and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and [that the] death of [the] cross.
A single verse traces the last stretch of a descent that began in the form of God and ends at a criminal's cross. Writers ask three things here: why being found in human form was not the end of His stooping, how the eternal Son could take up obedience at all, and why the verse names the cross.
Verse 7 and verse 8 are not the same move repeated. One writer tells them apart: one He did as God, the other as man.
Emptying Himself as God, He humbled Himself as man, instead of making Himself anything.
Becoming man did not settle what place He would take among men. That was a further choice.
This is a further step downward than being found in human form. As we said, He could have been found in human form and yet chosen to be an emperor or a mighty king. He could have chosen honour and wealth. But no: "He made Himself low." "He humbled Himself."
No obedience has ever matched this one. What sets it apart is who was obeying.
There never had been, and never could have been, such obedience on earth, or even in heaven... The surpassing dignity of His Person is what lifted this obedience beyond compare. And that is before we mention the harsh and painful circumstances in which He gave it, right up to death — and what a death! As the eternal Son, He ruled over all. From the lowest creature on earth to the archangel on high, nothing moved except at His command.
The older wording can be misread as though death itself gave Him orders. Writers correct that reading.
The older English translation might be misread to mean that He was obedient to death itself. But it was obedience to His Father's will, all the way to death... And His death at Golgotha showed not only His matchless love, but also His devoted obedience.
Dying was not a debt His nature owed. One writer argues that from this verse.
"Being found in human form," He did not have to die. He died because of the purposes of grace: He "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." He died for our sins. So, for Him, death rested on a completely different basis and served purposes that were supremely divine. Adam, the man who failed, disobeyed and died; Christ became obedient as far as that point of death, the death of the cross.
Many have said the obedience that makes us righteous was Christ's keeping of the law through His life. One writer points instead to this verse.
The death on the cross showed in fullest measure what our sin and disobedience deserved. It was also the crowning act of a life of perfect obedience. The letters of the New Testament dwell on this: "For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). Many have thought this means our Lord's law keeping during His life. It does not. It means His obedience "to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Death looks like the lowest step. The verse names a lower one.
He did not only become obedient to the point of death. That death was death on a cross. That last step tells out the awfulness, the horror, the shame and the anguish of the death He became obedient to... Perhaps no death makes a person shrink back like "death on a cross." The Lord of Glory went down to this, the lowest step anyone could take.
What men did to Him was not the worst of that death.
People dwell on the disgrace He suffered: the insults, the injustice, the abuse and the rejection He received from men. All of this wounded His heart deeply. Yet the suffering and sorrow of His holy soul went far deeper, when He bore the wrath of God until it was spent in the righteous judgment He endured for our sins.
The call to copy Him has a limit. One writer marks where it lies.
We cannot follow all His steps. We were never in the height from which He came, and we are not asked to travel into the depths He went. But we are urged to have His mind as He took these steps.
- Down, freely. Two stoops, not one. As God He emptied Himself; as man He made Himself low. He could have chosen an emperor's place instead.
- Down, as obedience. The eternal Son entered obedience; He never owed it. Who He is makes that obedience beyond compare.
- Down, to the limit. Not obedient to death, but obedient as far as death — proof that dying was never a debt His nature owed.
- Down, past the floor. "Even death on a cross" adds the shame men heaped on Him and the judgment God laid on Him.
- Up, and ours. By this one obedience many are made righteous; and the one step asked of us is not His depth but His mind.
Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and granted him a name, that which is above every name,
The verse opens with "Therefore." Everything in it depends on what came before: the servant's place, and obedience all the way to death. So what could God add to One who was already infinitely great? (Older translations read "Wherefore" here, and the writers quoted below use that word.)
The word looks back over the whole path down. Notice too who does the exalting.
"Wherefore" is the word with which His exaltation begins. It reminds us of our Lord's own words, repeated twice: "He that humbles himself shall be exalted" (Luke 14:11 and 18:14). And none ever humbled Himself as the Lord of glory: it is well indeed that He should be supremely exalted! "HE humbled Himself" — but notice, it does not say "He exalted Himself." No, "GOD supremely exalted Him." And we must not pass over that little word "also"… In Greek it stands in a very emphatic position. It is as if to contrast God's thoughts of His Son with man's treatment of Him.
"Highly exalted" is a single Greek word, and it appears nowhere else in the New Testament.
"Supremely exalted" is one word in the Greek. The Spirit of God through Paul loves to add the little word "huper" to many words. It matches our word "super." So we read "super-intercede" in Romans 8:26 and "super-conqueror" in Romans 8:37… How well this word of "supreme exaltation" fits the position due to such supreme humiliation! It appears nowhere else in the New Testament, as though the Spirit of God had reserved it for this special passage.
The verse creates a real difficulty. He was already the Son, already infinitely great.
