Form Means “True Essence”

What word in the English language best defines the “true essence or nature of a being”? We really don’t have a singular word for that in English. But they have one in Biblical Greek—a word from which we get the English words metamorphosis and morph, it’s the Greek word morphe.

Modern versions of the Bible translate morphe into the English word form. You’ll notice morphe is used twice in the following passage. It appears as the word form, but as you just saw, the Greek word is much more profound and modern-day English translations don’t quite cut it.

[Jesus] who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, by becoming in the likeness of man. And being found in appearance like a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death… (Philippians 2:6-8; LEB)

You don’t need to be an expert in Greek to get the idea of what’s behind the word form because Paul supports his explanation of who Jesus was by using two other words. The verse itself enhances our understanding of what it meant for Jesus to have existed in the form of God and to have taken the form of a slave because Paul uses the words likeness and appearance as synonyms for form.

And Pauls terminology hearkens back to the Old Testament too. The term likeness here is used the same way it’s used in Genesis 1:26 which tells us that God made Adam in his image and likeness. The plain interpretation of that key Old Testament verse is that God robed Adam with power, intelligence, and authority—the same kind of authority God used to rule over the Earth!

Hence, Adam became like God. He took on the likeness of God. But he didn't have the divine nature. The first human to get the divine nature was Jesus.

God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’ (Genesis 1:26).

So, we just read about Jesus’ form of God in Philippians 2. Form there should be defined as Jesus' equality with God and something that he could either keep or give away—something not permanent. Paul selected the Greek word morphe which is defined by scholars as:

… the essential form or nature of something, particularly in a way that is visible or manifest. It is used to describe the outward expression of an inner reality. The term implies more than just external appearance; it encompasses the true essence or nature of a being (Retrieved on April 11, 2025 at https://biblehub.com/greek/3444.htm).

So, Jesus existed in ‘the true essence or nature of God’ but did not consider divine nature as something to which he would cling. Rather, Jesus emptied himself by taking the ‘true essence or nature’ of a slave. Jesus took on the likeness of man—in other words, he took on the human nature. And that's what made him mortal. That's what made it possible for Jesus to become subject to the power of Hades.

Consequently, in that human nature God ordered Jesus to surrender to death, and death on the Cross. That’s the meaning of Philippians 2:6-8, a passage which puts much emphasis on a man's nature and on Jesus' humility in taking on that nature.

Jesus and the Angelic Nature

So, we see that the form of God means the divine nature. Therefore the form of man is the human nature. We know that Jesus went from the divine nature to the human nature... and then he went back to the divine nature again. We’ve reviewed that in many lessons, but it never stops being wonderful to reflect upon.

But do we understand what nature Jesus had when he appeared as the Angel of the LORD? He was called an angel, so what was his form? Did he take on the form of an angel? Did Jesus assume the angelic nature for a time?

You’ll recall the stories from the Book of Judges where Jesus presented himself to Gideon and then to Samson’s parents as the Angel of Yahweh. Let’s consider those stories because they have the keys to interpreting what the nature of Jesus was in the times of the Old Testament.

Gideon Encounters the Angel of Yahweh

Let's start with the story of Gideon’s encounter with the Angel of the Lord. That is, Gideon's encounter with Jesus.

The Angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’

‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, “Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.’

The LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’

‘Pardon me, my lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’

The LORD answered, ‘I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.’

Gideon replied, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.’

And the LORD said, ‘I will wait until you return.’

Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

The Angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And Gideon did so. Then the Angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand.

Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the Angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the Angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, ‘Alas, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face!’

But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die’ (Judges 6:11-23).

So we see that Jesus was called the Angel of Yahweh seven times in one passage and that Gideon had an intense interest in being sure that “it was really the Angel of the LORD who was talking to him” so much that he demanded a sign. Once Gideon saw the sign, he became very afraid because he reasoned that he would die having ‘seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.’

Now, the Father assured Gideon that Gideon wouldn’t die—and he told him that so that Gideon might feel at ease. However, his fear prevailed, demonstrating the great reverence the Jews of Gideon’s day had for the Angel of the LORD. So, we ask ourselves: Why did the Jews have so much reverence for the Angel of the LORD? Why did they think they would die if they saw him face-to-face? 

It’s because they knew that the Angel of the LORD had the divine nature—and they were right!

Samson’s Parents Meet the Angel of the LORD

And here’s the story of the encounter between Manoah, Samson’s dad, and the Angel of Yahweh, Jesus:

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The Angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, ‘You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son.

Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.’

Then the woman went to her husband and told him, ‘A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’’

Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: ‘Pardon your servant, LORD. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.’

God heard Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, ‘He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!’

Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, ‘Are you the man who talked to my wife?’

‘I am,’ he said.

So Manoah asked him, ‘When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?’

The Angel of the LORD answered, ‘Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.’

Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, ‘We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.’

The Angel of the LORD replied, ‘Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.’ (Manoah did not realize that it was the Angel of the LORD).

Then Manoah inquired of the Angel of the LORD, ‘What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?’

He replied, ‘Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.’

Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame.

Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the Angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the Angel of the LORD.

‘We are doomed to die!’ he said to his wife. ‘We have seen God!’

But his wife answered, ‘If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this (Judges 13:2-23).

For the second time we see what the Jews correctly believed about the Angel of the LORD: that he was a divine being. They believed that he had the divine nature. That’s why Manoah said ‘We have seen God!’

Manoah didn’t mean that they had seen the One True God and Father, obviously. Rather, he meant that they had seen a Being who had the divine nature. They saw Jesus, who we now know through the teachings of the New Testament had the divine nature during the Old Testament period. The Word was God! The Word was divine.

In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the [One] God, and the Word was God. This One was in the Beginning with the [One] God (John 1:1-2; LEB).