An idea · Hellenistic & Roman · first attested 55 CE
Kenosis (self-emptying)
The highest climbs to the bottom on purpose – pagan honour turned inside out.
In the letter to the Philippians, Paul quotes what is probably the oldest Christian hymn: God, being in the form of God, emptied himself, took the form of a slave, and humbled himself to death on a cross. The Greek word is kenosis, emptying. To the ancient world this is unheard of. There the highest thing sits perfect and unmoved at the summit while lesser things climb toward it; Plotinus's One would never descend, and would think descending beneath a god. Paul's God does the reverse: he goes down, on purpose, all the way to the bottom. From this image grows the entire Western suspicion of pride and the entire Christian honouring of humility.