Passages · Philippians 2:1-11
Try Derekh with this passage ↓
"Every knee shall bow... every tongue confess" in Philippians 2:10-11 quotes Isaiah 45:23 word for word from the Greek Old Testament. In Isaiah the speaker is YHWH, in a passage packed with the Hebrew Bible's most exclusive monotheistic claims — "I am God, and there is no other." The words describe worship that belongs to Israel's God alone. The hymn applies them to Jesus: the worship Isaiah's God claimed for himself is now happening "at the name of Jesus" — and, the hymn 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 line is the climax of a hymn, and the hymn serves an appeal. In 2:1-4 Paul asks the Philippians for unity — one mind, 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" — and verses 6-11 shift into poetry many scholars think was already a hymn of the early church, though Paul may have composed it here. The hymn moves in two arcs — Christ's voluntary descent, then God's answering exaltation — held up as the pattern for the community's life together.
"Every knee should bow... every tongue should confess" (2:10-11) — the lines are a word-for-word echo of Isaiah 45:23 in the Greek Old Testament: "To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess to God." In Isaiah the speaker is YHWH, in a passage densely packed with monotheistic claims — "I am God, and there is no other" (45:22), "there is no God besides me" (45:21). The words describe the worship that belongs to YHWH alone, and the hymn places exactly that worship "at the name of Jesus." The citation is compact; the logic is left for the reader — the transfer itself is the claim.
"A thing to be grasped" (2:6) — harpagmon, a word that appears nowhere else in the New Testament. Its precise sense has been debated for centuries: something seized (he did not grab at an equality he did not have) or something exploited (he did not cash in an equality he already possessed). Much current scholarship favors the second on grammatical grounds, but translations preserve the ambiguity on purpose. Either way the clause moves the same direction: Christ did not clutch what was his by right.
"Emptied himself" (2:7) — ekenōsen heauton, from the verb kenoō, whose noun form kenōsis has become a theological term in its own right. The hymn does not say what he emptied himself of; the next clause supplies the mechanism — "taking the form of a servant" — so what is poured out is status and prerogative rather than essence. The verb also shares a root with kenodoxia, the "conceit" (literally, empty glory) of 2:3: the vice Paul warns the community against and the act Christ performs are built on the same word.
"The death of the cross" (2:8) — the descent bottoms out here. Crucifixion in the Roman world was the execution reserved for slaves, rebels, and foreigners — no Roman citizen could be crucified — designed to be prolonged, exposed, and degrading. The tag "yes, the death of the cross" names the specific death that made the descent maximal.
"Highly exalted" (2:9) — hyperypsōsen, the familiar verb "lift up" compounded with hyper- (above, beyond). The compound appears nowhere else in the New Testament, and the Greek Old Testament, which uses the plain verb for God's exaltation of the righteous, never uses this intensified form. The prefix signals more than restoration — a super-exaltation that grants "the name which is above every name" and sets up the Isaiah citation.
This is the context Derekh — Hebrew for “the way” — holds for every passage in all 66 books, and where it stops and asks what you see.
Start your 7-day free trial →$7.99/month (early access) · cancel anytime