Philippians 2:9

Wherefore--as the just consequence of His self-humiliation and obedience (Psa 8:5-6; Psa 110:1, Psa 110:7; Mat 28:18; Luk 24:26; Joh 5:27; Joh 10:17; Rom 14:9; Eph 1:20-22; Heb 2:9). An intimation, that if we would hereafter be exalted, we too must, after His example, now humble ourselves (Phi 2:3, Phi 2:5; Phi 3:21; Pe1 5:5-6). Christ emptied Christ; God exalted Christ as man to equality with God [BENGEL].

highly exalted--Greek, "super-eminently exalted" (Eph 4:10).

given him--Greek, "bestowed on Him."

a name--along with the corresponding reality, glory and majesty.

which--Translate, namely, "that which is above every name." The name "JESUS" (Phi 2:10), which is even now in glory His name of honor (Act 9:5). "Above" not only men, but angels (Eph 1:21).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9. Wherefore] From the point of view of this passage, the glorification of the Crucified Lord was the Father’s recognition and reward of His infinitely kind and gracious “looking upon the things of others.” The argument is, of course, that similarly the Christian who humbles himself shall be exalted.

hath highly exalted] Better, with R.V., highly exalted; at Resurrection and Ascension. Cp. Joh_17:4-5; Act_2:23-24; Act_2:32-33; Act_2:36; Act_3:13; Act_5:30-31; Rom_1:4; Eph_1:20-22; 1Pe_1:21, &c.

“Highly exalted:”—one compound verb in the Greek. Compounds expressive of greatness or excess are a characteristic of St Paul’s style. Of about seventeen of them in the N.T. quite twelve are found in St Paul’s writings only, or very rarely elsewhere.

given him] Better, as again R.V. (see last note), gave. The verb indicates a gift of love and approval.

a name] Lit. and better, the name. What is this Name? Is it the sacred personal Name Jesus? (Alford, Ellicott). Or is it Name in the sense of revealed majesty and glory? (Lightfoot). The difficulty of the former explanation is that Jesus, the human Name of the Lord, was distinctively His before His glorification, so that the “giving” of it on His glorification is a paradox. The reply will be that its elevation for ever into the highest associations, in the love and worship of the saints, was as it were a new giving of it, a giving of it as new. Still the usage is unlikely. And it is to be noticed that in the Epistles and Revelation, compared with the narrative parts of the N.T., the holy Name Jesus is but sparingly used alone. (See, as examples of such use, Rom_10:9; 1Co_12:3; Heb_2:9; Heb_4:14; 1Jn_5:5; Rev_22:16; Rev_22:20; cp. Act_7:55; Act_7:59; Act_8:16.) Very much more frequent is Jesus Christ. And on the other hand there are clear cases for the use of the word “Name” in the N.T. to denote recognized dignity or glory; see especially Eph_1:21. We believe that the true explanation lies in this direction. The “Name given” is the supreme Name, The Lord, Jehovah. In other words, the lowly and suffering Jesus is, as the abased and slain One, now to be found and worshipped on the eternal Throne; recognized there by all creation as He who for man’s sake, in preexistent glory and Godhead, willed to be humiliated even to the Cross.—As in the study of the whole mystery of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son, so here, we trace throughout the wonderful progression a perfect Personal Identity, while the unique presence in the Incarnate One of two Natures, with each its will, under one Personality, allows a range of language which speaks of the eternally glorious Son of God as being de novo glorified and exalted after the Humiliation which in His Second Nature He underwent.

above every name] Cp. Eph_1:21 just referred to. On St Paul’s view of the altogether unique exaltation of the Lord, in comparison with every created existence, see Liddon’s Bampton Lectures, Lect. v. § iv. 2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore - As a reward of this humiliation and these sufferings. The idea is, that there was an appropriate reward for it, and that that was bestowed upon him by his exaltation as Mediator to the right hand of God; compare the notes at Heb 2:9.

God also hath highly exalted him - As Mediator. Though he was thus humbled, and appeared in the form of a servant, he is now raised up to the throne of glory, and to universal dominion. This exaltation is spoken of the Redeemer as he was, sustaining a divine and a human nature. If there was, as has been supposed, some obscuration or withdrawing of the symbols of his glory Phi 2:7, when he became a man, then this refers to the restoration of that glory, and would seem to imply, also, that there was additional honor conferred on him. There was all the augmented glory resulting from the work which he had performed in redeeming man.

And given him a name which is above every name - No other name can be compared with his. It stands alone. He only is Redeemer, Saviour. He only is Christ, the Anointed of God; see the notes at Heb 1:4. He only is the Son of God. His rank, his titles, his dignity, are above all others; see this illustrated in the notes at Eph 1:20-21.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Php_2:9

God hath … given Him a name which is above every name

The name of Jesus

As it appears--

I.

On the page of history.

1. Its origin.

2. Import.

3. Associations.

4. Claims.

II. In the estimate of man.

1. Despised and hated.

2. Admired and wondered at.

3. Beloved and reverenced.

III. In the purpose of God: triumphant, worshipped by all in heaven, on earth, under the earth. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The name Jesus means Saviour (Mat_1:21).

I. There is something to be saved from: sin.

1. From its penalty.

2. From its guilt. Desert of punishment is worse than punishment itself.

3. From its power. The sinner needs not only cleansing from the past, but protection for the future.

II. There is one who will save (1Ti_1:15). How?

1. By His incarnation, getting Himself into connection with mans nature and condition.

2. By His work of reconciliation.

3. By winning mans attention, gratitude, and trust through His own unutterable condescension.

4. By cleansing him from sin. (G. D. Boardman, D. D.)

The name above every name

I. Its acquisition. The name of Jesus was--

1. Chosen by God.

2. Sanctified and approved by Christs suffering.

3. Glorified by His exaltation.

II. Its glory. None other is--

1. So great.

2. So mighty.

3. So dear.

4. So enduring. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

A name is a call word by which we separate objects and give to each its identity.

I. The names, however, of familiar objects are not mere arbitrary signs, but symbols of quality. The words eagle, horse, bring a picture before the imagination. No picture rises at a foreign name, although it discriminates and separates. Homo once had a picture in it, but not now: although man has.

II. We see this more strikingly illustrated in the names of men. A village of people have their portraits in their names.

1. Physically. As A. is called, there is a vision of a tall man; as B., of a short man.

2. Socially and economically. One man would be generous and another stingy.

3. Morally. Faith, zeal, genius, are stored up in names.

III. We see that personal names stand for abstract excellences. Thus lover, father, child, etc., go to signify domestic excellences. When the word mother is spoken, not only does your mother come forth to your imagination in feature, but those qualities which make all mothers differ from other relations.

IV. By the extension of this practice names come to signify historic qualities. Plato means thought; Demosthenes, eloquence; Nero, cruelty; Napoleon, military genius; Howard, philanthropy.

V. The name of Jesus is above every name; not simply that His name is highest on the list, although that is the fact. We are to give to the term name as applied to Him its full proportions and richness of meaning.

1. Christs name is above that of all historical personages. The sum of their life is small compared to the magnitude of His.

2. If you gather the witnesses and martyrs that have lived in every age, the great men and nobles of whom the world was not worthy, there is not one of them that is not dwarfed by the side of the name of Jesus.

3. If you go from the best specimens of men to philosophers, poets, scholars, whatever admiration is bestowed on them, no one would dream that their name was to be mentioned by the side of His.

4. There are judges names that signify perfect justice, kings and princes that signify authority, splendour, and power. But has the world stored up in any of these names such associations as belong to Jesus? Is there anywhere such justice and imperialness as there are in Him? Already His name stands higher for the very qualities which go to make courts illustrious, that make men glorious in history. Once a culprit under the hand of Rome, but now through a wider world than the Roman, those governments who do not acknowledge Him are feeble and barbarous.

5. But there is a more important matter of comparison--the names of chief power on the heart--heart names. In each quality which makes the dearest names in life Christ so excels that He is infinitely above all others.

(1) All the love and authority which there is in father is dark compared with that special element in Jesus. Christ is more in those very qualities which make a father dear to his children than all fathers.

(2) All those indescribable and tender graces which make mother the queenly name Christ has in such abundance and perfectness that a mothers heart by the side of His would be like a taper at mid day.

(3) He is more tender in love than any lover ever knew how to be. No love letter was ever written which can compare with what may be gathered from the Bible describing the inflexions of Divine love toward men.

(4) The enduring intimacy of exalted love in true wedlock carries up our conceptions of possible happiness to the very gate of heaven, but when we have carried it to the uttermost there comes the outbursting light of that mystic love of Christ to the Church which rides higher than poetry can follow or than experience ever went.

(5) But this world is but our outhouse of creation. When we have carried these suggestions from the realm of experience up to invisible heaven, we find that the name of Jesus is above all these. There are beings who rise not only higher than men in wisdom, power, goodness, etc., but there is a gradation among them: thrones, dominions, etc., in long succession; and we find Christ towering above them, chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. (H. W. Beecher.)

The name above every name

The Saviours name is above every name in respect of--

I. The greatness it represents. There is in it--

1. The greatness of nature. That which is not natively great cannot be truly and preeminently great. Can the native greatness of Christ be less than that of Deity if He is capable of receiving the glory, power, and dominion that are ascribed to Him? There are two extremes of error: the Unitarian, assimilating the Divine in Christ to the human; and the Roman Catholic, ascribing to the human Virgin what can only be Divine.

2. Greatness of character. Christ is the greatest of characters, because in Him meet all the attributes of Godhead and all the perfections of manhood.

3. The greatness of mission and work. In His mediation confessedly He stands alone; for a race that needs salvation cannot raise up one as a partaker of the Saviour in His work.

II. The influence which it exerts.

1. Through it alone salvation comes as a personal possession.

2. Every blessing that comes to the soul comes in connection with this name.

3. The results of experimental Christianity will not work where His name is denied or ignored. Physical and even moral, truths may bless the world when their propounders are forgotten. Not so with the truth as it is in Jesus. In vain we are told that religion is not a matter of history. Take away what is Divine in Jesus, and you put out the sun and endeavour to produce light by a book on optics.

III. The space which it fills. Wherever there is intelligence it is understood; wherever there is loyalty it is adored. It is coincident with civilization, law, liberty, social ties, and charities; a name of welcome and cheer to all that is true, lovely, and of good report.

IV. The period through which it endures. There are names chronicled in history which we would willingly let die; but there is a fitness and reasonableness in the perpetuation of Christs name. At the same time there is something surprising in it. Christ endures in an entirely different character from great conquerors and geniuses, as the founder of true religion, and She head of the Church. The name of Mohammed still endures, but is waning, whereas that of Jesus is going into new regions. This, too, in spite of opposition to His claims. (Principal Cairns.)

The music of two syllables

The name of Jesus is--

I. An easy name.

1. Easily pronounced. There are names so long and difficult that they have to be repeated before we venture to speak them; but within the first two years a child clasps its hands and says Jesus.

2. Easily remembered. Sometimes we have to pause before we can recall the names of our best friends, but we cannot imagine the freak of intellect in which we could forget this.

3. Easily recognized. The dying have been known to be oblivious to everything else.

II. A beautiful name. It is impossible to dissociate a name from the person who bears it. Names which are attractive to some are repulsive to others, because the same name is borne by different persons, and thus they convey pleasant or painful suggestions to different people. But this name is the same to all, and stands for love, patience, magnanimity, and every beautiful quality. To the penitent, afflicted, aged, it is alike beautiful.

III. A mighty name. Rothschild is a potent name in the financial world, Cuvier in the scientific, Wellington in the military; but no name is so potent to awe, lift, thrill, and bless as that of Jesus. That one word unhorsed Saul, and flung Newton on his face. That name in England means more than the queen; in Germany more than the emperor. At its utterance sin, infidelity, sorrow, and death flee away. All the millions of the race are to know and honour it.

IV. An enduring name. You pull aside the weeds and see the faded inscription on the tombstone. That was the name of a man who once ruled that town. The mightiest names in the world are perishing or have perished. Gregory VI, Richard I, Louis XIV, names that once made the world tremble, mean now to the mass absolutely nothing. But the name of Christ is to live forever. It will be perpetuated in art, in song, in architecture, in literature, and above all, will be embalmed in the memory of the good on earth and all the great ones in heaven. To destroy it would require a universal conflagration. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

The exalted name of Jesus

I. The meaning of the name (Mat_1:18, etc.)--Saviour, for He shall save His people from their sins. Who shall save? He. Not we or they. If I could save myself, Christ would be no more Jesus to me.

II. Its power.

1. It has power as an authority. It gave Peter and John authority to heal the cripple, Paul and Silas to dispossess the damsel of the devil, and all to proclaim salvation.

2. As a test (Col_3:17) of lawfulness and unlawfulness, etc. Can I do this or that in this name?

3. As a plea; in prayer for pardon and blessing. Whatsoever ye ask the Father in My name, etc.

III. Its majesty. There have been great names in the world--Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon; but these have little majesty compared with those of Abraham, David, and Paul. But there are names higher than these--Michael, Gabriel. But all these are dim as fading stars compared with His, whose glory is as the rising sun, whose beams shall illumine a whole universe. At it all shall one day bend the knee.

IV. Its preciousness. What makes the name of home precious? Its hallowed associations. And round this name do cluster the sweetest memories, endearing it to pardoned sinners. Whisper that one word Jesus, and I think of Bethlehem and Calvary, and faces of the dear departed rise before me, and I hear once more the old songs, and see the light of former Sabbaths. All heaven is hidden in the name, and all hopes hang upon it. (H. G. Guinness.)

