Passages · Philippians 2:1-11
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"Every knee shall bow... every tongue confess" in Philippians 2:10–11 is Isaiah 45:23 in the wording of the Greek Old Testament, its key phrases turned toward Jesus. Isaiah's "to me" becomes "at the name of Jesus," and "to God" becomes "that Jesus Christ is Lord." In Isaiah the speaker is God, in a passage full of the Old Testament's strongest one-God declarations — "I am God, and there is no other." The words describe worship that belongs to Israel's God alone. The hymn directs exactly that worship to Jesus — and is careful to add, "to the glory of God the Father."
2:1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, 2:2 make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 2:3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; 2:4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. 2:5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, 2:6 who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, 2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross. 2:9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The famous line is the summit of a hymn, and the hymn serves an appeal. In 2:1–4 Paul asks the Philippians for unity — nothing from rivalry or conceit, each counting others better than himself. Verse 5 pivots: "Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus." Then the poetry moves in two arcs — Christ's chosen descent, and God's answering exaltation — held up as the pattern for the community's life together.
"A thing to be grasped" (2:6) — harpagmon, a word that appears nowhere else in the New Testament, and its exact sense has been discussed for centuries: something seized (he did not grab at an equality he lacked) or something exploited (he did not cash in an equality he had). Translations keep the ambiguity on purpose. Either way the clause moves the same direction: whatever equality with God meant for him, he did not hold it for advantage.
"Emptied himself" (2:7) — ekenōsen heauton. The hymn never says what was emptied; the next phrase gives the manner — "taking the form of a servant" — so what is poured out reads as status and privilege, not what makes God God. The verb also shares a root with the "conceit" (literally, empty glory) Paul warned against in 2:3: the very thing the community is told to refuse, Christ undoes from the other side.
"The death of the cross" (2:8) — the descent bottoms out here. Crucifixion was a death Rome associated with slaves, rebels, and outsiders — public, prolonged, and designed to degrade. The hymn's added tag, "yes, the death of the cross," names the lowest specific point the descent could reach.
"Highly exalted... Jesus Christ is Lord" (2:9–11) — "highly exalted" is a one-of-a-kind compound in the New Testament: the familiar verb "lift up" intensified with "beyond." And the confession that answers it carries the passage's deepest key: in the Greek Old Testament, "Lord" (kyrios) is the word that stands in where God's covenant name appears. So "Jesus Christ is Lord" confesses with the divine name's own stand-in — which is why "the name which is above every name" lands with full weight, over everything in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
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