Philippians 2:9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Wherefore God also, &c.— "And having fulfilled his work of atonement in this humble, obediential, and suffering manner, God his Father, as a reward of all this, according to its deserts, has gloriously exalted him, not by advancing him to a state of greater essential happiness, perfection, or glory, than he had before, as God, which admits of no addition; but by raising him, as man, from the dead, receiving him up to glory, setting him at his own right hand, and giving him universal dominion as Mediator: and to recommend him by the most endearing motives to our acknowledgment of him as such, he has granted to him, in his office-capacity, as his incarnate Son, a new title of authority and honour, incomparably superior to any other name, dignity, or authority whatever, among angels or men; yea, too great for any mere creature to wear, or be worthy of, even the name of the Saviour, and the constituted Lord of all. And he has done this to the end that (ινα) in token of the religious honours which are due to the exalted Saviour, every one should bow the knee, not at barely pronouncing the word Jesus, nor solely in a literal sense, in which the angels in heaven, who are to bow before him, have no knees; but in paying such solemn homage, adoration, and worship to this glorious and divine Person, whose name is Jesus; and in being so entirely subject to him, as is signified by bowing the knee, as well as by other expressions of it; and is to be paid to him by all ranks of intelligent creatures, whether they be saints or angels in heaven, or such men as are living upon earth, or as are dead and buried under the earth, when they shall rise again, and appear at his tribunal; then they and all the wicked on earth, and all the devils in hell, shall either willingly, or by constraint, bow to him as the great Judge of all. And he is thus highly exalted, that the tongue of every one, of all nations and languages, should either cheerfully own and celebrate the praises of his universal dominion; or be forced to acknowledge, whether they would or not, that he, the anointed Saviour, is in his office-capacity, and exalted state, the great Head, Lord, and Ruler over all, and the universal Judge at the last day, to the glory of God the Father, whose honour it is to have always had such a divine Son as is worthy of so high a commission (John 5:23 and 1 John 2:23.)" In these words the Apostle sets before us the exceeding great glory to which God the Father exalted Christ's human nature, as the end and reward of his great humility and sufferings. There is an insuperable difficulty in conceiving how any accession of glory or honour should be made to him, who was, before his coming into the world, in the form of God; unless we consider the present passage as solely relating to the Mediatorial office of Christ as the God-man. To set this matter in a true light, we must consider, that the glories of nature, and the glories of office, are very distinct glories. The Apostle says nothing of nature or essence; he speaks of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and considers him as the same person in all his different states of glory, humility, and exaltation. The same nature which he had, being in the form of God, the same he had in his state of humiliation, and now has in his state of exaltation. The Apostle's argument does not infer that the natural powers and dignities of Christ Jesus were increased; but only that, in consequence of the redemption, God the Father put all things immediately under him in a very peculiar sense; making him Head over all as Mediatorial King. In Matthew 28:18-20 our Saviour himself declares that all power and authority were given him at his resurrection. There is no doubt but this distinguishing power is part of the exaltation that St. Paul speaks of, to which God the Father raised Christ for his sufferings. Those who please, may see more to this purpose in Ephesians 1. The Apostle proceeds, God hath given Christ a name above every name,—that every tongue should confess; &c. Confession here implies much more than a bare acknowledgment that Christ is the Lord. It comprehends those honours, and that worship, which those who heartily confess him to be the Lord, will readily pay him. Instead of things in heaven, &c. Philippians 2:10 some read, of celestial beings, and of those upon and under the earth: "Angels and men, the living and the dead, yea, devils themselves shall do homage to Jesus; who shall be ever adored, as the Saviour of his faithful saints, as the head of all holy and happy spirits; and the sovereign and uncontroulableLordofallthose,whoserebellionagainsthim and his heavenly Father, has made them the worthy objects of perpetual displeasure and punishment." See Ephesians 1:10. Romans 14:9. Revelation 1:18.