Reverend Michael Mwangi
Senior Pastor, Fedha Church, Kenya Assemblies of God
C. Jesus, the ultimate example of exaltation after humility.
1. (9) The exaltation of Jesus Christ.
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
a. Therefore God has also highly exalted Him: This is the general heading for the material in the next three verses. These words describe how God has exalted Jesus. Indeed, highly exalted could also be translated “super exalted.”
i. “The Greek elegancy imports superexalted, or exalted with all exaltation.” (Poole)
ii. “Now, just pause over this thought – that Christ did not crown himself, but that his Father crowned him; that he did not elevate himself to the throne of majesty, but that his Father lifted him there, and placed him on his throne.” (Spurgeon)
b. Given Him the name which is above every name: This goes beyond giving Jesus the Divine name Yahweh. When we consider the Hebrew concept of the name, it also implies that God declares that Jesus has a character and person above all.
i. This verse, with its clear statement of Jesus’ deity, is powerful ammunition against those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ. There is no higher name than Yahweh, and Jesus has that name.
God uses a way down to lift us
JOSEPH, pit potpher, prison palace
Abraham
(10-11) The subjection of the whole creation to Jesus.
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
a. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow: Not only is Jesus exalted by the Father, but the whole world is brought into submission to the Son.
i. “Paul does not imply by this a universal salvation, but means that every personal being will ultimately confess Christ’s lordship, either with joyful faith or with resentment and despair.” (Kent)
b. Those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth: This conveys the absolute totality of all creation recognizing the superiority of Jesus Christ.
i. In this, Paul draws on the idea of Isaiah 45:23: I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. Notice that in Isaiah, it is to Yahweh that all knees bow and tongues confess. In Philippians it is to Jesus, showing that Jesus is Yahweh.
ii. Those under the earth: “Either the dead, who are hid in the earth, and shall be raised by the power of Christ… or, devils, and wicked souls.” (Poole)
c. Every knee should bow… every tongue should confess: The combination of tongues confessing and knees bowing gives evidence that the idea is a complete submission to Jesus, both in word and in action, and one that is required of all.
i. The totality of this recognition of Jesus’ deity and exaltation has caused many to envision this happening in a formal way after the final judgment, when every creature in heaven and hell is required to bow their knees and make the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.
d. That Jesus Christ is Lord: From this we can say that there is a sense in which Jesus returned to heaven with more than He had than when He left heaven. Not only did He return with His humanity still added to his deity (although a resurrected humanity), He also returned with the recognition planted among men of who He was and the worship He deserved – something unknown until the Incarnation and the full revelation of His person and work.
i. “He has always (in Paul’s view) shared in the Divine nature. But it is only as the result of His Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection and Exaltation that He appears to men as on an equality with God, that He is worshipped by them in the way in which Jehovah is worshipped.” (Kennedy)
ii. “He might have used the miraculous powers inherent in His Divine nature in such a way as to compel men, without further ado, to worship Him as God. Instead of that He was willing to attain this high dignity by the path of humiliation, suffering and death.” (Kennedy)
iii. All this must be seen in reference to the humiliation described in Philippians 2:6-8; our tendency is to long for the exaltation, but to forsake the humiliation.
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