Explainer / Messiah
Philippians 2:6–7
who, existing in the form of God, did not count being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, ἀλλὰ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος.
We kept the ASV's wording, in modern English ("did not count being" for "counted not the being").
Why
μορφή, "form,"
is the visible shape or outward appearance of a thing.
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In the Greek Old Testament, Nebuchadnezzar's face changed its μορφή (Dan 3:19 LXX), and Job saw a figure but not its μορφή (Job 4:16 LXX). The same word appears again in 2:7, "the form of a servant," so we render it "form" in both places.
ὑπάρχων, "existing,"
is a present participle; the ASV's "existing" keeps it.
ἁρπαγμός
is a rare word.
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It can mean something seized or grasped at, or something held onto or taken advantage of (R. W. Hoover, 1971, argued for "something to take advantage of"). We kept the ASV's "a thing to be grasped."
ἴσα θεῷ
is "equal to God": ἴσα is neuter plural, "on a level with." The ASV's "on an equality with God" keeps that.