evidence cited for the presence of a replicated cursus, in both civic and religious spheres, will prove particularly important for the discussion of Paul's letter to the Christian community at Philippi, to be undertaken in the final portion of this monograph.

History of the colony

Philippi's origins can be traced to pre-Hellenistic times.

“The man who gains fair renown departs laden with blessings” (Or. 29.21); so wrote Dio Chrysostom of a non-elite boxer who had become quite famous for his skill in the ring but who died at an unfortunately young age. Jon Lendon, two millennia removed from Dio's world, but properly sensitive to Roman social values, paints a remarkably similar picture of relational priorities at the opposite end of the social hierarchy: “Aristocratic life often appears to us as a ceaseless, restless quest for distinction in the eyes of one's peers and of posterity.”

The present chapter focuses upon the insatiable desire for public esteem and recognition which characterized the social lives of males in every stratum of Roman society. I will first consider the place of honor in the hierarchy of values and briefly delineate the elements of honor as understood by the ancients. The balance of the chapter examines Rome's cursus honorum, or “sequence of offices,” which functioned as the standard political and social career for the Roman senatorial elite. Special attention will be given to the replication of the cursus in non-elite settings throughout the empire. As we shall see, at every turn “the struggle for reputation” (ὁ περὶ τῆς δόξης ἀγών), as Dio graphically expressed it, served as a primary source of social energy for public service and office-seeking in Rome and in the provinces (Or. 66.18).