The importance of a name

There are merely human names that thrill you through and through. Such a name was that of Henry Clay to the Kentuckian, William Wirt to the Virginian, Daniel Webster to the New Englander. By common proverb we have come to believe that there is nothing in a name, and so parents sometimes present their children for baptism regardless of the title given them, and not thinking that that particular title will be either a hindrance or a help. Strange mistake. You have no right to give to your child a name that is lacking either in euphony or in moral meaning. It is a sin for you to call your child Jehoiakim or Tiglath-Pileser. Because you yourself may have an exasperating name is no reason why you should give it to those who come after you. But how often we have seen some name, filled with jargon, rattling down from generation to generation, simply because some one a long while ago happened to be afflicted with it. Institutions and enterprises have sometimes without sufficient deliberation taken their nomenclature. Mighty destinies have been decided by the significance of a name. There are men who all their life long toil and tussle to get over the influence of some unfortunate name. While we may, through right behaviour and Christian demeanour, outlive the fact that we were baptized by the name of a despot, or an infidel, or a cheat, how much better it would have been if we all could have started life without any such encumbrance. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The preciousness of the name of Jesus

Years ago a French soldier who loved Napoleon was undergoing an operation, and as the surgeon pressed the probe far into his lungs to feel for the bullet that lay there, a ghastly smile came over his face. A little deeper, said he, and you will find the emperor! And Oh! I tell you Christ has had thousands of followers, who have had His name written in their inmost hearts, deeper than all other names, and thoughts, and memories--deeper than life, and death, and heaven--deeper than all, forever! (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

A Name above every name

And in now seeking to vindicate the applicability of this remarkable language to our blessed Saviour, I would at once ask you to observe that in a certain aspect there could scarcely have been a career that seemed less likely to secure future preeminence than just the earthly career of Christ Jesus. He was cradled in a manger. He probably did live a life of toil as a village carpenter. He certainly spent His youth in a town whose special characteristics were ignorance and vice. And when He became a man and emerged from His village home into the cities of Palestine, He was opposed by all the accredited leaders of the people. I must proceed to say that all this preeminence of Christ Jesus is most natural, and, indeed, most necessary. Just as no one marvels why the name of Newton or Watt or Jenner or Simpson is ever held by us in most respectful remembrance, so no one who thinks carefully needs wonder that countless thousands hail with delight the name Jesus, and declare that this name is all their boast. For, apart altogether from anything supernatural about our blessed Saviour--regarding Him, that is, simply in the character of a mere man--what elements of true greatness were wanting in this Son of the Virgin Mary? what powers and characteristics are there which evoke mens love and applause, which secure respect and reverence and esteem, which were wanting in Him who is the Captain of our salvation? Nay, but what is there which acts as a magnet upon men which was not possessed with peculiar intensity by Him of whom the Father declared--This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased? As we all know, wisdom usually secures ascendancy among men. We regard Platos and Bacons as our mental kings--as real intellectual giants amongst us. But if so, how could Jesus of Nazareth occupy any other than the front rank among men? how could He be anywhere else than in the midst as the centre of attraction--the exemplar man? His is the very wisdom of the Deity. Most naturally, therefore, does the name of Jesus secure preeminence. And while wisdom has ever been an attractive power among men, so also we know that goodness invariably secures respect and esteem for those who have it. Benevolence, indeed, rules our hearts as if with prescriptive right; and self-sacrifice for the good of others evokes the plaudits of all thoughtful persons. No doubt there are times at which this is not so. In days in which an all-wise God gives men over to the open practice of sin, all respect for goodness and virtue, for the virtuous and good, is abandoned. But if all these things are so, how could the name of Jesus--the name of the pure, compassionate, self-denying One--the name of Him who literally died for the sons of men--but become a name which is above every name? It would have been an insult to the common sense of mankind had the world extolled, as it does, the virtues of an Augustine, a Pascal, an A Kempis, or a Vicars--had men talked as they do of the comparatively flickering torches of holiness which were waved abroad by such pious souls--and yet left unnoticed the great Sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ our Lord. Unquestionably, then, the preeminence of Christs name is a natural preeminence. He reigns because He has a right to reign, because He possesses, as none other ever did, all those qualities, all those excellences, all those magnetic influences by means of which hearts are enthralled and minds made submissive. (W. L. Ker, M. A.)

Php_2:9-11

Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him

The exaltation of Christ

I.

Its occasion.

1. His voluntary humiliation.

2. His Divine investiture.

II. Its import.

1. The glorification of humanity.

2. Investment with supreme sovereignty.

III. Its object.

1. The subordination of every creature.

2. To the human Mediator.

IV. Its ultimate issue.

1. The subjection of every foe.

2. The universal acknowledgment of Christ.

3. The full revelation of the glory of God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The exaltation of Christ

I. The exaltation as the reward of the obedience.

1. The same Person is exalted who humbled Himself. We must not say that He was exalted in His humanity. It was not the man alone who humbled Himself. Is Christ divided?

2. The supreme elevation could never have been the prerogative of any created being. None but the eternal Son of the Father could have received or sustained it. But as the reward of His redeeming submission it could only be received in the person of Him who was man as well as God.

3. The redeeming God-man merited well in His obedience and death, and received an eternal and unlimited acknowledgment of His claim. The justice of God was satisfied by the punishment vicariously endured; and the love of God accepted that satisfaction as an expiation cancelling the sinners obligation to suffer. And the elevation of the sufferer was the declaration that the merit of His supreme obedience availed for the whole world.

4. The very word here used is that which is employed concerning those to whom the benefit of Christs merit is applied. We are accepted in the Beloved, or graced in Him; He was accepted or graced with the high rewards of exaltation. That, indeed, was His exaltation: not to have a name above every name simply, but to have in Himself a fulness of merit that should avail for all.

II. The exaltation as the necessary condition or the redeeming and saving work.

1. As our representative Christ was exalted, i.e., as the mediatorial Redeemer. The resurrection and ascension are most frequently regarded as part of the process of His saving course. As He fulfilled that course He must needs pass into the heavens. In His Divine human person He has gone up higher, but is still continuing His ministration. Had the merit of His sacrifice been simply rewarded as such, apart from His redeeming ministry, the Incarnate would have been set down literally on a throne to rest forever. In that case the language of the passage would have been different.

2. The saving name of Jesus is exalted. The name cannot refer to any particular designation conferred after the ascension; we know not what name could have been added to the glorious catalogue from Emmanuel, the first, to Lord Jesus, the last. We know from the Apocalypse that He has a new name, but we know also that it is only the old name more abundantly glorified; a name which He had from the incarnation, but whose full meaning could never be known until His human nature had passed through all its processes of discipline and become perfect. It is the mediatorial name, therefore, that is exalted, and that name is Jesus. Our Saviours dignity is His power to save, only now He redeems not by price but by power.

III. The exaltation as receiving universal recognition.

1. The homage paid to the name of Jesus is not here regarded as offered at once. It is the gradual result of His supremacy in heaven enforced in the promulgation of His claims on earth.

(1) The beings in heaven accepted the dignity of Jesus at once, and are first mentioned because they are the loftiest and most honourable. They watched His career and studied it intently; for He was seen of angels. A gradual recognition can hardly be asserted in their case, and in no sense can the Lords supremacy be said to have been enforced on them.

(2) Beings on earth represent the whole race. The world is His because He has redeemed it, and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess--all science, philosophy, policy, power, genius, art. Before the scene of redemption ceases to be visited by His gospel and grace His Jesus name shall have been accepted by all mankind either in loyal love or despair.

(3) And under the earth also. Not a soul rebels there. He is Lord of the dead, and when the end comes Hades shall go out of existence at His word.

2. The confession is offered to the Lordship of Jesus. Our Lord receives this name in various senses.

(1) In one sense we may regard it as human purely as often in the gospels where the people seem to regard Him as a distinguished servant of God; and yet the language seems to waver between the respect due to a rabbi and the adoration due to God. Most beautifully does Thomas in the end rise from that human Lordship to the divinity of that Saviour whose dignity he felt at last.

(2) In another and preeminent sense Jesus is Lord as representing the Jehovah of the Old Testament; and in that sense He shares the dignity with the Lord the Spirit.

(3) But chiefly our Lord is such as the Mediatorial Person invested with authority over men and over the universe in consequence of His submission to the death of the Cross, as here. This dominion is given to One who deserved it by obedience, though He was capable of it only as God.

IV. The exaltation as redounding to the glory of God. The whole mystery of the economical submission, obedience, exaltation, and dominion of Christ tends to the glory of the Father.

1. The Father is literally the Father of the Eternal Son made flesh, and not the Deity in general. The Father is the essential as well as the redeeming name of Him to whom all glory is finally given.

2. The success of the mediatorial government of our Lord redounds to the glory of the Father inasmuch as it will justify and exalt the supreme wisdom of Him who originated the plan. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)

The mediatorial exaltation

involves the two stupendous facts which close Christs earthly career.

I. The evidence of the fact of Christs resurrection.

II. The evidence of our Lords ascension is also clear.

1. It is twice recorded by St. Luke.

2. It was public.

3. It was predicted by Christ.

4. The promise of the Holy Spirit which was to follow it was fulfilled.

5. It formed a staple doctrine of apostolic teaching.

6. The Christian doctrine of heaven depends upon the fact that Christ ascended to the Father (Joh_14:1, etc.).

III. What follows from our Lords resurrection and ascension.

1. The glorified Christ has received a name that is above every name.

(1) That name stands for the reality it implies--Saviour.

(2) The name has accrued to Him because in what He is, has done, is doing, and will do, the rich meaning of the name is realized.

(3) The name is above because including every other name.

(4) In it believers glory, by it hearts are won, before it heaven bows in worship, at it hell trembles with fear.

2. To this exalted Saviour all dominion is entrusted.

(1) Heaven, with its angels, principalities, and powers.

(2) Earth--men, forces, empires.

(3) The underworld--His widest human dominion.

3. That dominion will be universally acknowledged (Joh_6:38-40; Rev_1:7; 2Co_5:10; 2Th_1:7-10; 1Co_15:24-28).

IV. The ultimate end and aim of the Saviours mediatorial reign will be the glory of God the Father.

1. The Redeemer looked for this--Father, glorify thy Son! etc.

2. The mediatorial work was undertaken and discharged with reference to this. (C. Clemance, D. D.)

Christs exaltation

I. In the very fact of Christs exaltation there is to every true Christian a very large degree of comfort. He has certain features of character which make it so.

1. He has a relationship with Christ, and therefore feels an interest in the success of His kinsman.

2. He has a feeling of unity in the cause. He shares the exaltation in some degree, seeing that he has sympathy with Christs desire of promoting Gods cause in the world. Every soldier feels honoured when his general is applauded for the victory, inasmuch as he has helped him to gain it.

3. The Christian knows that there is a real union between Christ and His people, now, therefore, that our Head is crowned he cannot, being so intimately interested, but rejoice. Christ is in heaven as our representative. The throne He occupies is for the Church whom He represents. In Him we, too, are exalted.

4. The Christian has surrendered his whole being to the work of honouring Christ, and therefore feels that in his Saviours exaltation his whole desire is consummated. He cares not what happens to himself so long as he can say, The Lord reigneth.

II. Another well spring of joy is found in the reason of Christs exaltation. Because of--

1. His humiliation. The Christian need feel no pain in being humbled: the same joy is set before him as was set before his Lord.

2. His obedience. Let the Christian obey and he will win the same reward.

III. Another source of comfort is found in the person who exalted Him.

1. Neither Christ nor the Christian are self-crowned autocrats; and the same hand that crowned Him will crown us. He, King of kings, we kings unto God and His Father.

2. Man never exalted Christ, but dishonoured and rejected Him--but God exalted Him. Believer, if all men speak ill of thee, think the servant is not above his Lord.

3. Christ did not exalt Himself, nor can you in depression of spirits, humbleness of position, but God can and will. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Of Christs exaltation

I. The first step was his resurrection.

II. The second his ascension.

III. The third his sitting on the right hand of God (Heb_1:3; 1Pe_3:22; Eph_1:20).

1. This is to be understood in a figurative sense as denoting--

(1) Majesty and honour (2Ki_2:19; Psa_45:9).

(2) Power (Psa_77:10).

2. Christ sitting here denotes--

(1) A state of rest (Mic_4:4; Heb_10:12).

(2) Continuance in that state (2Ki_7:3).

3. It denotes--

(1) The accomplishment of that work, and the consummation of all those offices which He was to perform on earth for the redemption of sinners (Heb_4:10).

(2) The delight and satisfaction the Father had in Christ, and in that glorious work which He had finished (Psa_110:1).

(3) The great honour and dignity to which He is advanced in heaven (Heb_1:13).

(4) His being invested with sovereign dominion and supreme authority and power (Heb_2:7-8).

4. The ends for which He sits.

(1) That as a mighty King He may protect and defend His Church and people against the rage of their enemies (Isa_32:1-2; Deu_33:26-27).

(2) That He may subdue all the enemies of His people (Psa_110:1; Act_2:36; Heb_10:12-13; 1Co_15:25).

(3) That with royal munificence He may dispense to His faithful subjects all these gifts and graces that may qualify them for glory (Act_5:31).

(4) That He may act as a powerful intercessor for them (Rom_8:34).

(5) That all His friends and followers may with Him be translated into heaven and be advanced into the glorious state of kings and priests (Eph_1:4-6; Rev_3:21).

5. Use.

(1) Behold the great difference between our Redeemers earthly and heavenly state.

(2) How highly our nature is dignified and ennobled in the person of our Redeemer.

