Jesus: Name Above All

October 3rd, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Philippians 2:9-11 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What followed Jesus of Nazareth’s obedience as God in the flesh, through His willingness to humble Himself by making Himself a bond-servant and becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, was His exaltation. By becoming lowly, God “exalted Him highly” (v. 9a), giving Him honor and status beyond all else. He was exalted through His resurrection from the dead, through His ascension into heaven, and His glorification—all of which followed His humiliating death on the cross. This is a principle throughout Scripture, for as James says, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (Jas. 4:10; cf. 4:6; Luke 1:52). The Son of God humbled Himself to the point of death, and God the Father exalted Him, granting Him in return all that He had laid aside in leaving heaven to become flesh.

Jesus was exalted after His humble obedience, and upon Him was “bestowed…the name which is above every name” (v. 9b). If Paul has chronological events in mind, then the name “Jesus” is not the name that is specifically “above all names.” To be sure, the Hebrew form of Jesus (Heb. Yeshua; Eng. Joshua) does mean “Yahweh saves.” But it appears that what is meant is that God assigned Jesus the name “Lord” which in itself is synonymous with Yahweh, the personal, holy name of God (cf. Exod. 3:14-15), attested to by v. 11. His exaltation could not be more clear than in Acts 2:33ff.: “…having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit… Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

As “Lord,” Jesus has the same status as His Father. But one ought not think that He never had this status, for the Son has always been God (cf. v. 6). What God achieved in the flesh was new, and now God has become man, has been crucified, and has risen as the Redeemer of mankind. As such, “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow” to Him, a partial quote of Isaiah 45:23 (cf. Rom. 14:11; Rev. 5:13). Of note here is that throughout Isaiah’s prophecy, and the entire OT for that matter, there is only one God (Isa. 43:11; 44:6, 8; 45:5-6, 21), and He gives His glory to no other (Isa. 42:8). Yet Paul says that “at the name of Jesus,” who is Lord, every knee will bow to the glory of God the Father (v. 11). The only way therefore that every knee could bow to Jesus unto God’s glory and call Him “Lord” is if He is God.

The issue of who will bow the knee to Jesus and when that will be is in v. 10. Obviously every knee does not bow to Jesus in the present; thus, Paul has the future in mind. A time is coming when every atheist and every hypocrite, whether alive on earth or departed into Hades, will indeed confess the truth of Jesus Christ’s sovereignty. Though in speaking of the “knee” bowing and the “tongue” confessing (v. 11), Paul has in mind all of mankind, by extension he also includes all of creation—animals, trees, mountains, etc. (cf. Rom 8:19-22).

Notably, those “under the earth,” that is, the inhabitants of Hades, all who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who await their final fate in the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:14), will also confess that Jesus is Lord and bow their knees to Him. Yet this does not entail universal salvation. Though God’s true people will confess Jesus Christ with great joy, unbelievers will do so because they must, not because they somehow become God’s people at Christ’s second advent. All of this will be done “to the glory of God the Father” (v. 11). When all acknowledge who Christ is as Lord, God’s purpose is fulfilled to His glory.

Food For Thought
If we as God’s people are to be identified as such, we must demonstrate Christlike traits. We have Christ’s life, words, death, resurrection, and ascension before us in the words of Scripture. In other words, we have everything we need to know about Christ, and we have the Spirit of God to enable us to act like Christ. The thrust of Philippians 2:1-11, aside from revealing who Christ is, is that we know that we are supposed to be like Him. After all, a Christian is a little Christ, one who belongs to God and acts like God. May this be true of you and true of all those who confess to know and love Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.