been urging the Philippians to practice in their relations one toward another (vv 1–4). Hence, although this hymn (1) is unquestionably a christological gem unparalleled in the NT, (2) may be considered soteriological, or better, kerygmatic, in character (yet with parenetic enforcement brought out in 2:12 as a call to obedience; there is no dichotomy between the two, as Martin, Hymn of Christ, lxxii–lxxiv, seeks to show), and (3) may have been originally composed for christological or soteriological