(3) This lets us see that the redemption of lost sinners was pleasing unto the Father.

(4) We should draw near to Him in all the duties of worship with the reverence that beseems His Majesty.

(5) Let this exalted Redeemer have your hands and your heart.

(6) Let this settle and compose the Lords people with respect to the state and interests of Christs kingdom (Isa_52:7).

IV. The last step is His coming to judge the world. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Christs exaltation

In the former verses the Sun of Righteousness is eclipsed; here He shines forth in all His strength and splendour. The doctrine of Christs humiliation leads you to Mount Calvary; but this doctrine leads you to Mount Olivet. There you may see Christ standing at the bar; here you see Him sitting on the throne.

I. The doctrine of Christs exaltation.

1. It pleased God that He who humbled Himself should be made higher than the heavens, that He who appeared as a servant should now appear as the Lord of Glory. The word highly exalted is emphatic and singular; His exaltation was super superlative. Jesus Christ in His resurrection was exalted; in His ascension highly exalted; in His sitting at the right hand of God very highly exalted above all exaltation. In His resurrection, He was exalted above the grave; in His ascension, above the earth; in His session, above the highest heavens. The steps of Christs exaltation answered the steps of His humiliation.

(1) His incarnation is answerable to His resurrection, for by the first He was manifest in the flesh the Son of Man; by the second declared to be the Son of God with power (Rom_1:3-4).

(2) His poor, painful, and shameful life, and His painful and cursed death, is answerable to His ascension and sitting at the right hand of God. In the one He was disparaged, in the second honoured. In the disparagement He was lower than the angels; in the honour, far above them (Heb_1:5-13; Eph_1:20-22).

(3) His coming to judge the world answers His being judged by the world. The former is the completion of His exaltation as the latter was of His degradation (Isa_53:1-12; Joh_5:22-23). Jesus by His resurrection overcame His enemies (Heb_2:14); by His ascension triumphed over them (Corinthians 2:15); by His Judgeship He tries and condemns them. For the further demonstration of His exaltation note--

2. That God hath given Him a name that is above every name.

(1) What is to be understood by this name--the power, dignity, and authority with which Christ was invested.

(a) Sometimes name is put for glory and renown (Gen_6:4; 1Ch_5:24, Hebrews); thus Christ is invested with the glory of the only begotten of the Father

(b) for the power and sovereignty by which Christ is King of nations and of saints (Joh_10:25; Act_3:6; Act_4:7). Of this He spake at the ascension (Mat_28:18). And the glory of Christs name is such that shall be celebrated through all ages (Luk_2:10-14; Heb_1:6; Rev_5:12).

(2) How hath Christ obtained a name above every name. This name is a demonstration of Christs super-exaltation, and notes four things.

(a) That Jesus should be the only Saviour of the world (Act_4:11-12).

(b) In that He is exalted to sit at the right hand of God, which is a name or honour angels never had (Heb_1:3-4; Heb_1:13).

(c) Because it is through this name that the name of God becomes a comfort to us. The attributes of God are the name of God. To a Christless sinner all the attributes of God are against Him: wisdom (Jer_17:10; 1Jn_3:20); holiness (Hab_1:13); justice; omnipotence. But the name of Christ makes the name of God a sanctuary (Pro_18:10), and a comfort: wisdom (Psa_73:24; Mat_6:32); holiness (1Co_1:10); justice (Rom_3:25-26; Rom_8:1); omnipotence (Rom_8:31).

(d) Because His name should be most precious and powerful in His Church through all generations (Mat_18:20; Joh_14:13; 1Co_5:4; Mat_28:19).

(3) How are we to understand that God hath given Him a name? As Mediator; for so only was He capable of exaltation. Not as God, for that cannot be, nor in the sense of the manifestation of His glory, for the sun is not exalted when the cloud is removed; nor as mere man, for humanity is incapable of such exaltation and worship; but as God-man.

3. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

(1) What is meant by bowing the knee. Some understand this literally, but if name stands for power then kneeling must mean submission (Gen_41:43; Joh_5:22-23).

(2) Who shall bow?

(a) All knees in heaven voluntarily.

(i) The good angels who always obeyed and honoured Christ (Dan_9:24-25; Luk_1:30-31; Luk_2:13-14; Mat_2:13; Mat_4:11; Luk_22:43; Mat_28:6; Act_1:11; Heb_1:6; Mat_25:31). All this service was performed unto Christ, not only as Creator (Col_1:16), but as Governor (Col_2:10; Eph_1:21-22).

(ii) The spirits of just men made perfect (Rev_5:9-10; Rev_4:8; Rev_4:10).

(b) On earth

(i) good men willingly (Psa_110:3). By nature they are children of disobedience (Col_3:6-7; Col_3:1; Col_3:21; Rom_8:7). But the grace of God removes that iron sinew (Isa_48:4).

(ii) Evil men under compulsion; because they do not willingly bear Christs yoke they shall become His footstool (Psa_110:1).

(c) In hell (Luk_10:17; Luk_8:28-32; Jam_2:19; Col_2:15; Heb_2:14).

4. That every tongue shall confess, etc.

(1) What is meant by every tongue? Not simply every nation but every person.

(2) What is meant by Jesus is Lord? (1Co_2:8).

(a) As Creator (1Co_8:6; Rom_11:36).

(b) As Son of God (Heb_1:2-4).

(c) As such He is a Lord to command us and to save us.

(3) As every knee must bow to Christs dominion so every tongue must confess Him Lord.

(a) Devils and wicked men (Rev_6:14).

(b) Saints and angels (Rev_5:12-13).

II. The end of Christs exaltation. As God had no motive without Himself, so He had no end beyond Himself in giving Christ (Eph_1:6). For this Christ prayed (Joh_12:28).

III. Application.

1. Use of information, as Christ first suffered and entered into His glory (Luk_24:26), even so must we (Act_14:22; 2Ti_2:11).

2. Use of exhortation. Is Christ exalted? Then let us, our tongues, knees, hearts, lives, acknowledge Him to be our Lord.

(1) What Jews, Pilate, and Herod did in scorn, let us do in sincerity.

(2) Let us take heed that we do not violate our allegiance to Him (Exo_5:2; Psa_12:4 : Luk_19:27).

(a) Christ is only a Saviour to those who submit to Him (Heb_5:9; Tit_2:11-12.

(b) Every knee must one day bow to Him.

(c) The sins of Christians are far greater than those of the Jews against Christ who sinned against Him in His state of humiliation (Heb_6:6). They did it in ignorance (Act_3:17; 1Co_2:1).

(d) Christ at last will be too hard for the hardest-hearted sinner.

3. Use of comfort to believers.

(1) Is Christ exalted? then we may comfortably believe that He hath perfectly satisfied Gods justice for us.

(2) Christ though exalted is still mindful of us (Heb_2:15-18).

(3) Christ is exalted to heaven, and so shall all believers be in due time (Joh_17:24; Col_3:4). (W. Taylor, A. B.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Php 2:9-11. Wherefore — Because of his voluntary humiliation and obedience, and in reward thereof; God hath highly exalted him — In that manhood in which he suffered and died. Greek, υπερυψωσε, super- exalted him, or exalted him to a dignity higher than that which he possessed before his humiliation. By becoming man, therefore, or by consenting to be united to the human nature for ever, “the Son of God lost nothing in the issue. Nor is this all; besides restoring him to the visible glory and dignity which he formerly possessed, (Php 2:11,) God conferred on him a dignity entirely new, the dignity of being the Saviour of the human race; and hath obliged all the different orders of intelligent beings throughout the universe, both good and bad, to acknowledge his dignity as Saviour, as well as Lord.” For it follows, and given him a name above every name — Namely, the name of Jesus, mentioned in the beginning of the next verse. “This name is above all the names of dignity possessed by angels and men, because of the power and authority which are annexed to it. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save his people from their sins. Even the name of Creator is inferior to this name; inasmuch as it was a greater exertion of goodness in the Son of God to save men by his humiliation and death, than to create them.” Some contend that the name above every name, which was bestowed on Christ at his exaltation, was the name of God’s Son. “But seeing, by inheriting that name, as the apostle tells us, he was originally better than the angels, (Heb 1:4,) he must have always possessed it by virtue of his relation to the Father. Whereas the name Jesus, being the name of an office executed by the Son, after he became man, it implies a dignity not natural to him, but acquired. And therefore having, in the execution of that office, done on earth and in heaven all that was necessary for the salvation of mankind, the name of Jesus or Saviour which his parents, by the divine direction, gave him at his birth, was confirmed to him in a solemn manner by God, who, after his ascension, ordered angels and men to honour him from that time forth as Saviour and Lord, Heb 1:6. Thus understood, the names prince, emperor, monarch, government, power, throne, dominion, and every other name of dignity possessed by angels or men, is inferior to the name Jesus, which God bestowed on his Son, on account of his having accomplished the salvation of the world by his humiliation.” — Macknight. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow — That all creatures, whether men, angels, or devils, should, either with love or trembling, be subject to him; of things in heaven, earth, under the earth — That is, through the whole universe. There can be no doubt that the first of the expressions here used, επουρανιων, rendered things in heaven, signifies angelical beings, over whom Christ is made sovereign, Eph 1:10; Eph 1:21; but whether the latter terms, επιγειων και καταχθονιων, rendered things upon earth, and under the earth, may not, as Doddridge observes, relate to the living and the dead, rather than to men and devils, has been queried. Inasmuch, however, as the latter term answers to Homer’s υπενερθε, Iliad, 3. line 278, which signifies the shades below, it seems probable that by it the apostle both denotes the souls of those who are in the state of the dead, over whom Christ reigns, (Rom 14:9,) and also the evil angels in Tartarus, (2Pe 2:4,) who shall be constrained to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, Governor, and Judge of the universe. And every tongue — Even of his enemies; should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord — Of all creatures, as well as a Saviour of men; to the glory of God the Father — Who hath constituted him, in the human nature, Governor and Judge of all. Thus all the powers exercised by Christ, and all the honours paid to him, are ultimately referred to the Father. In these two last clauses there seems evidently to be an allusion to Isa 45:23, Unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Php 2:12-13, Wherefore — Having spoken of Christ’s astonishing humiliation and exaltation, by which he hath procured salvation for us, the apostle proceeds to exhort them to diligence in the use of the means necessary in order to their partaking of that salvation. My beloved, as ye have always hitherto obeyed — Both God, and me, his minister, with respect to all my instructions and exhortations; not in my presence only — When I was at hand to put you in mind of what God requires; but now much more in my absence — When you have not me to instruct, assist, and direct you; which absence, as it is owing to my bonds in your cause, ought to increase the tenderness of your concern for my comfort. Work out your own salvation — Which, though begun, is not finished, and will not be finished unless you be workers together with God. Herein let every man mind his own things: with fear and trembling — That is, with the utmost care and diligence; and in the reverential fear of God, a watchful fear of your enemies, and a jealous fear of yourselves; lest a promise being left you of entering into his rest, any of you should come short of it, Heb 4:1. For — You have great encouragement to do this; since it is God — The God of power, love, and faithfulness, who has promised that his grace shall be sufficient for you; yea, the merciful, forgiving, and long- suffering of God, who is with you, though I am not; and worketh in you — By the illuminating, quickening, drawing, renewing, and strengthening influences of his Spirit, in and by the truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of his word, enforced often by the pleasing or painful dispensations of his providence; both to will and to do of his good pleasure — Not for any merit of yours: or, of his benevolence, as υπερ ευδοκιας may be properly rendered. His influences, however, we must remember, are not to supersede, but to encourage our own efforts, and render them persevering and effectual. Observe, reader, 1st, The command, Work out your own salvation; here is our duty: 2d, The motive by which it is enforced; for it is God that worketh in you; here is our encouragement. And O what a glorious encouragement, to have the arm of Omnipotence stretched out for our support and comfort! “According to the Arminians and moderate Calvinists, the word ενεργει, inwardly worketh, does not in this passage signify any irresistible operation of the Deity on the minds of men. but a moral influence only. For of Satan it is said, (Eph 2:2,) that ενεργει, he inwardly worketh in the children of disobedience; and, Rom 7:5, we have the effectual working of sinful passions in our members; and 2Th 2:11, ενεργειαν, the energy, or inward working, of error. These passages, they think, no one understands of a physical, but of a moral working, which leaves men accountable for their actions, and consequently free agents. They likewise observe, that if God inwardly worketh in men by any influence which is irresistible, and to which no co-operation of theirs is necessary, there would be no occasion for exhorting them to work out their own salvation, since the whole is done by God himself.” They observe further, “that notwithstanding the operations of the Spirit of God have a powerful influence in restraining men from sin, and in exciting them to piety and virtue, no violence is thereby done to human liberty. This they infer from what God said concerning the antediluvians, (Gen 6:3,) My Spirit shall not always strive with men; and from the apostle’s command, not to quench nor grieve the Spirit; for these things, they say, imply that the operations of the Spirit of God may be resisted, consequently that in the affair of their salvation men are free agents, and must themselves co-operate with the Spirit of God; which, they affirm, the apostle’s exhortation in this passage evidently supposeth.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

b. The exaltation given because of this humiliation, Php_2:9-11.

9. Wherefore—In compensation for this self-emptying and self humiliation, God the Father highly exalted him in his ascension after his resurrection, and enthronement as universal King. It is the Son incarnate, the God-man, that is thus exalted, the humanity entering with the eternal Logos, from whom it is henceforth forever inseparable, into the glory once laid aside but now resumed.

