’in order that in the Name of Jesus every knee should bend, of [ones] upon heaven and upon earth and under-the-earth...’
-bending the knee is what someone does when they enter the presence of royalty. the action could be merely out of respect without necessarily indicating an attitude of subservience, particularly if the person doing the bending doesn’t belong to that country. but paul here pretty much covers all possible knees. this is again speaking to outcome, to result, to purpose. the outcome of Jesus being hyper-hyped and given the hyper Name - the purpose for that - is so that every person who has ever lived will somehow, someday bow before Him and acquiesce to the truth that He is King.
-now some commentators are wont to point out that paul here says ‘IN the Name of Jesus’ as opposed to ‘AT the Name’ as it is rendered in most translations, which indicates that most translators are forcing an interpretation onto the text. the use of ‘AT the Name of Jesus’ fits more naturally with the picture of a literal event, that certain future day when Christ returns for judgment and every person whether they have trusted in Christ or not will be forced to show their acknowledgment that Jesus truly is King, the One True and only King of the universe. however, what is not likely being described here is some future event where all the living and the dead will be gathered into a massive crowd and then at some point some being utters the word ‘Jesus’ as if by introduction and then every person, whether saved or unsaved, bends their knee simultaneously.
-however, it does suggest an interesting question for each of us today: what do you do when you hear the name, ‘Jesus’? what runs through your mind? is there a kneeling of the mind, of your heart and soul at the mention of the Name of Jesus?
-some then suggest that rather than picturing a one-time future event, that paul instead is describing an environment of willing prayer, that every knee which does freely bend in prayer will do so (only) IN the name of Jesus, depicting the truth that Jesus Christ is the One Mediator between God and man (1tim 2.5). it is, however, not realistic to conceive that EVERY being will be freely praying to Jesus at some point, which means that this interpretation would require one to limit the scope of what is meant by ‘every knee’. yes, we know that God would like for every person to come to repentance, to come to that place where they would seek Him and actually pray to Him, where they would freely lower themselves and surrender and submit to Him (2pet 3:9). but we also know that many people as well as the devil and his rebellious angels will not ever do that (cf rev 12.7, mt 25.41, rev 20.10, rev 20.14-15).
-some commentators refer to is 45.23, where God declares the future reality of universal submission, and paul here uses similar language, so that we are basically looking at a reiteration of that prophetic statement. the language is also very consistent with the scene of universal worship of the Lamb depicted in rev 5.13 (cf ps 103.22).
-now it is the NAME of Jesus under consideration in this verse. of course, the Name of Jesus already had total power and sovereignty before He was hyper-hyped (lk 8.26-37, lk 10.17), and simply became more fully so afterwards (jam 4.7, act 3.16, act 16.18, cf heb 2.7-10). to be sure, for those who follow Jesus, everything they do is tied to His Name (jn 20.31, 1jn 3.23, jn 1.12, 1cor 6.11, act 2.38, mt 18.20, jn 14.13-14, jn 16.24, lk 9.48, col 3.17, jam 5.14, lk 24.47). but there are of course those who will never freely submit themselves to the Kingship of Jesus. so then, we are perhaps either talking about a subset of created ones who freely submit and do indeed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, including praying and bowing before Him daily and on into eternity, OR we are talking about a mixed group of willing and unwilling participants who regardless of their predisposition are face-to-face with the King of the universe, the One Who made them and Who in His hand holds their eternal destiny. either way we are talking about a posture of submission in the presence of royalty, before the King of the universe, a posture which can and should begin both at some point in this life and be continued every moment of every day until i die or until Christ returns. i have a long way to go...
-’therefore also God highly exalted Him and freely gave to Him the Name the [one] above every name...’
-the glorious irony here is that what Jesus did in emptying and lowering Himself and making it all about others and not about Him is that God made it all the more about Him as a result. obviously this could not be part of our motivation here, and we are not being asked to pay for the sins of the world, therefore we are not going to be talking about being given a name or a position like that which Jesus has. not to mention that we are not the only begotten Son of God (and yet - for those who go low, who lower themselves and embrace others-first others-better, there remains a promise of exaltation, a promise of glory for those who walk the via dolorossa - mt 23.12, rom 8.17-18, 2cor 4.17). but the context is others-first others-better, and here it is definitely not about us. paul in these next few verses shifts the focus completely off of us and what we do and onto Jesus. it is a slight tangent of glorious truth about the King of glory...
