David Bentley Hart also states that Phillipians 2 is rendered as “in the form of a god” which is in line with the angelic exaltation christology that Erhman discusses, Jesus is an angel who is subordinate and elevated to equality with Yahweh. For Greek, I am talking about… the Greek. That is what Fredriksen said. Fredriksen has: “Note, too, Paul’s caution here: he does not say Jesus was (also) a god, but that he was ‘in the form’ of one. Paul nowhere describes Jesus as ‘theos’ (god), nor even ‘angelos’ (‘messenger’ or, specifically in this connection, an ‘angel’); rather, as he will insist elsewhere, Jesus is ‘anthropos,’ a human being, albeit a human being ‘ex ouranou,’ ‘from heaven’ (1 Cor.15:48).”
In “Paul, the Pagans’ Apostle” Fredriksen does read Philippians similarly to DBH: “The Greek, however, does not quite correspond to the RSV’s English. In Philippians 2.6, Jesus is not ‘in the form of the [high] God,’ but ‘in the form of [a] god.’ Jesus does not demur from equality with God the Father, but from god-status, or, closer to Paul’s word choice, equality ‘with [a] god.’” Fredriksen wryly suggests, given the standard translation, “the reader may very well wonder why it took until 325 CE for the church to produce the doctrine of the Council of Nicea.” She looks to Paul’s vocabulary. When talking about God the Father, he uses “ho theos, (the god).”

See Paul Holloway’s Hermeneia Commentary on Philippians pp. 117-18. Also see James Ware’s argument that the Christ Hymn was based on a deliberate exegesis of the Suffering Servant passages from Isaiah.

James Ware’s argument:

The main meaning of μορφή (morphē) is “form, outward appearance, shape” according to the BDAG. Similar expressions to μορφῇ θεοῦ in Phil. 2:6 are found in Josephus’ Ant. 2.232 where the mother of Moses says he had a “divine form” μορφῇ τε θεῖον referring to his appearance in 2.231 – “for the beauty of the child was so remarkable and natural to him on many accounts, that it detained the spectators, and made them stay longer to look upon him.”

Also, in Ant. 6.333 when the witch rouses the soul of Samuel she describes what she saw and says his form “was like that of a god” θεῷ τινα τὴν μορφὴν ὅμοιον.

The phrase “form of a god” θεοῦ μορφὴ is also found in Philo’s Embassy to Gaius 110. From the previous context in 93-97, Philo is criticizing Gaius for trying to “imitate” the gods and make his “outward appearance” like Mercury, Apollo and Mars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctrgn185Ok8&t=2286s

As the NRSV has it (though he existed in the form of God) it suggests a divine entity that is distinct from God. It’s not until verse 9 that God exalts him even more highly after which point stronger language associated with Godhood is used.

morphe here is more problematic for orthodox trinitarianism where Jesus preexisted as God. According to Paul Holloway, “a recent trend has been to argue along traditional lines that Paul wrote this “hymn” himself and that he did so precisely for his letter to the Philippians”.

Philippians 2:6-11 Exegesis:

• God is the one who exalts Jesus.
• God remains unquestionably in charge.
• Jesus’ resurrection is an act of God, not an act of Jesus.
• The exaltation of Jesus serves the purpose of glorifying the Father.
• As long as the veneration of Jesus points to God, it is not a threat to God, it is done for the glory of God, Dunn states – that worship is not addressed to Christ, but give praise to God for Christ.

As noted by many scholars, Paul carefully distinguished between Jesus and God and did not worship Jesus as if he were a god, nor does the apostle treat Christ as the equivalent of God, the use of similar language notwithstanding. Rather, confessing Jesus as Lord was supposed to point people toward God; it was not meant to distract people from God nor to complicate the unitary nature of God. One misunderstands Paul if one misses this point.

1. Belief of Paul here is directed towards God.

Prayer in Paul’s communities seems to have occurred in Jesus’ name; but the prayers themselves are offered to God, not to Jesus. And when, at his parousia, the knees of superhumans bend and tongues confess that kyrios Iêsous Christos, it is God, not Jesus, who is glorified (Phil 2:10–11). By contrast, many other late Second-Temple texts invoke angels and venerate them (especially in the Scrolls) ( Stuckenbruck, “ ‘Angels’ and ‘God’).