Name—Simply Jesus. This name of his humiliation is now the name of his glory. The name that was once the jest of the scoffer is made the highest in the universe.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Php_2:9. Highly exalted.—A word much stronger than those, e.g., in the Acts, which describe the raising up of the murdered Lord of life. We trace the descent step by step to the last rung of the ladder; by one stupendous act (Rom_1:4) God graced His Son with unique honour and dignity (Eph_1:21).

Php_2:10. That at the name of Jesus.—Not at the mention of the name Jesus, but in the name of Jesus. For illustration of the phrase see Christ’s own words, “in My name” (Joh_14:13-14, etc.). Every knee should bow.—The outward symbol of an inward submission or recognition of superiority. By what language could the apostle express the exaltation above creaturely needs if not by this? If used of a creature, it would be blasphemous. The jealous God does not allow bowing down in worship to any but Himself. As Pliny said, Quasi Deo.

Php_2:11. Should confess.—“Proclaim with thanksgiving” (Lightfoot). It is the word which describes the frank admission [of wrong, Mat_3:6]. That Jesus Christ is Lord.—The emphasis is on “Lord.” The specific Christian profession of faith is “Jesus is Lord”; its opposite, “Anathema Jesus” (1Co_12:3 and Rom_10:9).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Php_2:9-11

The Exaltation of Christ—

I. Was a divine act.—“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him” Php_2:9). As a recognition of the humiliation and obedience of Christ, God exalted Him to the throne of mediatorial sovereignty. As Bengel puts it, “Christ emptied Christ; God exalted Christ as man to equality with God” (Compare Psa_8:5-6; Psa_110:1; Psa_110:7; Mat_28:18; Luk_24:26; Joh_5:27; Joh_10:17; Rom_14:9; Eph_1:20-22; Heb_2:9).

II. Was the acquisition of a name of pre-eminent dignity and significance.—“And given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus” (Php_2:9-10). Jesus is the same as Joshua, or Jehoshua, only framed to the Greek pronunciation and termination. Joshua, who brought the hosts of Israel into the rest of Canaan, was originally called Hoshea, but it was changed into Joshua or Jehoshua, by an addition of the first syllable in the divine name Jehovah, perhaps to intimate that not Joshua of himself, but Jehovah by him, would complete the deliverance and rest of Israel. The name Jesus means Jehovah-Saviour, or Jehovah-Salvation, and Jesus is so called because He saves His people from their sins. The name cannot be given to any other being; it belongs solely and absolutely to the one Jesus. “Here we should probably look,” says Lightfoot, “to a common Hebrew sense of name, not meaning a definite appellation, but denoting office, rank, dignity. In this case the use of the name of God in the Old Testament to denote the divine Presence or the divine Majesty, more especially as the object of adoration and praise, will suggest the true meaning; since the context dwells on the honour and worship henceforth offered to Him on whom the name has been conferred. To praise the name, to bless the name, to fear the name of God, are frequent expressions in the Old Testament.” The name of Jesus marks the pre-eminence of Jesus—it is the “name above every name.” That name wields the mightiest power in the world to-day. A modern writer of reputation has said: “There is a wave—I believe it is only a wave—passing over the cultivated thought of Europe at present, which will make short work of all belief in a God that does not grip fast to Jesus Christ. As far as I can read the signs of the times and the tendency of modern thinking, it is this—either an absolute silence, a heaven stretching above us, blue and clear and cold, and far away and dumb; or else a Christ that speaks—He or none. The theism that has shaken itself loose from Him will be crushed, I am sure, in the encounter with the agnosticism and materialism of this day.” The name of the exalted Jesus is the salvation of the world in more senses than one.

III. Entitles him to universal homage.—“Every knee shall bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Php_2:10-11). Beings above, below, and on the earth shall acknowledge the supremacy and deity of Jesus, and unite in a universal and consentaneous act of praise and worship of His divine majesty. On the door of the old mosque in Damascus, once a Christian church, but now ranked among the holiest of the Mahometan sanctuaries, are inscribed these remarkable words: “Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” For more than twelve hundred years the inscription has remained unimpaired by time and undisturbed by man. What is it waiting for? Already a Christian Church has been founded in that ancient city, and the gospel is preached there every Sabbath. The world’s submission to Jesus is drawing near.

Lessons.—The name of Jesus—

1. Is unique in its reputation.

2. In its moral influence among the nations.

3. In its saving power.

4. In the homage Paid to it.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Php_2:9-11. The Name of Jesus: its Exaltation and Power.

I. The Saviour’s exaltation (Php_2:9).—He was exalted by His resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and His glorious session at the right hand of God, whence He now discharges the high functions of Prophet, Priest, and King.

II. The Saviour’s name.—“That at the name of Jesus” (Php_2:10). Jehovah, the Saviour.

1. The supreme eminence of the name.—“A name which is above every name.”

2. Pre-eminent because no other being could receive the title.

3. Pre-eminent because there is no other name that has the mysterious virtue of saving as this.

III. The power of the Saviour’s name.—

1. In saving the sinner.

2. In commanding the homage and worship of all, and in eliciting the universal acknowledgment of His deity (Php_2:10-11).

We learn a lesson of humility.—

1. Because Christ humbled Himself for us.

2. We should humble ourselves on account of past sins.

3. Humility leads to exaltation.

Christ Worthy of Universal Homage.—

1. The Lord Christ, having abased Himself for our redemption, was exalted by the Father to the highest pitch of glory.

2. The name which is above every name is said to be given to Christ, because His divine majesty, before hid, was now manifested and the human nature so highly honoured that that person who is man is true God, and is to be acknowledged as such. 3. However small a part of the world acknowledge Christ to be the Lord, His glory will grow till all reasonable creatures in heaven, earth, and hell subject themselves to Him, and the giving of divine honour to Him does in no way impair the glory of God the Father.—Fergusson.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Philippians

THE ASCENT OF JESUS

Php 2:9-11 {R.V.}.

‘He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,’ said Jesus. He is Himself the great example of that law. The Apostle here goes on to complete his picture of the Lord Jesus as our pattern. In previous verses we had the solemn steps of His descent, and the lifelong humility and obedience of the incarnate Son, the man Christ Jesus. Here we have the wondrous ascent which reverses all the former process. Our text describes the reflex motion by which Jesus is borne back to the same level as that from which the descent began.

We have

I. The act of exaltation which forms the contrast and the parallel to the descent.

‘God highly exalted Him.’ The Apostle coins an emphatic word which doubly expresses elevation, and in its grammatical form shows that it indicates a historical fact. That elevation was a thing once accomplished on this green earth; that is to say it came to pass in the fact of our Lord’s ascension when from some fold of the Mount of Olives He was borne upwards and, with blessing hands, was received into the Shechinah cloud, the glory of which hid Him from the upward-gazing eyes.

It is plain that the ‘Him’ of whom this tremendous assertion is made, must be the same as the ‘He’ of whom the previous verses spoke, that is, the Incarnate Jesus. It is the manhood which is exalted. His humiliation consisted in His becoming man, but His exaltation does not consist in His laying aside His humanity. It is not a transient but an eternal union into which in the Incarnation it entered with divinity. Henceforward we have to think of Him in all the glory of His heavenly state as man, and as truly and completely in the ‘likeness of men’ as when He walked with bleeding feet on the flinty road of earthly life. He now bears for ever the ‘form of God’ and ‘the fashion of a man.’

Here I would pause for a moment to point out that the calm tone of this reference to the ascension indicates that it was part of the recognised Christian beliefs, and implies that it had been familiar long before the date of this Epistle, which itself dates from not more than at the most thirty years from the death of Christ. Surely that lapse of time is far too narrow to allow of such a belief having sprung up, and been universally accepted about a dead man, who all the while was lying in a nameless grave.

The descent is presented as His act, but decorum and truth required that the exaltation should be God’s act. ‘He humbled Himself,’ but ‘God exalted Him.’ True, He sometimes represented Himself as the Agent of His own Resurrection and Ascension, and established a complete parallel between His descent and His ascent, as when He said, ‘I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father.’ He was no less obedient to the Father’s will when He ascended up on high, than He was when He came down to earth, and whilst, from one point of view, His Resurrection and Ascension were as truly His own acts as were His birth and His death, from another, He had to pray, ‘And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.’ The Titans presumptuously scaled the heavens, according to the old legend, but the Incarnate Lord returned to ‘His own calm home, His habitation from eternity,’ was exalted thither by God, in token to the universe that the Father approved the Son’s descent, and that the work which the Son had done was indeed, as He declared it to be, ‘finished.’ By exalting Him, the Father not merely reinstated the divine Word in its eternal union with God, but received into the cloud of glory the manhood which the Word had assumed.

II. The glory of the name of Jesus.

What is the name ‘which is above every name’? It is the name Jesus. It is to be noted that Paul scarcely ever uses that simple appellative. There are, roughly speaking, about two hundred instances in which he names our Lord in his Epistles, and there are only four places, besides this, in which he uses this as his own, and two in which he, as it were, puts it into the mouth of an enemy. Probably then, some special reason led to its occurrence here, and it is not difficult, I think, to see what that reason is. The simple personal name was given indeed with reference to His work, but had been borne by many a Jewish child before Mary called her child Jesus, and the fact that it is this common name which is exalted above every name, brings out still more strongly the thought already dwelt upon, that what is thus exalted is the manhood of our Lord. The name which expressed His true humanity, which showed His full identification with us, which was written over His Cross, which perhaps shaped the taunt ‘He saved others, Himself He cannot save,’--that name God has lifted high above all names of council and valour, of wisdom and might, of authority and rule. It is shrined in the hearts of millions who render to it perfect trust, unconditional obedience, absolute loyalty. Its growing power, and the warmth of personal love which it evokes, in centuries and lands so far removed from the theatre of His life, is a unique thing in the world’s history. It reigns in heaven.

But Paul is not content with simply asserting the sovereign glory of the name of Jesus. He goes on to set it forth as being what no other name borne by man can be, the ground and object of worship, when he declares, that ‘in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.’ The words are quoted from the second Isaiah, and occur in one of the most solemn and majestic utterances of the monotheism of the Old Testament. And Paul takes these words, undeterred by the declaration which precede them, ‘I Am am God and there is none else,’ applies them to Jesus, to the manhood of our Lord. Bowing the knee is of course prayer, and in these great words the issue of the work of Jesus is unmistakably set forth, as not only being that He has declared God to men, who through Him are drawn to worship the Father, but that their emotions of love, reverence, worship, are turned to Him , though as the Apostle is careful immediately to note, they are not thereby intercepted from, but directed to, the glory of God the Father. In the eternities before His descent, there was equality with God, and when He returns, it is to the Father, who in Him has become the object of adoration, and round whose throne gather with bended knees all those who in Jesus see the Father.

The Apostle still further dwells on the glory of the name as that of the acknowledged Lord. And here we have with significant variation in strong contrast to the previous name of Jesus, the full title ‘Jesus Christ Lord.’ That is almost as unusual in its completeness as the other in its simplicity, and it comes in here with tremendous energy, reminding us of the great act to which we owe our redemption, and of all the prophecies and hopes which, from of old, had gathered round the persistent hope of the coming Messiah, while the name of Lord proclaims His absolute dominion. The knee is bowed in reverence, the tongue is vocal in confession. That confession is incomplete if either of these three names is falteringly uttered, and still more so, if either of them is wanting. The Jesus whom Christians confess is not merely the man who was born in Bethlehem and known among men as ‘Jesus the carpenter.’ In these modern days, His manhood has been so emphasised as to obscure His Messiahship and to obliterate His dominion, and alas! there are many who exalt Him by the name that Mary gave Him, who turn away from the name of Jesus as ‘Hebrew old clothes,’ and from the name of Lord as antiquated superstition. But in all the lowliness and gentleness of Jesus there were not wanting lofty claims to be the Christ of whom prophets and righteous men of old spake, and whose coming many a generation desired to see and died without the sight, and still loftier and more absolute claims to be invested with ‘all power in heaven and earth,’ and to sit down with the Father on His throne. It is dangerous work to venture to toss aside two of these three names, and to hope that if we pronounce the third of them, Jesus, with appreciation, it will not matter if we do not name Him either Christ or Lord.

If it is true that the manhood of Jesus is thus exalted, how wondrous must be the kindred between the human and the divine, that it should be capable of this, that it should dwell in the everlasting burnings of the Divine Glory and not be consumed! How blessed for us the belief that our Brother wields all the forces of the universe, that the human love which Jesus had when He bent over the sick and comforted the sorrowful, is at the centre. Jesus is Lord, the Lord is Jesus!

The Psalmist was moved to a rapture of thanksgiving when he thought of man as ‘made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and honour,’ but when we think of the Man Jesus ‘sitting at the right hand of God,’ the Psalmist’s words seem pale and poor, and we can repeat them with a deeper meaning and a fuller emphasis, ‘Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put all things under His feet.’

III. The universal glory of the name.

By the three classes into which the Apostle divides creation, ‘things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth,’ he simply intends to declare, that Jesus is the object of all worship, and the words are not to be pressed as containing dogmatic assertions as to the different classes mentioned. But guided by other words of Scripture, we may permissibly think that the ‘things in heaven’ tell us that the angels who do not need His mediation learn more of God by His work and bow before His throne. We cannot be wrong in believing that the glory of His work stretches far beyond the limits of humanity, and that His kingdom numbers other subjects than those who draw human breath. Other lips than ours say with a great voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.’

The things on earth are of course men, and the words encourage us to dim hopes about which we cannot dogmatise of a time when all the wayward self-seeking and self-tormenting children of men shall have learned to know and love their best friend, and ‘there shall be one flock and one shepherd.’