-He lowered Himself, going as low as He could go, and subsequently was lifted up as high as could possibly be. God (the Father) highly exalted Jesus. this is a great word in the greek, and it is only used here in the NT. the word is huperupsoo, from huper (hyper)(it became ‘super’ in latin and it of course still that in english), which means above, and hupsoo (which is the verb form of hupsos, or hypsos, which describes something that IS above or high). so God didn’t just make Jesus higher, He made Him higher than high. basically, God super-exalted, He hyper-hyped Jesus. the super-latives runneth over: supreme, superb, supernal, incomparable, matchless, unequaled, consummate, unsurpassed, par excellence, transcendent, unrivaled, inimitable, second-to-none.
-when did this super-exalting take place? it seems obvious that it took place after this ‘death on a cross’ in v. 8. really it takes place as a result of the entire process of emptying and lowering which of course began with the incarnation and even before that in eternity (cf heb 1.2), but the consummation is found at calvary. and there are mutiple references throughout Scripture to this super-exalting coming after and as a result of what Jesus suffered on the cross (heb 2.9, act 2.33, eph 1.20-22, heb 1.3, heb 12.2, ps 8.5-6, is 52.13, lk 24.26, rom 14.9, eph 1.20-22). to be fair, even the super-exalting which was determined in eternity and carried out in the ascension has yet to be fully realized (heb 2.8). we will come back to this...
-but God the Father gave Him the Name - THE Name. now there is definitely something about the Name of Jesus. mt 1.21, act 4.12, eph 1.21, heb 1.4. “you will be hated by all because of My Name...” - lk 21.16-18. ‘they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus...” - act 4.18, act 5.40. “whatever you ask in My Name, that I will do...” - jn 14.13-14, jn 16.24, act 3.6, act 16.18, lk 10.17. the name Jesus means, ‘God saves’ (english for Iésou, which is the greek for jeshua/joshua, which was the hebrew word for savior). it is certainly the most polarizing Name on the planet. it is misused, abused, mocked, and hated - by many who are being deceived by the world, the flesh, or the devil, by ones who are in outright rebellion against their Creator, and by others who have experienced or seen unrighteousness worked by those who claim to follow Jesus. it’s dismissed by ones who’ve yet to be convinced they need saving. some use the Name as more of a means to an end (mt 7.22), but there are many others who have embraced the Name and the One to Whom it was given as their Savior and Lord. these He is not ashamed to call His friends and His brothers and sisters (jn 15.13-15, heb 2.11, mt 12.50).
-obviously the name ‘Jesus’ was given to the Son of Man before He was conceived (cf lk 1.31, lk 2.21), and He had a status of glory before then as well (jn 17.24). but it looks like the text here could be saying that God gave this super name to Jesus after the crucifixion, that He got the name as a result of His obedience unto death. so, perhaps the name in question here is not ‘Jesus’ afterall? or, the use of contrast could suggest that perhaps the naming is actually tied more to the entirety of His going low, the humbling Jesus did which began with the laying aside of His status and privileges and taking on the form of finite frail humanity.
-so we need to consider, was the exalting something separate and complementary to the naming, or is it the one and same thing? because it would seem that the exalting was definitely part of the resurrection and subsequent ascension and seating at God’s right hand, especially since the flow here mentions the exalting immediately after the crucifixion. and yet technically the Jesus-naming took place before that, prophetically before He was even conceived (lk 2.21)... one view suggests that the exalting and naming both did come after the cross, seemingly then requiring that the super Name to which paul refers here is not ‘Jesus’ but rather ‘Lord’ (verse 11 is mentioned as supporting this view, cf act 2.33-36). another view suggests that it is not a personal name that was given per se but rather the actualization of a position and office of supreme, unrivaled dignity and honor. another explanation is that the exalting and naming both took place more out of time, when the heretofore unnamed second member of the Trinity (cf dan 7.13, dan 3.25, ps 80.17) emptied and lowered Himself and was gloriously incarnated inside the womb of an unwed teenage girl in galilee. it makes some sense to attach the naming to the incarnation as the time when the emptying and lowering actually took place. this posture of humility then of course continued throughout His time on earth (cf lk 2.51, mt 3.14-15, mt 14.24-27), being ultimately consummated in the sufferings of the Passion. but what about the exalting? one could perhaps even try and identify a time prior to the incarnation, since in eternity the decision to lower and the actual lowering as well as the ultimate hyper-hyping would all be part of one continuous reality.