We are only in new wonders when we read these words. For what, we may ask, could exalt Him? Before He began His path of sufferings and glories, He was in Himself infinitely great and blessed. Nothing could personally exalt Him, being, as He was, "the Son." His glory was divine, unspeakable and infinite. No other honours could ever increase His personal glory. Yet we still see Him walking a path that leads Him on to honour and glory.
The answer lies in the character in which He stooped. God lifted Him up as the very same One who had gone down.
Here God gives glory to Jesus, not because He was equal with God, but because He humbled Himself, appeared as a man, and became obedient to death. As God, all dominion and glory were His own; nor could anything be given Him. But as man He had voluntarily emptied Himself, taking the lowest place, and bowing even to the power of death, to carry out God's purposes of grace. God's righteous response, then, to this obedience and devotedness was to exalt Him in the same character in which He had humbled Himself.
The word for "gave" comes from the word for grace. And the better reading is "the Name," not "a name."
"Bestowed" translates a Greek word formed from the word always used for Grace… The better reading is not "given him a name," but "the Name." It is a special Name, "the (Name) supreme above every name."… We may ask, what is "the Name"? Some think it to be the mystic Name JEHOVAH; others, that it may be "My new Name" in Revelation 3:12. But from what follows, "That in the Name JESUS every knee should bow," I cannot but think that JESUS is "the Name." And let us remember that the Name JESUS means JEHOVAH-the-SAVIOUR.
Commentators differ on what the Name is. Another writer says the question cannot be settled, and points to what the Name shows.
We cannot decide what "the name" is, or whether it is the name of Jesus… and indeed the Spirit of God would point us to the thing it stands for. The meaning, to say it again, is this: whatever exalted beings may surround the heavenly throne, the glorified Jesus is above and beyond them all. The name given to Him, because He humbled Himself, speaks of a dignity far above the highest ranks of heaven, and tells us more: He is supreme in every world of God's universe.
Put beside the first man, this Man went the opposite way.
He made Himself nothing in becoming a man. Death to Him was the highest, fullest act of obedience and of confidence in His Father, as man. And therefore God highly exalted Him. Sinful man had sought to exalt himself and to be like God, and his disobedience cast him down. In this, then, we have the great doctrine of the exaltation of Jesus as the new man, the Second Adam, the Head of a new race.
- Wherefore — the exaltation is God's answer, not Christ's achievement. He humbled Himself; God exalted Him.
- Supremely — the verb occurs once in the whole New Testament, matching a height to a depth no one else ever went down.
- As Man — nothing could be added to Him as God. God gave the glory to the One who emptied Himself, in the very character in which He stooped.
- The Name — a gift of grace. It sets the glorified Jesus above every rank of heaven. Writers differ on whether the Name is "Jesus" itself.
- Second Man — the first man grasped at being like God and fell; this Man obeyed to death, and God lifted Him above all.
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal [beings],
This verse closes Christ's path: from the highest glory, down to death on a cross, and up to the place God gives Him. It says what that exaltation must produce — a bow from every knee, in all three spheres.
The name that every knee bows to is not a title picked at random. He carried this name through His humiliation. One writer links it to what He refused to do at the cross.
The Name of Jesus expresses the fame of this lowly Man. It means, as we know, Saviour, and as such it is a Name that is above every name. May we not say it is the one Name that the Lord had to come down from the glory to a cross of shame to secure? Over the cross it was written, "This is JESUS". Men in their scorn said, "Let Him now come down from the cross." Had He done so, He would have left the Name of JESUS behind Him. He would still have been the Creator, the mighty God, but never more would He have been JESUS — the Saviour. Blessed be His Name! His lowly mind led Him to be obedient to the death of the cross, and as a result every knee will bow to the Name of Jesus, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Some have read the older English translation as a call to bow the head whenever the name is spoken. One writer traces that to a misreading of a single preposition.
In the Authorised Version and others, Philippians 2:10 is, as we all know, rendered "at" the name of Jesus. That rendering became the basis of a well known and widespread superstitious practice. The Revisers here say "in" (ἐν). If that is right, it means, as usual, that all creatures will bow because of His name.
The three groups are not decoration. The third carries the heaviest weight. It settles who counts as part of "every knee."
It is not just a question of saints or of Israel. Every knee shall bow. This takes in angels and saints, and even those who are forever under the judgment of God, because "under the earth" carries the worst possible sense. So the lost, those in hell, come in here. The verse includes those who have rejected salvation, just as much as those who confess the Saviour. It is the universal subjection of all to Christ. Jesus has won the title even as man. If unbelievers despised Him as man, as Son of man He will judge them.
It would be easy to read universal bowing as universal salvation. One writer marks the limit: one sphere bows and stays cut off.
One sphere is excluded — the sphere of judgment. Yet even this — "the things under the earth" — is to bow at the name of Jesus according to Philippians 2:10. It must acknowledge Him, though cut off from Him and under the frown of God.
God first swore these words about Himself. One writer sets that oath beside this verse.
