Please clarify Phil 2:8-9 with reference to the Trinity In Philippians 2:8-9 we read:


  He [Jesus] humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
  Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names


For many years I studied with the Jehovah's Witness, and now years later I still have trouble with the doctrine of the Trinity.

Can you please clarify this passage for me:


If Jesus is God, how could he humble himself in obedience to God? (As God he could do no wrong and therefore could not be disobedient by definition?)
If Jesus is God, how could God elevate him [Jesus] to the place of highest honour? (Surely Jesus was already at the highest place because He is equal to God?)
St. Thomas Aquinas addresses your questions in his Summa Theologica I q. 42 ("Of Equality and Likeness among the Divine Persons"). Specifically, regarding your


first question, see ibid. a. 6 obj. 2:Objection 2: Further, greater is the power of him who commands and teaches than of him who obeys and hears. But the Father commands the Son according to Jn. 14:31: "As the Father gave Me commandment so do I." The Father also teaches the Son: "The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doth" (Jn. 5:20). Also, the Son hears: "As I hear, so I judge" (Jn. 5:30). Therefore the Father has greater power than the Son.and St. Thomas's reply (ad 2):Reply to Objection 2: The Father's "showing" and the Son's "hearing" are to be taken in the sense that the Father communicates knowledge to the Son, as He communicates His essence. The command of the Father can be explained in the same sense, as giving Him from eternity knowledge and will to act, by begetting Him. Or, better still, this may be referred to Christ in His human nature.


and your


second question, see ibid. a. 4 obj. 1:Objection 1: It would seem that the Son is not equal to the Father in greatness. For He Himself said (Jn. 14:28): "The Father is greater than I"; and the Apostle says (1 Cor. 15:28): "The Son Himself shall be subject to Him that put all things under Him."and St. Thomas's reply (ad 1):Reply to Objection 1: These words are to be understood of Christ's human nature, wherein He is less than the Father, and subject to Him; but in His divine nature He is equal to the Father. This is expressed by Athanasius, "Equal to the Father in His Godhead; less than the Father in humanity": and by Hilary (De Trin. ix): "By the fact of giving, the Father is greater; but He is not less to Whom the same being is given"; and (De Synod.): "The Son subjects Himself by His inborn piety"—that is, by His recognition of paternal authority; whereas "creatures are subject by their created weakness."


cf. also Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.'s commentary on this question from his Trinity &amp; God the Creator.