I cropped your post. I hope to have time to comment on the other part later. I don't know which translation you are using, but the word "nature" is not the meaning of the Greek word for form, or image.
Philippians 2:7 "but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross." Greek Interlinear.
Paul is describing the visible man Jesus. He was in the image or 'form' of God.
Adam was created as the image of God, and Jesus is the second man Adam.
Paul describes man as "the image and glory of God" in 1 Corinthians 11:7. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, he says "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." He also says "The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6.
Jesus was endowed with the very authority of God, being like God his Father. He did not exploit his royal position but acted as a servant. He adopted the role of a servant and did not abuse his position as Messiah and was prepared to obey God, even giving his life in death on the cross. God elevated him to a position that was second only to him for the glory of God, the Father. Philippians 2:9-11
Jesus is our model. He shows us the right relationship we should have with God. Jesus shows us what God is like.
In the Greek the word is morphe, where we get the word morphed from.
3444morphḗ – properly,
form (outward expression) that
embodies essential(inner) substance so that
the form is in complete harmony with the inner-essence.
The Nicene Creed states the Son is of one substance with the father, it essentially points to the inner charactistsic qualities of God himself. Adam could not be in complete harmony with the inner-essence of God, nor was Moses for that matter, because they were sinners and the essence of the Father is sinless deity, therefore the Christ fulfills that characteristic of sinless deity, that only the Father has. This is the form of God which is inwardly and outwardly in harmony with God's personal charactistsics, who is Spirit (John 4:24). So form is the one to one exact image of what makes the Father the Father, although the Son has a distinct persona and a distinct role to play within the one infinite God, who is in co-equal relationship with the Father as declared in Philippians 2:6, after all it is the claim made by Jesus himself to his disciples.
So morphe says nothing of being endowed with the very authority of God, rather it squarely points to the essential inner characteristics of what makes God God. Could Adam or Moses or any created being claim to be the inner essential characteristics of what makes God God? Absolutely not!
So this is where scripture states the following.......
17For the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18No man hath seen God at any time;
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:17-18)
So we see a vastly different contrast made between Moses who was a symbol of Christ in the Old Testament times being compared to the Christ himself. Moses only acted in the position of his Boss, the Christ, until Christ came to free all from the curses of the Mosaic law. So the apostle writes that Grace came by Jesus Christ and we know that Grace only comes from God himself, for it is a gift and not a measure of human works. So Moses was not in a position to declare the unseen Father, but the Son who is the very HEART of the Father, in perfect harmony with his inner essential characteristics revealed him, IN HIMSELF, as the LOGOS (John 14:9). The Father was revealed in and through the Son and no other created being, including Moses could have claimed to have revealed God in person, as the Emmanuel (God with us), except Emmanuel himself presenting himself in the world as the suffering servant.
So yes, the Messiah acted as a submissive subject of the Father, after emptying himself of his glory and equality that he had with the Father before the world was created by him. This is highly suggestive that before the incarnation he was not a servant or subject of the Father, but had equal glory with him. The Father and the Son are interdependent on one other for their very existence and in the incarnation the Son took the abuses thrown at him from all directions, by relinquishing his Royal Heavenly Status (he who came from above), by allowing himself to be a subject of the Father and a servant of the earthly hosts. Therefore it was free will for him to do so and not a forceful request from the Father.
2I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe
if I speak of heavenly things?13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man (John 3:12-13)
23But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
24I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:23-24)
In conclusion the Adam being created in the image of God is not associated with the inner workings of what makes God God. In Philippians the word morphe qualifies this to the very essence of God himself, the very makeup of what makes God God. Men or created beings cannot claim to have the same essence of God inwardly, this would be blasphemy.
So in the incarnation the Son transformed himself into the servant role, by entering his own creation, that he created himself and in his resurrection, he raised himself on the third day as he had declared to his disciples. God entered into the world as a man and not just a mere mortal. It is the very God of the very God as the Nicene Creed states. Thank you kindly.
