Christian Cyclopedia

(Gk. “an emptying,” from kenos, “empty”). Term based on Ph. 2:7: Christ “emptied” (ekenosen) Himself; applied esp. to the view (e.g., of G. Thomasius,* K. F. A. Kahnis*) that the Son of God in His incarnation emptied Himself of such operative, or relative divine attributes as omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, and to the view (e.g., of W. H. C. F. Gess,* J. C. K. v. Hofmann*) that He emptied Himself of all divine attributes, or that a human personality replaced His divine personality. Orthodox Luths. hold that Christ in His state of humiliation did not always and fully use the divine properties communicated to His human nature by virtue of the personal union (see Christ Jesus). See also Crypto-Kenotic Controversy; Decisio Saxonica.