Theol. [a. Gr. κένωσις an emptying, f. κενόειν to empty, with ref. to Phil. ii. 7 ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε ‘emptied himself.’] The self-renunciation of the divine nature, at least in part, by Christ in the incarnation.
[1844. W. H. Mill, Serm. Tempt. Christ, v. 113. Here especially we behold that κένωσις, that voluntary emptying Himself of the divinity, of which St. Paul speaks [etc.].]
1873. Watson & Evans, trans. Van Oosterzee’s Chr. Dogmatics (1881), 549. The idea of the Kenôsis in its legitimate application.
1882. Cave & Banks, trans. Dorner’s Syst. Chr. Doctr., III. 392–3. We cannot accept a self-emptying of the Logos in the sense of the modern Kenosis.
1884. L. A. Tollemache, Stones of Stumbling, 115. My article … is designed to show that the kenosis involved in the Incarnation may be a complete one.
1891. Ch. Q. Rev., Oct., 9. By the doctrine of kenosis it is not held that the Divine Being in Christ is really limited, but only that He voluntarily held it in restraint.