‘Things under the earth’ seems to point to the old thought of ‘Sheol’ or ‘Hades’ or a separate state of the dead. The words certainly suggest that those who have gone from us are not unconscious nor cut off from the true life, but are capable of adoration and confession. We cannot but remember the old belief that Jesus in His death ‘descended into Hell,’ and some of us will not forget Fra Angelico’s picture of the open doorway with a demon crushed beneath the fallen portal, and the crowd of eager faces and outstretched hands swarming up the dark passage, to welcome the entering Christ. Whatever we may think of that ancient representation, we may at least be sure that, wherever they are, the dead in Christ praise and reverence and love.

IV. The glory of the Father in the glory of the name of Jesus.

Knees bent and tongues confessing the absolute dominion of Jesus Christ could only be offence and sin if He were not one with the Father. But the experience of all the thousands since Paul wrote, whose hearts have been drawn in reverent and worshipping trust to the Son, has verified the assertion, that to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord diverts no worship from God, but swells and deepens the ocean of praise that breaks round the throne. If it is true, and only if it is true, that in the life and death of Jesus all previous revelations of the Father’s heart are surpassed, if it is true and only if it is true, as He Himself said, that ‘I and the Father are one,’ can Paul’s words here be anything but an incredible paradox. But unless these great words close and crown the Apostle’s glowing vision, it is maimed and imperfect, and Jesus interposes between loving hearts and God. One could almost venture to believe that at the back of Paul’s mind, when he wrote these words, was some remembrance of the great prayer, ‘I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.’ When the Son is glorified we glorify the Father, and the words of our text may well be remembered and laid to heart by any who will not recognise the deity of the Son, because it seems to them to dishonour the Father. Their honour is inseparable and their glory one.

There is a sense in which Jesus is our example even in His ascent and exaltation, just as He was in His descent and humiliation. The mind which was in Him is for us the pattern for earthly life, though the deeds in which that mind was expressed, and especially His ‘obedience to the death of the Cross,’ are so far beyond any self-sacrifice of ours, and are inimitable, unique, and needing no repetition while the world lasts. And as we can imitate His unexampled sacrifice, so we may share His divine glory, and, resting on His own faithful word, may follow the calm motion of His Ascension, assured that where He is there we shall be also, and that the manhood which is exalted in Him is the prophecy that all who love Him will share His glory. The question for us all is, have we in us ‘the mind that was in Christ’? and the other question is, what is that name to us? Can we say, ‘Thy mighty name salvation is’? If in our deepest hearts we grasp that name, and with unfaltering lips can say that ‘there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved but the name of Jesus,’ then we shall know that

‘To us with Thy dear name are given, Pardon, and holiness, and heaven.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:9 As a result of Christ’s humble obedience, God elevated him to the place of highest honor; see Acts 1:9-10; cp. Acts 2:32-33; 7:55-56. • the name above all other names: Jesus has supreme authority and power (Phil 2:10-11; cp. Matt 28:18; John 17:5; Acts 2:33-36; Heb 2:9; 12:2).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Php 2:9. Διὸ καὶ, wherefore also) The most appropriate reward of emptying is exaltation; Luk 24:26; Joh 10:17. That result could not but follow it; Joh 16:15. Whatever belongs to the Father belongs to the Son. Those things could not so belong to the Father, as that they should not belong to the Son; Joh 17:5. Paul elegantly leaves the fact to be supplied, that they also will be exalted who humble themselves according to the example of Christ; nay, he expresses it, ch. Php 3:21.—ὁ Θεὸς, God) Christ emptied Christ; God exalted Christ, comp. 1Pe 5:6, and made Him to be equal with God.—ὑπερύψωσε, highly exalted) It was thus the humiliation was compensated. A lofty compound.—καὶ ἐχαρίσατο, and hath given) It was thus the emptying was compensated, to which also the fulness is more expressly opposed, Eph 1:23; Eph 4:10. By the verb χαρίζεσθαι, to give, is denoted, how acceptable the emptying of Christ was to God, and with how lowly a mind Christ, after He had gone through all that state of servitude, received this gift.—ὄνομα) a name along with the thing, i.e. dignity and praise.—ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, above every name) Eph 1:21, not merely above every name among mankind.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Php_2:9. The exaltation of Christ,by the description of which, grand in its simplicity, His example becomes all the more encouraging and animating.

διό] for a recompense, on account of this self-denying renunciation and humiliation in obedience to God (καί, also, denotes the accession of the corresponding consequence, Luk_1:35; Act_10:29; Rom_1:24; Rom_4:22; Heb_13:12). Comp. Mat_23:12; Luk_24:26. Nothing but a dogmatic, anti-heretical assumption could have recourse to the interpretation which is at variance with linguistic usage: quo facto (Calvin, Calovius, Glass, Wolf, and others). The conception of recompense (comp. Heb_2:9; Heb_12:2) is justified by the voluntariness of what Christ did, Php_2:6-8, as well as by the ethical nature of the obedience with which He did it, and only excites offence if we misunderstand the Subordinatianism in the Christology of the apostle. Augustine well says: Humilitas claritatis est meritum, claritas humilitatis praemium. Thus Christs saying in Mat_23:12 was gloriously fulfilled in His own case.

ὑπερύψωσε] comp. Song of Three Child. 28 ff.; LXX. Ps. 36:37, 96:10; Dan_4:34; Synes. Ep. p. 225 A; it is not found elsewhere among Greek authors, by whom, however, ὑπερύψηλος, exceedingly high, is used. He made Him very high, exceedingly exalted, said by way of superlative contrast to the previous ἐταπείνωσεν, of the exaltation to the fellowship of the highest glory and dominion, Rom_8:17; 2Ti_2:12; Eph_1:21, al.; Joh_12:32; Joh_17:5.[118] This exaltation has taken place by means of the ascension (Eph_4:10), by which Jesus Christ attained to the right hand of God (Mar_16:19; Act_7:55 f.; Rom_8:34; Eph_1:20 f.; Col_3:1; Heb_1:3; Heb_8:1; Heb_10:12; Heb_12:2; 1Ti_3:16; 1Pe_3:22), although it is not this local mode, but the exaltation viewed as a state which is, according to the context, expressed by ὑπερύψ. It is quite unbiblical (Joh_17:5), and without lexical authority, to take ὙΠΈΡ as intimating: more than previously (Grotius, Beyschlag).

ἐχαρίσατο] He granted (Php_1:29), said from the point of view of the subordination, on which also what follows (κύριος … εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ πατρός) is based. Even Christ receives the recompense as Gods gift of grace, and hence also He prays Him for it, Joh_17:5. The glory of the exaltation did not stand to that possessed before the incarnation in the relation of a plus, but it affected the entire divine-human person, that entered on the regnum gloriae.

τὸ ὄνομα] is here, as in Eph_1:21, Heb_1:4, to be taken in the strictly literal sense, not as dignitas or gloria (Heinrichs, Hoelemann, and many others), a sense which it might have ex adjuncto (see the passages in Wetstein and Hoelemann), but against which here the following ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ is decisive. The honour and dignity of the name of Jesus are expressed by ΤῸ ὙΠῈΡ ΠᾶΝ ὌΝΟΜΑ, but are not implied in ΤῸ ὌΝΟΜΑ of itself. Nor is it to be understood of an appellative name, as some have referred it to κύριος in Php_2:11 (Michaelis, Keil, Baumgarten-Crusius, van Hengel, Schneckenburger, Weiss, Hofmann, Grimm); others to ΥἹῸς ΘΕΟῦ (Theophylact, Pelagius, Estius); and some even to ΘΕΌς (Ambrosiaster, Oecumenius, and again Schultz; but see on Rom_9:5). In accordance with the context

Php_2:11, comp. with Php_2:6the thought is: God has, by His exaltation, granted to Him that the name Jesus Christ surpasses all names in glory. The expression of this thought in the form: God has granted to Him the name, etc., cannot seem strange, when we take into account the highly poetic strain of the passage.

[118] In the conception of the exaltation Paul agrees with John, but does not convey expressly the notion of the return to the Father. This is not an inconsistency in relation to the doctrine of pre-existence (in opposition to Pfleiderer, l.c. p. 517), but a consequence of the more dialectically acute distinction of ideas in Paul, since that change of condition affected the entire Christ, the God-man, whereas the subject of the pre-existence was the Logos.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Phi 2:9 . διὸ … καί . On account of His great renunciation and obedience. An exemplification of His own maxim: “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted”. καί marks the correspondence between His lowliness and God’s exaltation of Him. ὑπερύψ . This goes back beyond the ἐταπείν . to the ἐκέν . (So Kl [1] . ) It reminds them that Christ has reached a position, in a certain sense, higher than that which He occupied ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ . This has nothing to do with His nature. The Divine glory which he always possessed can never be enhanced. But now, in the eyes of men and as claiming their homage, He is on an equality with God. Cf. the realistic description of the exaltation in Sheph. of Hermas (quoted by Taylor, Sayings of Jew. Fathers , p. 167), Sim. , ix., 6, 1, ἀνήρ τις ὑψηλὸς τῷ μεγέθει ὥστε τὸν πύργον ὑπερέχειν . Also Gospel of Peter , 10, with Robinson’s notes. ἐχαρίσατο . “Gave as a gift.” This is the Father’s prerogative, for undoubtedly the N.T. teaches a certain subordination of the Son. Cf. Joh 14:28 , Rom 1:3-4 , 1Co 8:6 , and, most memorable of all, 1Co 15:28 , where the Son, having accomplished His work, seems, according to the Apostle’s view, to recede, as it were, into the depths of the Divine Unity. ὄνομα . τὸ ὄν . should be read with the best MSS. It is quite possible that the last syllable of ἐχαρίσατο occasioned the omission of the article. To what does ὄνομα refer? It is only necessary to read on, and the answer presents itself. The universal outburst of worship proclaims that Jesus Christ is Κύριος , Lord, the equiv. of O.T. Jehovah, the highest title that can be uttered. The full significance of the name will only be realised when all the world acknowledges the sovereignty of Christ. As J. Weiss notes ( Nachfolge Christi , pp. 63 64), this is not a specially Pauline conception, but belongs to the general faith of the Church. [It is amazing how Alf [2] , De W. and Ead. can refer it to “Jesus,” Myr [3] and Vinc. to “Jesus Christ,” while Lft [4] and Hpt [5] regard it as = “dignity,” “title,” without specifying.] On the whole conception cf. Hebrews 1., esp [6] Phi 2:3-4 . Perhaps the Apostle has in his mind the Jewish use of הַשֵׁם , “the Name,” as a reverent substitute for יהוה (LXX Κύριος ), Jehovah. Cf. Sayings of Jew. Fathers (ed. Taylor), iv., 7, and Additional Notes , pp. 165 167, where Taylor compares with Phi 2:7-8 of our chap., Isa 53:12 and with Phi 2:9 , Isa 52:13 . Most appropriate to our passage is his quotation from Jeremy Taylor ( Works , vol. ii., p. 72): “He hath changed the ineffable name into a name utterable by man, and desirable by all the world; the majesty is all arrayed in robes of mercy, the tetragrammaton or adorable mystery of the patriarchs is made fit for pronunciation and expression when it becometh the name of the Lord’s Christ”. τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα . Cf. 1Pe 3:22 , “Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him”; Eph 1:21 .

[1] Klöpper.

[2] Alford’s Greek Testament .

[3] Meyer.

[4] Lightfoot.

[5] Haupt.

[6] especially.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. τὸ ὄνομα. So אABC, 17, Euseb Cyr. D2G2K2LP, most cursives, arm, Origen Euseb (alibi) Ath and many Greek fathers om τὸ. LTTr Alf (doubtfully) Ltft WH τὸ. Ell om. The case for omission is strong.

H. THE WORSHIP PAID TO JESUS CHRIST. (CH. Php 2:9)

“UPON this worship of Jesus Christ as we meet it in the apostolical age, [let us observe, that] it cannot be accounted for, and so set aside, as being part of an indiscriminating cultus of heavenly or supernatural beings in general. Such a cultus finds no place in the New Testament, except when it, or something very much resembling it, is expressly discountenanced. By the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ the New Testament reaffirms the Sinaitic law which restricts worship to the Lord God Himself. St Peter will not sanction the self-prostrations of the grateful Cornelius lest Cornelius should think of him as more than human.… When St John fell at the feet of the angel in the Apocalypse … he was peremptorily checked on the ground that the angel too was only his fellow-slave, and that God was the one true Object of worship.… Certainly the New Testament does teach that we Christians have close communion with the blessed angels and with the sainted dead.… But the worship claimed for, and accepted by, and paid to, Jesus, stands out in the New Testament in the sharpest relief … not softened or shaded off by any instances of an inferior homage paid, whether legitimately or not, to created beings. We do not meet with any clear distinction between a primary and secondary worship, by which the force of the argument might have been more or less seriously weakened.”

9. διὸ. The glorification of the crucified Christ Jesus was, from the view-point of this passage, the Father’s reward for His supreme “regard for the things of others”; His “pleasing not Himself” (Rom 15:2). The application intended is that self-forgetting love, for the disciple as for his Lord, is the way to the true exaltation of his being.

ὑπερύψωσεν. The verb occurs only here in N. T.—St Paul loves compounds with ὑπέρ: e.g. ὑπεραυξάνειν, ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ, ὑπερνικᾶν, ὑπερπερισσεύειν, ὑπερπλεονάζειν. All these occur in his writings only, in Biblical Greek.—Render here, “highly exalted,” rather than “hath highly exalted.” The aorist refers to the historical moment of the Resurrection crowned by the Ascension. For the action of the Eternal Father in the exaltation, cp. e.g. Act 2:23-24; Act 2:32-33; Act 2:36; Eph 1:20-22.