-another way to reconcile the timing of the naming and the exalting without having to resort to a name other than ‘Jesus’, which we are told in the next verse is the name at which every knee will bow, is to consider that the name of Jesus while given prophetically before conception and practically at His birth was fully realized only after He did die and pay the penalty for the sins of the world, thus accomplishing the salvation to which the name ‘Jesus’ refers. it was only thus that He really and fully became Jesus the Christ, and in the ascension He then also once and for all entered into the place of Lord over all, subsequently bringing full expression to all that is contained in the name ‘Jesus’. they called Him Jesus in the stable in bethlehem, but now He IS Jesus, in every sense of the word.
-nevertheless, a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, and there are many other names and titles found throughout Scripture by which He can be called. the fact remains that Jesus of Nazareth is both Lord and Christ, God’s Messiah, and there is no other name in or under heaven by which we can be saved. He alone is the Way and the Truth and the Life. His is a Name higher than any other, one which deserves and should impel both awe and worship, total abandonment and audacious boldness. it should change everything - and has in many ways and for many people. unfortunately the Name of Jesus has also been horribly misrepresented by some and has indeed become for many others nothing more than an epithet, or an afterthought. or perhaps a kind of noble idea at best. no doubt my own gaps and failings - not the least my materialism and timidity and selfishness - do indeed detract from a fully-orbed manifestation of devotion to and showing off of the glorious greatness of the Name of Jesus. i do have a long way to go...
"...and having been found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, having come to be obedient unto death, but death of a cross."
-He didn’t only take on human appearance - Christ lowered Himself. in other words, others better. certainly God better. He wasn’t obeying people per se, He was listening to His Father. He embraced ‘not what I want but rather what You want’ (luke 22.42). He was the eternally glorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Creator of the entire universe, God almighty albeit in human flesh, and yet He allowed Himself to first be born as a human baby - in a stable - to poor parents to whom He submitted Himself - and later to be betrayed and arrested and beaten and abused and whipped and killed on a cross. He of course had to go through these things as part of the divine plan but in order to go through them He had to lower Himself. He was indeed surpassingly better than anyone around Him. He had the power to not only protect Himself but do whatever He wanted, and yet He divested Himself of this power and authority and status and took on frail and finite human flesh and walked among us. He was a helpless baby and an obedient child and a young man Who grew tired and hungry and cried and felt pain and betrayal and Who grieved over the utter brokenness of the world. He simply said, ‘not what I want.’ and He let Himself be tortured and executed by people whose only power to do that to Him came from God Himself. FOR THEM. it was not about Him. there was no hint of me-first, me-better. He lived perfectly into the low-thinking which we are here being exhorted to embrace. this is our example.
-obedient. obedient all the way unto death. saying no to bad choices and to His flesh and to what He wanted and saying yes to what pleased His Heavenly Father (john 8.29). He did what was right and what was asked of Him all the way to giving His life in obedience to His Father. death of course is the ultimate obedience - there is no greater form of love (john 15.13)(and of course there is no greater command than to love - mark 12.30-32). and Jesus was not just dying for the ones who were following Him - He was dying for the ones who were killing Him. and not just any death - it was death on a roman cross, an extreme, excruciating form of torture and execution. and the cross was preceded by hours of sleep-deprivation, beating and as well as a scourging - 39 lashes with a cat-and-nine-tails that literally ripped the flesh of His back and brought Him to death’s doorstep. you could perhaps ask the question, could the sacrifice have been accomplished with a different form of death, say, a guillotine, or a gibbet? it is interesting to think about, however not very helpful. the fact remains - Jesus lowered Himself (for the sake of others), said no to self and yes to God all the way to giving up His life (for the sake of others), and in so doing lived perfectly into others-first others-better.
