In Christian theology, kenosis (Ancient Greek: κένωσις, romanized: kénōsis, lit. 'lit. 'the act of emptying'') is the "self-emptying" of Jesus. The word ἐκένωσεν (ekénōsen) is used in the Epistle to the Philippians (abbreviated "Philippians"): "[Jesus] made himself nothing" (NIV), or "[he] emptied himself" (NRSV) (Philippians 2:7), using the verb form κενόω (kenóō), meaning "to empty".

The exact meaning varies among theologians. The less controversial meaning is that he emptied his own desires and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will, "obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross." Philippians encourages other Christians to be similarly willing to submit to divine will, even if it comes at great personal cost. The phrase is also used to explain the human side of Jesus: that Jesus, to truly live as a mortal, had to have voluntarily bound use of his divine powers in some way, emptying himself. Philippians says that "though [Jesus] was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited," suggesting that Jesus was not "abusing" his divine status to avoid the implications of a mortal life. This interpretation is contested by others, who consider this to overly downplay the divine power of Jesus.