Jesus "in the form of God"

Question: 

I recently got into a discussion with a few Mennonites (who are Trinitarians), and they used Philippians 2:5-6 to support their position that Jesus is God.  Do you have any thoughts on these verses in respect to the Trinitarian position?

Reply:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. (Philippians 2:5-6)

First, have your friends read the passage above again, and then ask them this question:

"If Jesus was the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, why would the Apostle Paul use the phrase "in the form of God" (see verse 6)?  If Jesus was indeed God, then how can "God" be found in the "form of God"?

In other words, if your friends agree on the formula "Jesus = God" then let's replace the "Who" in verse 6 (referring to Jesus) with the qualifier "Who is God"...

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who is God and who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. (Philippians 2:5-6)

Having replaced the reference to Jesus in the above passage with "God", does the resulting verse make any sense?  I don't think it does.

And if Jesus was the Most High God, then what nonsense it would be for Paul to state that "God thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (which is exactly how Trinitarians must read the verse IF they wish to be consistent in their belief that Jesus = God).

Another question to ask your Trinitarian friends is, "If Jesus was God, and humbled himself on our behalf by dying on a cross (can God die?), then raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God (can God sit at the right hand of God?) to return back to this earth very shortly to reign as king for 1000 years....then why does Jesus re-submit himself at the end of the millenium if he is in fact God the Almighty?

Then [cometh] the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.  The last enemy [that] shall be destroyed [is] death.  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under [him, it is] manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

So here we see that Jesus will be subject unto God at the end of the 1000 year reign.  Can God be subject to God?

What the Apostle Paul was trying to teach in Philippians 2 was not that Jesus was the Creator of heaven and earth by using the phrase "emptied himself".  Paul was not describing the process by which God the Son divested himself of his divinity and took human form.  No!  Rather, Paul was contrasting Christ with Adam, and illustrating the humility and obedience of the Savior as an example for those who claim to follow him.

These are some things for your Trinitarian friends to consider.