In the second chapter of Philippians it is a beautiful thing to see that what is due to God is going to be given to a Man. We read in the Old Testament: "By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance'" (Isaiah 45:23). Oh, but you say, that is God speaking, and He has a divine right to claim this subjection. Quite true, and He will have it. But notice, it is all going to be given to a Man — and that Man is the Man of sorrows, the lowly Nazarene. What He can claim as God, He is worthy of as Man.
The bowing is certain. Only the timing is open, and the timing decides everything.
It is a solemn thing to think that every knee must bow to Jesus in the day of His coming. But is it not a joy that when people bow now to Christ and accept His gospel, they are saved? When forced to bow in the day of God by power, they will not be saved. When divine power compels them, before the judgment seat of Christ, there will be no salvation.
- Cause — The name came out of the cross. He kept it by staying there, and God answered that obedience with the highest place.
- Ground — Every knee bows because of His name, not at the sound of it. Honour belongs to the Person, not to a word.
- Reach — Three spheres, and the third is the darkest: angels, saints, men, and the lost. Nobody is left out.
- Limit — Universal bowing is not universal salvation. Some acknowledge Him while still cut off from Him.
- Choice — Every knee bows; only the timing is yours. Bow now and be saved, or bow under power when bowing saves nothing.
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord to God [the] Father's glory.
This verse closes Christ's descent from glory to the cross with God's answer: a universe on its knees, every voice owning Him as Lord. Two questions press — why does the Man Jesus hold this title, and why does the scene end in the Father's glory?
The words did not begin in Paul's letter. In Isaiah, God spoke them about Himself.
Then comes the solemn declaration, backed by a divine oath: "To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance." Jehovah, the Creator-God, has decreed it. Now turn to Philippians 2. There these words apply to the One who humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Two notable explanations are added. No one could have discovered them unless God had given them. The first is that "every knee" covers all in heaven, all on earth, and all under the earth. It means every intelligent being, whether in heaven, on earth, or in hell — demons as well as angels, saints, and men. Second, "every tongue shall swear allegiance" means the confession, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus is Lord.
The confession names Him "Jesus Christ" — His human name. One writer stresses that He holds this title as Man.
Jesus has won the title even as man. If unbelievers despised Him as man, as Son of man He will judge them. As man they must bow to Him. The lowly name that was His as Nazarene on the earth must be honoured everywhere; God's glory is concerned in it.
Word order carries force here. The confession also reaches three groups of creatures.
And the Spirit of God divides these into three classes: "The heavenly, the earthly, and the infernal" (or, those under the earth). Angels and demons, living and dead, saved and lost will all then acknowledge Him as LORD — and openly, for that is what the word suggests. The word "LORD" is in an emphatic position, so the emphasis falls on it: "JESUS CHRIST (is) LORD."
Does a universe confessing Christ mean a universe saved? The same words are on believing lips today and on every lip at the end. The two confessions do not end the same way.
The Christian now confesses by the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is Lord. Later this homage will be given on a far larger scale. But then it will be too late for salvation... No one confesses Him as Lord by the Holy Spirit unless he is a saved person. One day the time of grace will be past. God will no longer be only gathering out a chosen body, the Church; He will be putting down every opposing authority. Then the whole universe will own the name of Jesus — even those who do it under compulsion, and who by that very confession admit their own eternal misery.
Not every spirit will say these words, and that makes the confession a test.
No one speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit would call Jesus accursed... No demon would confess that Jesus is Lord. So if someone calls Jesus Lord under the influence of a spirit, that shows the Holy Spirit controls him. When Jesus was on earth, the evil spirits confessed that He was Son of God, but they never called Him Lord. The day is coming when they will be forced to own Him Lord. So will every tongue in the vast universe, to the glory of God the Father.
The passage opens with God exalting Him. It closes with the Father glorified.
Our passage began, "God supremely exalted Him." It ends by telling us that this supreme exaltation of the Son is "to the glory of God the Father." He could say of all His earthly path of humiliation: "I have glorified You on the earth." How blessed to see the same thing in His path of exaltation. We know well that this is just as He would have it.
Why put such a vast scene in a short, practical letter?
...the aim is practical. It is pressed home from One who came down from infinite glory and made Himself nothing. He is now exalted and made Lord of all, so that every creature must bow. This is put before the Philippians as the most powerful of motives and the weightiest of examples for self-denial, in love, to God's glory.
- Sworn — in Isaiah God swore that this homage was due to Himself. Here Jesus receives it.
- Given — He holds the title "Lord" as Man; the name of His lowliness is the name creation must honour.
- Universal — beings in heaven, on earth and under the earth all confess it openly, and the weight falls on one word: "LORD".
- Now — believers say it today by the Holy Spirit, and they are saved. The rest will say it under compulsion, and so confess their own loss.
- Father — the road that began with God exalting Him ends with the Father glorified. That whole descent and rise stands before believers as the pattern for self-denying love.