The Greek noun morphe means form, shape, or outward appearance — but in philosophical Greek it carried the deeper sense of essential nature or defining characteristics. In Philippians 2:6–7, Paul uses it twice in the great Christological hymn: Christ was in the morphe of God (his essential divine nature) and took on the morphe of a servant (his essential humanity as servant).
Morphe is one of the most debated words in Christology. Philippians 2:6–7 is the key text: 'Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.' The passage is not about Christ losing his divine nature but about him expressing it through humility and service. The morphe of God was revealed, paradoxically, in the morphe of a servant.