The second Adam, redux

A perspicacious blogger recently pointed to a rare example of lucidity in the Pauline corpus. Those of us fortunate enough to be Catholic Christians heard another such example this morning:

. . . Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

So that's two down, one to go.

Actually the only other example of Pauline lucidity was read a couple months ago, so we won't hear it again for another three years. (It was also read at my son's funeral and will, I hope, be read at mine.) No need for you to wait three years, though. Enjoy:

What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? . . .
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that
neither death,
nor life,
nor angels,
nor principalities,
nor present things,
nor future things,
nor powers,
nor height,
nor depth,
nor any other creature
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans (8:35-39)