ἐχαρίσατο. “Bestowed,” as a gift of supreme and rejoicing love.

τὸ ὄνομα. For the reading, see critical note. Whether or not τὸ is omitted, we must render “the name which,” in view of the τὸ ὑπὲρ κτλ. next following.

What is this “Name bestowed”? Is it (a) the sacred personal name Ἰησοῦς (Alford, Ellicott). Or is it (b) “Name” in the sense of revealed majesty and glory (Lightfoot), as where the LORD proclaims His “Name” to Moses, Exo 34:5? The difficulty of (a) is that the personal human name was of course distinctively His before His glorification, and is as a fact less used in Scripture after the Gospel narrative is closed; so that there would be a paradox in the thought of a “bestowal” of it on the glorified Christ. True, its then elevation to the highest associations, in the love and worship of the saints, was as it were a giving of the name as a new name; yet this hardly satisfies the intensity of the Apostle’s assertion here. In favour of (b) are the clear cases in the N. T. of the use of ὄνομα to denote recognized dignity or glory; e.g. Eph 1:21. And the true explanation seems to lie in this direction. “The Name bestowed” is the supreme Name, Κύριος (see Php 2:11 below), JEHOVAH. In other words the suffering Jesus was, as the once abased and slain sufferer, now raised to the eternal Throne; recognized there by the universe as He who, for man, and for the Father’s will, chose in His pre-existent glory to stoop even to the Cross. As God and Man, one Christ, as at once the co-equal Son and the sacrificed Lamb, He there receives the worship which belongs to the Eternal; Ἰησοῦς is saluted Κύριος, in the supreme sense of that “Name.”

On St Paul’s view of the unique exaltation of the Lord in comparison with every created being, see Liddon, quoted below, Appendix H.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-11.] Exaltation of Jesus, consequent on this His humiliation:—brought forward as an encouragement to follow His example. “Quod autem beati sint quicunque sponte humiliantur cum Christo, probat ejus exemplo: nam a despectissima sorte evectus fuit in summam altitudinem. Quicunque ergo se humiliat, similiter exaltabitur. Quis nunc submissionem recuset, qua in gloriam regni cœlestis conscenditur?” Calvin. Wherefore (i.e. on account of this His self-humiliation and obedience: see Heb 2:9, note: not as Calv., ‘quo facto,’ trying to evade the meritorious obedience of Christ thus, ‘quod dictio illativa hic magis consequentiam sonet quam causam, hinc patet, quod alioqui sequetur, hominem divinos honores posse mereri et ipsum Dei thronum acquirere, quod non modo absurdum sed dictu etiam horrendum est:’ strangely forgetting that herein Christ was not a man, nor an example what we can do, but the eternal Son of God, lowering Himself to take the nature of men, and in it rendering voluntary and perfect obedience) also (introduces the result, reff. and Luk 1:35; Act 10:29) God (on His part: reference to the τῷ θεῷ understood after ὑπήκοος above) highly exalted Him (not only ὕψωσεν, but ὑπερύψωσεν; His exaltation being a super-eminent one, cf. ὑπερνικᾷν, Rom 8:37, also 2Co 12:7; 2Th 1:3. Not, ‘hath highly exalted:’ the reference is to a historical fact, viz. that of His Ascension), and gave to Him (the Father being greater than the incarnate Son, Joh 14:28, and having by His exaltation of Jesus to His throne, freely bestowed on him the kingly office, which is the completion of His Mediatorship, Rom 14:9) the name which is above every name (ὄνομα must be kept, against most Commentators, to its plain sense of name,—and not rendered ‘glory,’ or understood of His office. The name is, the very name which He bore in His humiliation, but which now is the highest and most glorious of all names, τὸ ὄνομα ἸΗΣΟΥ. Compare His own answer in glory, Act 9:5, ἐγώ εἰμι Ἰησοῦς, ὃν σὺ διώκεις. As to the construction in the rec., without the τό before ὄνομα, the indefinite ὄνομα is afterwards defined to be that name, which we all know and reverence, by τὸ ὑπὲρ κ.τ.λ. The τό before ὄνομα may have been inserted to assimilate the expression to the more usual one),

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-11. On this account God exalted him above all creatures, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, earth, and hades, should bow the knee and acknowledge him as Lord, and by this confession glorify God the Father.

9. διὸ καὶ ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσεν: ‘wherefore also God highly exalted him.’

διὸ: ‘in consequence of which.’ (Comp. Heb 2:9, Heb 12:2.) The idea of Christ’s receiving his exaltation as a reward was repugnant to the Reformed theologians. Calvin attempts to evade it by explaining διὸ as quo facto, which is utterly untenable. At the same time, it is not necessary to insist on the idea of recompense, since διὸ may express simply consequence; and exaltation is the logical result of humility in the N.T. economy (Mat 23:12; Luk 14:11, Luk 18:14). As Mey. remarks, “Christ’s saying in Mat 23:12 was gloriously fulfilled in his own case.” “Die Erniedrigung ist nur die noch nicht eingetretene Herrlichkeit,” says Schmidt (Art. “Stand, doppelter Christi,” Herz. Rl. Enc.). For διὸ καὶ introducing a result, see Luk 1:35; Act 10:29. The consequence corresponding to the humiliation is expressed by καὶ.

Different explanations of καὶ are given, however. Lightf. and Kl.; maintain the sense of reciprocation,—‘God, on his part’; Ellic., contrast of the exaltation with the previous humiliation.

ὑπερύψωσεν: Only here in N.T. In LXX; Psa_97 (96):9; Dan 4:34. Not in class. Gk. Paul is fond of ὑπὲρ in compounds, and the compounds with ὑπὲρ are nearly all in his writings. (See Ellic. on Eph 3:20.) Its force here is not ‘more than before,’ nor ‘above his previous state of humiliation,’ but ‘in superlative measure.’ This exaltation took place through Christ’s ascension (Rom 1:3, Rom 1:4, Rom 1:8:34; Eph 4:9, Eph 4:10; Col 3:1). But the exaltation is viewed, not in respect of its mode, but as a state of transcendent glory, including his sitting at God’s right hand (Rom 8:34; Col 3:1); his lordship over the living and the dead (Rom 14:9); and his reign in glory (1Co 15:25).

καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα: ‘and gave unto him the name which is above every name.’

ἐχαρίσατο: See on 1:29. Christ obtained as a gift what he renounced as a prize. (See Eph 1:21; Heb 1:4.)

τὸ ὄνομα: Possibly with a reference to the practice of giving a new name to persons at important crises in their lives. (See Gen 17:5, 32:28; Rev 2:17, Rev 3:12.) The name conferred is JESUS CHRIST, combining the human name, which points to the conquest won in the flesh, and the Messianic name, ‘the Anointed of God.’ The two factors of the name are successively taken up in vs. 10, 11.

There is a great variety of explanations on this point: Κύριος (Kl., Lips., Weiss), Ἰησοῦς (Ellic., Ead.), Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς (De W., Mey.), Υἱὸς (Thdrt., Pelag., Aug.), Θεὸς (Theoph., Œc.). Lightf. holds that ὄνομα means ‘title’ or ‘dignity,’ and must be taken in the same sense in both verses. (See on next vs.)

The reading το ονομα is acc. to א ABC 17. το is omitted by DFGKLP.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dignity and renown, and the matter with it.

He showeth the most glorious event of Christ’s submission, to teach us, that modesty is the true way to true praise and glory.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him] If by his humiliation he has merited pardon and final salvation for the whole world, is it to be wondered that the human body, in which this fulness of the Godhead dwelt, and in which the punishment due to our sins was borne upon the tree, should be exalted above all human and all created beings? And this is the fact; for he hath given him a name, το ονομα, the name, which is above every name: το is prefixed to ονομα here by ABC, 17, Origen, Dionysius Alexandrinus, Eusebius, Cyril, and Procopius. This makes it much more emphatic. According to Eph 1:20-21, the man Christ Jesus is exalted to the right hand of God, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. From which it appears that no creature of God is so far exalted and so glorious as the man Christ Jesus, human nature being in him dignified infinitely beyond the angelic nature; and that this nature has an authority and pre-eminence which no being, either in heaven or earth, enjoys. In a word, as man was in the beginning at the head of all the creatures of God, Jesus Christ, by assuming human nature, suffering and dying in it, has raised it to its pristine state. And this is probably what is here meant by this high exaltation of Christ, and giving him a name which is above every name. But if we refer to any particular epithet, then the name JESUS or Saviour must be that which is intended; as no being either in heaven or earth can possess this name as he who is the Redeemer of the world does, for he is the only Saviour; none has or could redeem us to God but he; and throughout eternity he will ever appear as the sole Saviour of the human race. Hence, before his birth, Gabriel stated that his name should be called JESUS; giving for reason, he shall SAVE his people from their sins. The qualifications of the Saviour of the world were so extraordinary, the redeeming acts so stupendous, and the result of all so glorious both to God and man, that it is impossible to conceive a higher name or title than that of JESUS, or Saviour of the world.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9 Therefore God hath highly exalted. By adding consolation, he shews that abasement, to which the human mind is averse, is in the highest degree desirable. There is no one, it is true, but will acknowledge that it is a reasonable thing that is required from us, when we are exhorted to imitate Christ. This consideration, however, stirs us up to imitate him the more cheerfully, when we learn that nothing is more advantageous for us than to be conformed to his image. Now, that all are happy who, along with Christ, voluntarily abase themselves, he shews by his example; for from the most abject condition he was exalted to the highest elevation. Every one therefore that humbles himself will in like manner be exalted. Who would now be reluctant to exercise humility, by means of which the glory of the heavenly kingdom is attained?

This passage has given occasion to sophists, or rather they have seized hold of it, to allege that Christ merited first for himself, and afterwards for others. Now, in the first place, even though there were nothing false alleged, it would nevertheless be proper to avoid such profane speculations as obscure the grace of Christ — in imagining that he came for any other reason than with a view to our salvation. Who does not see that this is a suggestion of Satan — that Christ suffered upon the cross, that he might acquire for himself, by the merit of his work, what he did not possess? For it is the design of the Holy Spirit, that we should, in the death of Christ, see, and taste, and ponder, and feel, and recognize nothing but God’s unmixed goodness, and the love of Christ toward us, which was great and inestimable, that, regardless of himself, he devoted himself and his life for our sakes. In every instance in which the Scriptures speak of the death of Christ, they assign to us its advantage and price; — that by means of it we are redeemed — reconciled to God — restored to righteousness — cleansed from our pollutions — life is procured for us, and the gate of life opened. Who, then, would deny that it is at the instigation of Satan that the persons referred to maintain, on the other hand, that the chief part of the advantage is in Christ himself — that a regard to himself had the precedence of that which he had to us — that he merited glory for himself before he merited salvation for us?

Farther, I deny the truth of what they allege, and I maintain that Paul’s words are impiously perverted to the establishment of their falsehood; for that the expression, for this cause, denotes here a consequence rather than a reason, is manifest from this, that it would otherwise follow, that a man could merit Divine honors, and acquire the very throne of God — which is not merely absurd, but even dreadful to make mention of. For of what exaltation of Christ does the Apostle here speak? It is, that everything may be accomplished in him that God, by the prophet Isaiah, exclusively claims to himself. Hence the glory of God, and the majesty, which is so peculiar to him, that it cannot be transferred to any other, will be the reward of man’s work!

Again, if they should urge the mode of expression, without any regard to the absurdity that will follow, the reply will be easy — that he has been given us by the Father in such a manner, that his whole life is as a mirror that is set before us. As, then, a mirror, though it has splendor, has it not for itself, but with the view of its being advantageous and profitable to others, so Christ did not seek or receive anything for himself, but everything for us. For what need, I ask, had he, who was the equal of the Father, of a new exaltation? Let, then, pious readers learn to detest the Sorbonnic sophists with their perverted speculations.

Hath given him a name Name here is employed to mean dignity — a manner of expression which is abundantly common in all languages — “Jacet sine nomine truncus; He lies a headless nameless carcass.” The mode of expression, however, is more especially common in Scripture. The meaning therefore is, that supreme power was given to Christ, and that he was placed in the highest rank of honor, so that there is no dignity found either in heaven or in earth that is equal to his. Hence it follows that it is a Divine name. This, too, he explains by quoting the words of Isaiah, where the Prophet, when treating of the propagation of the worship of God throughout the whole world, introduces God as speaking thus: —

“I live: every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will swear to me,” etc. (Isaiah 45:23.)

Now, it is certain that adoration is here meant, which belongs peculiarly to God alone. I am aware that some philosophise with subtlety as to the name Jesus, as though it were derived from the ineffable name Jehovah. In the reason, however, which they advance, I find no solidity. As for me, I feel no pleasure in empty subtleties; and it is dangerous to trifle in a matter of such importance. Besides, who does not see that it is a forced, and anything rather than a genuine, exposition, when Paul speaks of Christ’s whole dignity, to restrict his meaning to two syllables, as if any one were to examine attentively the letters of the word Alexander, in order to find in them the greatness of the name that Alexander acquired for himself. Their subtlety, therefore, is not solid, and the contrivance is foreign to Paul’s intention. But worse than ridiculous is the conduct of the Sorbonnic sophists, who infer from the passage before us that we ought to bow the knee whenever the name of Jesus is pronounced, as though it were a magic word which had all virtue included in the sound of it. Paul, on the other hand, speaks of the honor that is to be rendered to the Son of God—not to mere syllables.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him.—The exaltation, like the humiliation, belongs to Him, as Son of Man; for He was “lifted up,” as on the cross, so in the Ascension. It raises Him to the throne of the Mediatorial kingdom, on which He entered by the Ascension, sitting at the right hand of God till He has put all enemies under His feet, and then ready “to deliver up the kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all.” (See 1Co_15:24-28.) For it is the “Son of Man” who “cometh in the clouds of heaven” (Dan_7:13; Mat_26:64), and has “authority to execute judgment” (Joh_5:27).