-oh, how much of my life and heart is consumed with taking care of number one, taking care of me first and doing what i want, indulging my fleshly desires and living for the things that don’t last. how easily i give into disobedience. how easy it is for me to look down on someone else, to somehow think less of them, maybe because of how they talk or decisions they make or things they do or don’t do, maybe because they don’t have the same education or training or convictions or priorities that i have, maybe because the things that they do which affect me aren’t exactly how i would like them to be. and as long as what they do doesn’t affect me, i usually don’t even care. oh Lord, have mercy on my pride and selfishness and deliver me from this slavery of me-first me-better. help me to think and live like Jesus. please give me the grace today and every day to live into the cross so that Christ can truly live in and through me (galatians 2.20). yes, the cross of Christ is more than just an historical event - it is a daily destination for those who follow Him (luke 9.23)... i have a long, long way to go.
"...but rather He emptied Himself, a form of a bond-servant having received, in likeness of men having come to be..."
-here we have one of the most amazing statements in all of Scripture, and yet this is exactly what Jesus did. we read that Jesus emptied Himself, and one might ask, as many others have also asked, of what did He actually empty Himself? did He empty Himself of deity? to which we answer simply, no, He did not. He was still God. simply put, He emptied Himself of ‘self’. He didn’t empty Himself of His nature, His divinity - rather, He emptied Himself of me-first. we’re talking about an attitude, a way of understanding, one which is entirely possible for us to embrace as well. obviously none of us are able to empty ourselves of our nature, our humanity, but we can get rid of our me-first way of living and thinking. actually this is quite impossible humanly-speaking, but with God at work in our lives this becomes totally possible (as we will see in verses 12-13).
-what Jesus did was let go of His status and His rights and privileges and all the things He could have thought He deserved due to the fact that He was God, and took on the form of a bond-servant. instead of holding onto the form of almighty God, He freely chose to take the form of a slave, living into a supreme expression of others-first. a slave has no rights, no privileges, no time or possessions or place of their own. a slave deserves nothing - he exists solely for the sake of someone else, for the sake of the master. they are owned by the master. all their stuff and their time - everything belongs to the master. it is not about them first or even at all - it is about someone else. others-first.
-Christ’s example, His attitude which we are to also embrace - the same mindset which a slave would have - was one of service (luke 22.27, john 13.12-15, matthew 20.28). the more common verb for ‘to serve’ in the NT is diakoneo, which means just that, ‘to serve’. Christ here takes the form of a doulos, and a doulos would normally engage in douloo, but that verb for slave-service is not used much in the NT. however, diakoneo is certainly what a doulos does - it is more a question of identity. anyone can engage in service, but an actual doulos is also owned by the one whom they have freely committed to serve - in this case we are talking more about an attitude and an action, a lifestyle and a calling of serving others. Christ came to serve not Himself but others first, and paul is calling those of us who follow Christ to serve our fellow Christ-followers and to do so with the mindset of a slave. and this service is not just what i do but it is also who i am. it is my identity. i am a slave, and i have no rights, and i deserve nothing, and i embrace this for the sake of my brothers and sisters in Christ and for the sake of the forward progress of the Gospel. this theme is woven throughout the NT (matthew 23.11, luke 22.25-26, galatians 5.13, ephesians 4.12, 1peter 4.10-11). it is quite simple. we are called to serve one another. others first. one who serves is called a servant. someone who is forced to do this against their will is typically referred to as a slave, but the one who freely enters slavery and surrenders their freedom and embraces a life-calling of serving another is a bond-servant. this is the form and the mindset that Jesus took on, and this is the example we are to follow.
