Paul's first acquaintance with the Risen Christ was made on the road to Damascus. The terrifying vision caused

him to cry `Who art thou LORD?' for surely no One lower than God Himself could have so acted. To his intense

surprise the `Lord' replied ` I am Jesus' (Acts 9:5).

Paul's trembling and astonishment soon gave place to adoration and selfless devotion, and a steady course can be

followed in his ministry that leads on from glory to glory, linking the `Jesus' Whom he had persecuted to the `Jesus'

in Whose name every knee should bow.

Instead of reading `At the name of Jesus' (Phil. 2:10) the Revised Version reads `In the name of Jesus'. Whether

we read `At the name of Jesus' or `In the name of Jesus', most assume that it is the name `Jesus' that has been exalted

to this high pinnacle of glory. The passage, however, does not say `He exalted the name that had been borne by Him

during His humiliation', but `He gave to Him, Whose earthly name was Jesus, the name which is above every name,

that is the name Jehovah, that in this name, Jehovah, the name given to Jesus, every knee should bow'. The

universality of homage that the apostle visualized is expressed in extraordinary terms :

`Of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth' (Phil. 2:10).

Some see in this threefold division a reference to angels, to mankind and to the dead, but give no satisfactory

reason for suggesting that the dead before the resurrection can be spoken of as bowing the knee and confessing that

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Webster and Wilkinson say that this threefold division answers to that which the Pagan world made of their

deities, and predicts universal submission to the true God, and they refer to the Iliad (3. 276-9) in proof.

Lightfoot, however, takes this threefold division to indicate `the whole universe, whether animate or inanimate'

and cites Revelation 5:13, Ephesians 1:20-23 and Romans 8:22 in passing.

`It would seem therefore that the adjectives here are neuter; and any limitation to intelligent beings, while it

detracts from the universality of the homage, is not required by the expressions'.

Something of the intention of the apostle can be seen in the ascription of praise which constitutes Psalm 148,

where not only angels, kings and all peoples are called upon to praise the Lord, but sun, moon and stars, dragons and

all deeps together with `Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling His word'.

It is fitting that this should be, for `the earnest expectation of the creature (creation) waiteth for the manifestation

of the sons of God' (Rom. 8:19.) This universal acknowledgment is directed to one glorious goal `that Jesus Christ

is Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Phil. 2:11). The fact that this is `to the glory of God the Father' shows that

Christ as the Mediator is still in view (1 Cor. 15:24-28), He is exalted in His Divine Manhood, as the second Man

and the last Adam.

The title `Lord' being as it is the LXX and the New Testament equivalent of the great name Jehovah (Rom. 4:8;

Matt. 3:3), shows that this is `the name which is above every name' given to Him, and confessed by all.

The goal of the ages will be reached when this universal acknowledgment here prophesied becomes an historic

fact. It is the privilege of the church of the mystery to anticipate that day by its acknowledgment of Christ as `Head

over all things to the church' now.

This brings us back to Philippians 2:4,5, and the exhortation of verse 12, `wherefore, my beloved'. Before we

pick up the thread of the apostle's argument and pursue it through the record of the subjoined examples, of himself

(Phil. 2:17), of Timothy (Phil. 2:20) and of Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25), a brief summary of what we have learned

concerning the voluntary self-emptying of the Saviour may prove of service.

(1) `Who being'. We have seen that huparchon denotes both the pre-existence and the continued existence of

Christ in the form of God.

(2) `Form' indicates essential nature; `fashion' the perceptible mode of His existence, His state and relationships

as a human being.