Hath given him a name.—Or, rather, the Name above every name. “The Name” (for this seems to be the best reading) is clearly “the Name” of God. It is properly the name Jehovah, held in the extremest literal reverence by the Jews, and it came to signify (almost like “the Word”) the revelation of the presence of God. See Rev_19:12-13, where “the name which no man knew but Himself” is the “Word of God.” This is, indeed, made clear by the following verse; for the adoration there described is in the original passage (Isa_45:23; comp. Rom_14:11), claimed as the sole due of God Himself. The name JESUS, “Jehovah the Saviour” (like “Jehovah our Righteousness,” in Jer_23:6), does contain, as an integral element, the incommunicable name of God, while the addition of “Saviour” points to the true humanity. Therefore in that Name, of Him who is at once God and Man, “every knee is to bow” with direct worship to Him.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,.... The apostle proceeds to observe the exaltation of Christ, for the encouragement of meek and humble souls; that whereas Christ, who so exceedingly demeaned himself, was afterwards highly exalted by God, so all such who, in imitation of him, behave to one another in lowliness of mind, shall be exalted in God's due time; for whoso humbleth himself, shall be exalted. The first step of Christ's exaltation was his resurrection from the dead, when he had a glory given him as man; his body was raised in incorruption, in glory, in power, and a spiritual one; it became a glorious body, and the pledge and exemplar of the saints at the general resurrection, of which his transfiguration on the mount was an emblem and prelude; and he was also glorified then as Mediator, he was then justified in the Spirit, and acquitted and discharged from all the sins of his people, he took upon him and bore, having satisfied for them; and all God's elect were justified in him, for he rose as a public person, as their head, for their justification; yea, in some sense he was then glorified, as a divine person; not that any new additional glory was, or could be made to him as such; but there was an illustrious manifestation of his natural, essential, and original glory; he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead: the next step of his high exaltation was his ascending on high up to the third heaven, where he is made higher than the heavens; when he was accompanied by an innumerable company of angels, and by those saints whose bodies rose out of their graves after his resurrection; and was received and carried up in a bright glorious cloud; and passing through the air, the seat of the devils, he led captivity captive, and triumphed over principalities and powers, having before spoiled them on his cross; and then entering into heaven, he sat down at the right hand of God, which is another branch of his exaltation; and shows that he had done his work, and that it was approved and accepted of; and had that glory and honour bestowed on him, which never was on any mere creature, angels or men, to sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; which as it is the highest pitch of the exaltation of the human nature of Christ, so by it there is a most illustrious display of the glory of his divine person as the Son of God; who was with God, as one brought up with him from all eternity; and was so likewise when here on earth, but not so manifestly; but now he is openly and manifestly glorified with himself, with that glory he had with him before the world began: moreover, Christ's exaltation lies in his having the gifts of the Spirit without measure, to bestow on his ministers and churches, in all succeeding generations, for the carrying on of his interest, and the enlargement of his kingdom; in having all power in heaven and in earth, to complete his work and great designs; in having dominion and authority over all creatures and things, which are made to be subservient to the execution of his mediatorial office; and in having the right and power of judging the world at the last day, when there will still be a more glorious display of his eternal deity and divine sonship; for he will come in his Father's glory, and in his own, and with his holy angels: now the causes of Christ's exaltation are these: the efficient cause is God; though he made himself of no reputation, and humbled himself, these were voluntary acts of his own; yet he did not exalt himself, but God exalted him, even God the Father; with him the covenant of grace and redemption was made, in which glory was promised Christ, in consideration of his obedience, sufferings, and death; and which he prayed to him for, and pleaded for with him, having done his work; and which exaltation of Christ is always ascribed to God, even the Father; see Act 2:33; the impulsive or moving cause, and indeed the meritorious cause, were the humiliation of Christ; because he, though he was originally so great and glorious, yet made himself as it were nothing, humbled himself to become man, and was contented to be accounted a mere man, and went up and down in the form of a servant; and because he became so cheerfully obedient to the whole law, and to death itself, for the sake of his people, and out of love to them, "therefore" God exalted him: the exaltation of Christ was not only a consequence of his obedience and death, and his humiliation merely the way to his glory; but his high and exalted estate were the reward of all this; it was what was promised him in covenant, what was then agreed upon, what he expected and pleaded, and had as a recompense of reward, in consideration of his having glorified God on earth, and finished the work he undertook to do: it follows as an instance of the exaltation of Christ,

and hath given him a name which is above every name. The Syriac version renders it, "which is more excellent than every name"; and the Arabic version translates it, "which is more eminent than every name"; and the Ethiopic version thus, "which is greater than every name": by which is meant, not any particular and peculiar name by which he is called; not the name of God, for though this is his name, the mighty God, and so is even the incommunicable name Jehovah, and which may be truly said to be every name; but neither of these are given him, but what he has by nature; and besides were what he had before his exaltation in human nature: it is true indeed, upon that this name of his became more illustrious and manifest unto men; it is a more clear point, that he is God over all blessed for evermore; and it will still be more manifest at his glorious appearing, that he is the great God, as well as our Saviour: to which may be added, that the name Jehovah in the plate of gold on the high priest's forehead, was set above the other word; so says Maimonides (m),

"the plate of gold was two fingers broad, and it reached from ear to ear; and there was written upon it two lines, "holiness to the Lord"; "holiness", was written below, and , "to the Lord", or "to Jehovah", above:

whether here may not be an allusion to this, I leave to be considered: nor do I think that the name of the Son of God is meant; this is indeed a name of Christ, and a more excellent one than either angels or men have; for he is in such sense the Son of God, as neither of them are; but this is a name also which he has by nature, and is what he had before his exaltation; and was before this attested by his Father, and confessed by angels, men, and devils; though indeed upon his exaltation, he was declared more manifestly to be the Son of God, as he will be yet more clearly in his kingdom and glory: much less is the name Jesus intended, which was given him by the angel before his conception and birth, and was a name common to men among the Jews; but it seems to design such fame and renown, honour, glory, and dignity, as were never given unto, and bestowed upon creatures; as his rising from the dead as a public person, his ascending on high in the manner he did, his session at the right hand of God, his investiture with all gifts, power, dominion, authority, and with the judgment of the world; and whatever name of greatness there is among men or angels, Christ has that which is superior to it. Was a priest a name of honour and dignity among the Jews? Christ is not only a priest, and an high priest, but a great high priest; a priest not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek, Heb 7:11, and a greater than he himself. Is a king a great name among men? Christ has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Is a deliverer of a nation a title of great honour? Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour of men of all nations; nor is there any other name but his, that is given among men, whereby we must be saved. Is a mediator between warring princes and kingdoms accounted a name of greatness and glory? Christ is the one only Mediator between God and man, and of a new and better covenant. Are angels, seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, great names in the other world? Christ is the Angel of God's presence, an eternal one, the Angel of the covenant, the head of all principality and power. These are all subject to him, and he is set at God's right hand far above them,

(m) Hilchot Cele Hamikdash, c. 9. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Ver. 9. Wherefore God also, &c.] "Wherefore" denoteth not the cause, but the order of Christ’s exaltation, as a consequent of his sufferings, as some conceive.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God....hath given him a name, &c. The name or word Jesus represents the dignity of him who is signified by the name, and who is exalted even as man, above all creatures in heaven, earth, and hell; all which creatures either piously reverence him, or are made subject to him against their will, that every tongue may confess our Lord Jesus to be now, and to have been always, in the glory of his Father, equal to him in substance and in all perfections. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Wherefore; some take this particle illatively, connoting the consequent of Christ’s exaltation, upon his antecedent humiliation, as elsewhere, Joh 10:17; Act 20:26; Heb 3:7; 2Pe 1:10; the apostle showing the sequel of his sufferings to be glory, according to that of Luk 24:26. This the Ethiopic version favours. Christ respecting not himself, but us, and our good, the glory that he had eternally, but veiled for a time, emerging (as the sun out of a cloud) upon his finishing the work his Father gave him to do, Joh 17:5; Rom 9:5. Others take the particle causally, intimating Christ’s meriting his own exaltation and our salvation, and his accepting of superexcellent glory as a reward of his unparalleled obedience, though he might have challenged it by virtue of the personal union, Heb 13:20, with Heb 12:2; obedience superior to angels’ required a recompence superior to their glory, and Christ might, upon his exquisite obedience, demand his own mediatory glory, as being our Head, and that being the beginning and cause of ours. However, whether the particle of order note that of consequence, or causality, or both, there is no need of controversy, (because of the communication of properties), since the person of Christ, as God-man, was glorified.

God also hath highly exalted him; the Greek elegancy imports superexalted, or exalted with all exaltation, answering to his gradual humiliation; above the grave in his resurrection, the earth in his ascension, and above the heavens, at his Father’s right hand, upon the throne of his glory, to judge the world, Eph 1:20-22; 4:10.

And given him a name: some take name literally, restraining it to Jesus, but those letters and syllables are not above every name, it being common to others, Ezr 2:2; 10:18; Hag 1:1; Act 7:45; Col 4:11; Heb 4:8, though upon a different account it was to Christ, even before his incarnation, Luk 1:31. Others, for the name of the only begotten Son of God the Father, Joh 1:14, (with Heb 1:4, and Heb 5:8), who was more eminently manifested in his exaltation, to angels and to men, than before. Others, not for any title, but the thing consequent upon his humiliation, surpassing that of all creatures, potentates on earth, and angels in heaven, Eph 1:20,21. Name imports power, Act 3:6; 4:7; Rev 5:12; of the Christ, the Saviour, Mat 12:21; Joh 4:42; Act 4:11,12; 10:43, at God’s right hand, where he living to intercede, makes all comfortable to us, who in his name alone do believe, pray, praise, and do all that shall find acceptance, Mat 18:20; 28:19; Joh 1:12; 3:18; 14:13; Rom 10:13,14; Col 3:17. Power to confer all for the good of his church being given him upon his death, when with respect to the creatures he received a glory, not in regard of himself, and in itself, but in regard of its patefaction to others; from which glory, during the time of his humiliation, he had by a voluntary dispensation abstained; and the exercise of that authority conferred upon him as Mediator in that human nature, he had so obediently subjected himself to the cross. Though as God there was a manifestation, yet there was no intrinsical addition of glory; he did as man receive the name, or glory, he had from all eternity as God. So that the name or glory given relates to him according to both natures, as Mediator, God-man: not as God, so he could not be exalted at all, being the Most High; not as mere man, so a creature is not capable of Divine worship, which in what follows is expressly required to be given to him, who is superexalted by God’s right hand, above every name, and every thing known by any name, Act 2:24,33,36; 5:31; 1Co 15:25; Rev 17:14, with Rev 19:16.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. The exaltation is the reward of the humiliation: "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Better, as R.V, highly exalted. The aorist (uperuqwsen) refers to the historical facts of the Resurrection and Ascension. And given him a Name which is above every name; read and translate, as R.V, and gave unto him the Name. The two aorist verbs, "highly exalted" and "freely gave" (ecarisato ), refer to the time of our Lord"s resurrection and ascension. He voluntarily assumed a subordinate position; God the Father exalted him. We must read, with the best manuscripts, the Name. This seems to mean, not the name Jesus, which was given him at his circumcision, in accordance with the angel"s message; but the name Lord or Jehovah (comp. Ver. 11), which was indeed his before his incarnation, but was given (comp. Mat_28:18, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth to Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, God and Man in one Person. Or more probably, perhaps, the word "Name" is used here, as so often in the Hebrew Scriptures, for the majesty, glory, dignity, of the Godhead. Compare the oft-repeated words of the psahnist, "Praise the Name of the Lord." So Gesenius, in his Hebrew lexicon on the word he explains the Name of the Lord as (b) Jehovah as being called on and praised by men; and (c) the Deity as being present with mortals. (comp. Eph_1:21 Heb_1:4)

Vers. 9-11. Christ"s reward.

There is a relation between work and reward signified in our Lord"s own announcement: "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted". (Luk_14:11)

I CHRIST"S EXALTATION "Wherefore also God highly exalted him." This exaltation is associated with his resurrection, his ascension, and his sitting at God"s right hand. It was the reward of his obedience unto death, as the Surety-Head of his people. It was a part of his exaltation that God "gave unto him the Name which is above every name not Jesus, nor the Son of God but rank and dignity, majesty and authority.

II THE PURPOSE OF THE EXALTATION. "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Thus is declared the honor raid to Jesus.

1. Worship. He is the Object of adoration to all intelligences in heaven, in earth, and under the earth. Christianity is the worship of Jesus Christ.

2. Open compression of his lordship. "The knee is but a dumb acknowledgment, but a vocal confession that doth utter our mind plainly." The lordship thus acknowledged by every tongue has a vast import, both for the Church and for the world. Jesus Christ "died and revived, that he might become Lord both of the living and of the dead". (Rom_14:9) Thus the whole obedience of Christian life is grasped by that lordship, which at the same time controls all the events of human life for the good of the Church.

III THE END OF HIS EXALTATION. "To the glory of God the Father," whose Son he is; their honor and glory being inseparable. T.C.

