Thursday, May 26, 2005

Philippians 2:9

Textus Receptus:
διο και ο θεος αυτον υπερυψωσεν και εχαρισατο αυτω ονομα το υπερ παν ονομα

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

Comments:
Wherefore: This conjunction explains why God has highly exalted Christ in terms of the previous verse. However, it in no way implies that Christ would not have been highly exalted if He had not humbled Himself nor that He was not previously highly exalted. In this verse, the contingency is about the grounds of Christ's exaltation, not about whether He would have been exalted.

highly exalted: In this verse the Greek word for exalted is prefixed by "hyper," meaning "super" or "above." This verse is the only one in the New Testament with that combination. Throughout the scriptures many have been and will be exalted, as in Matthew 23:12. But only Christ has been exalted above everything else.

given him a name: Paul used the same word for "given" when he said it was given to the Philippians (believers) to have faith and to suffer for the sake of Christ in chapter 1:29. Interestingly, John also says those who overcome receive a new name in Revelation 2:17 and 3:12. It is, of course, much more than coincidence that suffering is followed by exaltation in both believers and in Christ. 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

above every name: This phrase is profound in the light of the value given to the name of God in the Old Testament. Psalm 148:13 is a perfect example. In fact, the context of that Psalm (148:7-14) fits perfectly the context of this passage (vs 9-11).

Expanded Paraphrase:
Through Christ's act of incarnation and humiliation the Father also did something: God did more than lift Christ up, He put Him above everything else; and He did more than give Him a new name, He gave Him a name with is above every other name.

No comments: