Kenosis

Christ "emptied Himself" (Philippians 2:7)

NPN2-10F - Ambrose, Dogmatic Treatises of St Ambrose, Exposition on the Christian Faith, Book 5, Ch.8, Pt. 107, p. 297

107. Not only does He undergo service in the character of man by reason of His descent from David, but also by reason of His name, as it is written: "I have found David My Servant;"(11) and elsewhere: "Behold I 298 will send unto you My Servant, the Orient is His name.(1) And the Son Himself says: "Thus saith the Lord, that formed Me from the womb to be His servant, and said unto Me: It is a great thing for Thee to be called My Servant. Behold I have set Thee up for a witness to My people, and alight to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth."(2) To whom is this said, if not to Christ? Who being in the form of God, emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant. (3) But what can be in the form of God, except that which exists in the fulness of the Godhead? 108. Learn, then, what this means: "He took upon Him the form of a servant." It means that He took upon Him all the perfections of humanity in their completeness, and obedience in its completeness. And so it says in the thirtieth Psalm: "Thou hast set my feet in a large room. I am made a reproach above all mine enemies. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant."(4) "Servant" means the Man in whom He was sanctified; it means the Man in whom He was anointed; it means the Man in whom He was made under the law, made of the Virgin; and, to put it briefly, it means the Man in whose person He has a mother, as it is written: "O Lord, I am Thy Servant, I am Thy Servant, and the Son of Thy hand-maid;"(5) and again: "I am cast down and sore humbled."(6)