Robbery
Christ thought it no robbery, no usurpation, to be equal with God, because He was equal with God.
Modern versions: “a thing to be grasped” (ESV, RSV, NASB), “something to be used to his own advantage” (NIV)
Harpagmos is the noun of harpazō, “to seize, to carry off by force” (Strong’s: “plunder … robbery”). Paul says that Christ, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:6): He did not count His equality with God a thing taken that was not His own. He was in the form of God, and so He was equal with God by right, as the Son who says “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).
That is how the English Bible has always read it. The Latin Vulgate has non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo, “thought it not robbery (rapina) to be equal with God”; Tyndale, “thought it not robbery to be equal with God”; the Geneva Bible, “thought it no robbery.” Tertullian, about AD 207, quotes it in the same words. Gill explains: Christ “did not obtain” His equality “by force and rapine, by robbery and usurpation, as Satan attempted to do.”
The verse goes on to what He did lay aside: He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). Renderings like “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped” can be read as though equality were something the Son lacked and declined to reach for. The KJV leaves no such doubt: the One who humbled Himself was equal with God, and knew it was no robbery to say so.
Where the King James Bible Has It
Sources
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qui cum in forma Dei esset, non rapinam arbitratus est esse se æqualem Deo.
Checked against: Clementine Vulgate (1592), 2026-10-20 -
Which beynge in the shape of god and thought it not robbery to be equall with god.
Checked against: Wikisource, 2026-10-20 -
Who being in ye forme of God, thought it no robberie to be equall with God.
Checked against: Wikisource, 2026-10-20 -
For he says of Christ, that, being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Checked against: Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 3, New Advent, 2026-10-20 -
And this divine form and equality, or true and proper deity, he did not obtain by force and rapine, by robbery and usurpation, as satan attempted to do.
Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-23
