ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Philippians 2.9

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

7. but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; 8. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.

9. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name;

  1. that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, 11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:7-11, ASV)
WEB

7. but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. 8. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

9. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

  1. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, 11. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:7-11, WEB)
KJV

7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. fashion: or habit

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

  1. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:7-11, KJV)
YLT

7. but did empty himself, the form of a servant having taken, in the likeness of men having been made, 8. and in fashion having been found as a man, he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death, death even of a cross,

9. wherefore, also, God did highly exalt him, and gave to him a name that [is] above every name,

  1. that in the name of Jesus every knee may bow, of heavenlies, and earthlies, and what are under the earth 11. and every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:7-11, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul, in the hymn or encomium of Philippians 2
  • Audience: the church at Philippi
  • Location: written from prison; Rome, Ephesus, and Caesarea have all been proposed
  • Time period: c. AD 60-62 on the Roman imprisonment view

Theological reading

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. The verse is the turn of the passage, from descent to exaltation, and the connective carries weight.

Wherefore ties the exaltation to what precedes it, the self-emptying and the obedience unto death. The passage is not describing a reward that compensates for humiliation but a vindication that follows from it, and the grammar makes the sequence causal rather than merely temporal.

The identity of the name is disputed and the context supplies the strongest argument. The candidates are Jesus, which he already bore and which would make the bestowal odd; Son, which the passage does not use; and Kyrios, Lord, which is the word the confession in the following verses actually reaches. Since verses 10 and 11 are quoting Isaiah 45:23, where the LORD swears that every knee shall bow to him, and since Kyrios is how the Septuagint renders the divine name, the most coherent reading is that the name given is the divine title itself.

The exaltation language raises the question of what it means for one who was already in the form of God to be given anything. The usual answer, and the one that keeps the passage coherent, is that what is newly received belongs to the incarnate state: the man Jesus, in the humanity he assumed, is installed in a public universal lordship, without any implication that the Son acquired a dignity he previously lacked. See Kenosis for the wider question about verse 7.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

People:

Lexicon:

Guides:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.