-paul also points out that Jesus came to be 'in the likeness of men'. it is the wonderful impossible miracle of the Incarnation - the eternal, infinite living Word of God, through Whom all things came to be, came to be real finite flesh and blood within the womb of a teenage girl from galilee and though veiled in glory gave us a glorious glimpse of the divine (john 1.14). God Almighty walked among us, and lived and died as one of us, an amazing antinomy of two things which cannot both be true simultaneously and yet must both be true (being one of at least three great antinomies to be found in the Christian faith; other antinomies of note are the Trinity - where God is both three and one - and then there is the truth of predestination/free will, where the choices of a Sovereign Eternal All-knowing God and those of free human agents coexist - these truths will be addressed elsewhere, but suffice it to say that the necessary existence of these multiple antinomies at the core of the Christian faith points to divine origin of the Truth that is found therein. a fabricated man-made religion would no doubt ignore or attempt to eliminate such apparent contradictions...). but this Incarnation was not only necessary, as sin needed to be punished in human flesh (romans 8.3), it was also entirely advantageous, because we now have a Savior Who walked the same path that we walk, subject to our same limitations and challenges and temptations and weaknesses and yet to these He never succumbed (hebrews 2.17). in fact, He rose above the limitations to live perfectly into others-first. among a host of other things, He truly became our Perfect Example. i have a long, long way to go...
"...Who, in [the] form of God existing, did not rule the to being equal to God something to be grasped..."
-Christ Jesus did not hold on to His rights, His wants, His status, what He deserved, what He had always been, the way things had always been. it was not about Him. it was not about self. it was not about Me.
-the context makes this lowering even more significant. Jesus in fact was God incarnate. He had always been God, always co-existing and co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. all things were made through Him. every single thing in the universe came into existence by Him, thus He was above all things, including every single person on planet earth. as God, not only was He above all things and people, but He was worthy of all honor and glory and blessing and praise and love and devotion from every thing and everyone. He deserved all of that. but He chose to not hold onto it - He chose to not put Me first. the incredible irony here is that it WAS all about Him. all of history had pointed to His coming. God’s great plan was the summing up of all things in Christ (ephesians 1.10). He was the Way, the Truth and the Life. and yet He chose to make it not about Him (and even in doing so He made it even more about Him, as we will see in verse 9...).
-what are you holding onto today? what am i holding onto today? in what ways am i living into me-first? what rights am i grasping at others’ expense? what privileges or status am i holding onto at all costs? what is it that i feel i deserve? paul reminds us here that Jesus deserved to live as God and be treated equally with God the Father, but He let it all go and lived into others-first.
-in our case, it might be helpful to remember that we actually deserve two separate outcomes, and both are different than what we get in this life. for those who are in Christ, we simultaneously 'deserve’ both heaven and hell. we were designed for and are now once again destined for paradise - and it is instinctive for us to feel that life for us should be perfect. at the same time we really deserve something far worse than what we ever get in this life - we deserve to pay the penalty for our sins by being forever separated from God and excluded from paradise. these polar extremes create a context that can and should inform how we think and how we hold onto various expectations and the things that we think we deserve in this life.
-do i think i have the right to my privacy and my own time and to not have to mess with the messes and complexity and warts of others? the right to a perfect job or boss or spouse or kids or church or place to live? the right to live in a clean home and have my food ready for me whenever i want it? the right to justice and equal treatment while driving a car or when purchasing something? the right to paradise? do i deserve to not be sick or hungry or have things break down on me? do i think and act as though i deserve some kind of paradise here on earth? as we will see, all complaining and grumbling is actually rooted in this reality. we grumble and complain when things aren’t right because we were designed and are destined for paradise. so there is an understandable instinct in play, and yet this life will never live up to those expectations, and we are in fact called to lay aside all those expactations for the sake of others and for the Gospel, just like Jesus.
-at the same time, living into me-first and expecting life to be perfect fails to take into consideration that what i actually deserve is hell. yes, i was designed for paradise, and it is perfectly understandable that we want and feel like we do deserve life to be perfect, but what i really deserve is to be forever separated from anything and everything that is Perfect and breathtakingly Good and able to thrill and satisfy my deepest needs and desires. living into others-first and letting go of my expectations and what i think i deserve will be a challenge, to be sure, but it will never be as hard or as bad as getting what i ultimately deserve. so i must let go of my expectations today. let go of my perceived rights and the things i think i deserve. live into and embrace a life of others-first. i have a long way to go...