Vers. 9-11. Christ"s exaltation.

Can the public spirit displayed by Jesus Christ be allowed to terminate in the tomb? Or will it receive a gracious recognition and compensation? It is to this we are next brought by the apostle. The Father set his seal upon the Son"s self-sacrifice by highly exalting him and conferring on him a superlative Name. And here we learn

I THAT EXALTATION IS PROPORTIONAL TO HUMILIATION IS the FINAL ARRANGEMENTS OF GOD. (Ver. 9) The humiliation of Christ, as we have seen, is the deepest which the universe admitted of; and so his exaltation is the greatest. Just as water descending front the highest height will return to its own level; so Christ, in condescending to the cross and the grave from the eternal throne, comes back to more than pristine glory, and gets a Name which is above every name. Hence if we were wise, we should gladly abase ourselves in the assurance that self-abasement, is the plain and only path to real exaltation. (Luk_14:11)

II THE FATHER HAS GIVEN UNTO JESUS A NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME. (Ver. 9) Now, when we consider what a "name" is, we find that it is a revelation of what a person or thing is. Of course, names may be given where their appellative character is not regarded; but when a name is given as a glory, it contains a revelation. Thus it has been pertinently said, "Names are mysteries, labelled. A thing not labelled is a mystery directly. If it has not been named, we look at it, we smell it, we taste it, we wonder at it; and finally ask What can it be? Naming is the annihihation of curiosity. Names are disguises put upon things to conceal from us their mystery. Things without names would be too wonderful for us. Only a few people continue to wonder as much after a thing is named, as before." Now, the Name which the Father sets above every name is that of Jesus. The signification of this name is Savior, (Mat_1:21) and the whole course of Providence is to exalt this above every other name. Hence the deep significance of this passage seems to be this that salvation is the greatest glory which can be attributed to any individual. Even the world is coming round to this idea, that for a man to be the "savior of his country" in any sense is the highest position to which he can attain. When public worth is recognized, it is in connection with some salvation which the hero has wrought for men. The world is steadily moving towards this Divine idea, that the highest glory attainable in the nature of things is the glory of saving in some way others.

III AT THE NAME OF JESUS THE UNIVERSE SHALL YET BOW. (Vers. 10, 11) Among the saviours of mankind the Lord Jesus Christ is, of course, pre-eminent. All other salvations will be made to appear in their essential insignificance when compared with Christ"s salvation of his fellows from sin and death. Hence the long procession of the ages shall yet issue in the universal acclaim, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing". (Rev_5:12) This is only another way of putting the truth that self-sacrifice shall yet be recognized as the sublimest manifestation of personality, and that in self-sacrifice Jesus has been preeminent. The homage of the universe is yet to be made before the self-sacrifice which is embodied in Jesus Christ.

IV THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS SHALL BE UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED. (Ver. 11) Not only shall the Name of Jesus be put in honor above all other names, but his right to reign shall be recognized by all. The sovereignty of self-sacrifice is the goal of intellectual and moral progress. Jesus, as embodying the principle in absolute perfection, will yet receive the homage of the universe. Even his enemies shall be constrained to bow to his authority and submit to his holy will. The triumph of self-forgetfulness and consideration for others is to be embodied in the acknowledged sovereignty of the Savior.

V But lastly, THE GLORY OF THE FATHER SHALL PROVE TO BE THE LAST END OF THE WHOLE PLAN. (Ver. 11) For what is this but a similar compensation coming in natural order round to the Father again? The Father in the present dispensation has set himself to glorify, not himself, but his self-sacrificing other self, the Son. He is himself exemplifying the self-forgetfulness and consideration for others for which his gospel calls. The Father is not looking on his own things, any more than the Son. Each Person of the adorable Trinity looks away from self to secure the glory of his mate. Is it not right and beautiful in these circumstances that the glory of the great Father should result from the consideration for others he has shown, and that the mediatorial honors of Jesus should in the end be laid at the Father"s feet? It is sometimes thought that it savours of selfishness to say that God arranges all things for his own glory. But when it is analyzed we find that the seemingly selfish arrangement has been really the most absolute unselfishness. God has been looking upon the things and interests of others all the time. He has been laying himself out for the good of his creatures. Disinterestedness has characterized his whole history; and if it be arranged that eventually the universe recognizes and adores the self-forgetfulness of God, if this is to be hailed at last as the only real glory, then surely we could not desire it otherwise. R.M.E.

Exaltation through humiliation.

1. Our Lords teaching. He is continually urging, under different forms of expression, the elementary gospel truth, that to humble ourselves is the true way of exaltation. "Except a man be born again;" "Blessed are the poor in spirit;" "He that humbleth himself;" "Except ye be converted," etc.

2. Our Lords example. He is himself the great example of that which he teaches. He bumbled himself as none other can humble himself, and he is exalted as none other is exalted.

OUR EXALTATION CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED AS HIS WAS.

1. We must humble ourselves. Being humiliated is not the same thing as humbling ourselves. Unless we accept it as from God, and for our benefit, humiliation may rouse anger and pride, and thus hinder our exaltation.

2. We must humble ourselves in the way of obedience. We shall not find grace in any self-chosen methods of self-humiliation not imposed upon us by God.

1. It is a matter of spiritual experience that self-exaltation always leaves us humiliated, whereas the cheerful acceptance of the cross which God lays upon us, making us to share in the humiliation of our Lord, gives us some share also in his exaltation.

2. It is a matter of historical proof. The builders of Babel proposed to "make themselves a name," and were confounded; Abraham left himself in God"s hands, who undertook to make his name great. VW.H. (Gen_11:4, 8 12:2)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore - Because of his voluntary humiliation and obedience. He humbled himself; but God hath exalted him - So recompensing his humiliation. And hath given him - So recompensing his emptying himself. A name which is above every name - Dignity and majesty superior to every creature.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Christ’s state of exaltation:

v. 9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name,

v. 10. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth,

v. 11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father.

The enthusiasm of the apostle here carries him beyond his original scope, in a triumphant description of Christ’s exaltation: On which account also God has highly exalted Him and given to Him the name, that above every name. Because Christ was of such a mind as described in the preceding verses, because He humbled Himself so freely and willingly, therefore it pleased God to exalt Him. This fact, indeed, does not exclude the other, that Christ exalted Himself. Both facts are stated in Scriptures. This statement, therefore, does not argue for a subjection of the Son below the Father, for a difference in rank within the Godhead. There is no subordination in the Trinity. And yet, God exalted the man Jesus Christ. Christ, according to His human nature, was subject to all consequences of sin, suffering, death, and the grave. But He is now exalted; the days of His humiliation are passed. His human body is now in full possession of the divine glory and majesty which was communicated to Him at the time of the incarnation. He has reassumed the unbounded use of His divine qualities and attributes, He makes use of all power in heaven and earth, He is King in the kingdoms of power and grace and glory. It is the glorified man Jesus Christ who reigns over everything, heavenly and earthly things, and things beneath the earth; His human nature has entered into full and unlimited communion with the divine essence. All this is included in the fact that the good will of God has given Him this name, has secured Him this exaltation, as the Lord Jehovah.

It follows, therefore: in order that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and sub earthly things, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The name of Christ, formerly despised and spoken with hissing and contempt, is now the reason and occasion of a far different behavior. It is the most supreme. Angels, men, and devils must give to Jesus Christ, the exalted Son of God, free and unequivocal obedience. No name is more highly honored than His. All must bow before Him, all must give Him divine honor. The greatness, sacredness, divinity of the name is the reason, the motive, for the bowing of the knee. The angels of heaven pray to the name of Him that was exalted over everything. And all the inhabitants of the earth feel the greatness of His power and give Him divine honor. The believers do this willingly and gladly, the unbelievers only with a great struggle. But they also, like the devils, whether they want to or not, will some time have to acknowledge and admit that Jesus is the Lord. The very fact that they seem so insistent upon their confession of unbelief shows that they do not consider Christ an insignificant personality, but one of high estate, who must be opposed and fought against with all earnestness. In the end every tongue must and will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. It is not merely that they cower before Him in faithful adoration or in impotent rage, it is also that they are obliged to confess. The acknowledgment by means of an external gesture of adoration is followed by a confession of His sovereignty. By this confession all creatures incidentally give all glory to the Father, to God, the ultimate object of all adoration. He that honoreth the Son honoreth the Father. Note: This admonition also has a very close connection with the admonition of this section. Just as Christ, by His voluntary renouncing of the rights and privileges of His Godhead, through His humility, poverty, suffering, obedience, finally obtained heavenly glory and honor, attained to His present exaltation, thus the Christians, if they follow Christ, if they are found to be of the same mind as Christ, mill obtain the heavenly glory and become partakers of Christ’s exaltation.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The former verse spake of the depth of Christ’s humiliation; these, of the height of his exaltation.

Where observe, 1. The dignity itself conferred by God upon Christ; God exalted him, highly exalted him, exalted him above all exaltation, as the word signifies. Christ in his resurrection was exalted; in his ascension, he was highly exalted; in his sitting at God’s right hand, he was very highly exalted above all exaltation.

Observe, 2. How the steps of Christ’s exaltation did punctually answer the steps of his humiliation; the first step of his humiliation was his incarnation, by which he was made man, and, as our surety, was made sin.

The first step of his exaltation was his resurrection, by which he was declared to be the Son of God with power; and, as our surety, having paid our debt was released from the prison of the grave.

The second step of his humiliation, was his poor and contemptible life, and his painful, shameful, and accursed death; answerable thereunto is Christ’s ascension into heaven, and sitting there at God’s right hand, advancing him above all principalities and power, that is, above all the angels, and placing him next himself in dignity and honour.

Observe, 3. The connection between Christ’s humiliation and exaltation: he humbled himself, and became obedient to the death; wherefore God hath highly exalted him.

Where note, That some make the humiliation of Christ the meritorious cause of his exaltation; and his exaltation the reward of his humiliation: others make the humiliation of Christ only the antecedent of his exaltation; he humbled himself, and God has exalted him to a dignity above all dignities and pre-eminency whatsoever, making him King and Head of his church, and giving him all power both in heaven and earth, requiring that the divine honour due to God should be given to him also.

Observe, 4. The particulars of our Lord’s exaltation declared: and they are three.

1. God hath given him a name above every name; that is, dignity and power, majesty and authority, over all creatures both in heaven and earth.

2. That every knee, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, should bow to the name of Jesus: every knee, that is, every creature in heaven, earth, and hell, shall bow, that is, yield subjection to Christ, some voluntarily, others unwillingly; the good angels and good men paying a cheerful homage, the evil angels and bad men yielding a forced and constrained subjection to him.

3. That every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; every tongue, that is, every person, men of all nations and languages, shall confess Christ crucified to be the Lord and Judge of the world, acknowledging his royal sovereignity and dominion.

Observe, 5. The end of Christ’s glorious exaltation; it was, to the glory of God the Father: that is, it pleased God the Father, for his own glory, that the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had been deeply humbled, should be highly exalted.

Observe, lastly, the apostle’s great design and scope in setting before the Philippians the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus Christ: and that was to excite them to the grace and duty of humility, that the same humble mind should be in them which was also in Christ Jesus. As if he had said our Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself greatly for us, and afterwards was highly exalted by God above us; so in proportion may you expect to be exalted by God, if you humble yourselves, in order to maintain and preserve the church’s peace and unity; for before honour is humility.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9–11. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. His wonderful humility had been shown, but it is the law of the universe that he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Therefore God lifted him up from the grave to the heavens, gave all power into his hands (Matt. 28:18), and gave him a name above every name. The idea is an authority, a position, above that of all intelligences. This exaltation made the humble name, Jesus, a name above every name.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

the name that is above every name

Here "name" is a metonym that refers to rank or honor. AT: "the rank that is above any other rank" or "the honor that is above any other honor" (See: Metonymy)

above every name

The name is more important, more to be praised than any other name. (See: Metaphor)

in the name of Jesus every knee should bend

Here "knee" is a synecdoche for the whole person, and bending the knee to kneel on the ground is a metonym for worship. "In the name of" here is a metonym for the person, telling who it is they will worship. AT: "every person will worship Jesus"

under the earth

Possible meanings are 1) the place where people go when they die or 2) the place where demons dwell.

every tongue

Here "tongue" refers to the whole person. AT: "every person" or "every being" (See: Synecdoche)

to the glory of God the Father

Here the word "to" expresses result: "with the result that they will praise God the Father" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

exalt

heaven

tongue

confess

Jesus

lord

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Wherefore [διο] . In consequence of this humiliation.

Hath highly exalted [υπερυψωσεν] . Lit., exalted above. Compare Mt 23:12.

Hath given [εχαρισατο] . Freely bestowed, even as Jesus freely offered Himself to humiliation :

A name. Rev., correctly, the name. This expression is differently explained : either the particular name given to Christ, as Jesus or Lord; or name is taken in the sense of dignity or glory, which is a common Old - Testament usage, and occurs in Eph 1:21; Heb 1:4. Under the former explanation a variety of names are proposed, as Son of God, Lord, God, Christ Jesus. The sense of the personal name Jesus seems to meet all the conditions, and the personal sense is the simpler, since Jesus occurs immediately after with the word name, and again Jesus Christ in ver. 11. The name Jesus was bestowed on Christ at the beginning of His humiliation, but prophetically as the One who should save His people from their sins, Mt 1:21. It was the personal name of others besides; but if that is an objection here, it is equally an objection in ver. 10. The dignity is expressed by above every name. He bears the name in His glory. See Act 9:5. See on Mt 1:21.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.