9  The Exaltation  of Christ  (Philippians 2:9–11)

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (2:9–11)

When a Muslim with whom he was speaking slighted Christ, the nineteenth-century missionary Henry Martyn declared that he could not endure existence if Jesus were to be always dishonored (Constance E. Padwick, Henry Martyn [Chicago: Moody 1980], 225–26). His attitude is reminiscent of David’s, when he declared that “the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me” (Ps. 69:9). When the Lord is reviled and dishonored, those who love Him feel the pain of that reviling and dishonor.

Nothing else in history could possibly match the scorn and defamation that fallen, sinful, rebellious men inflicted upon the Son of God during His incarnation (2:6–8). But in the next three verses, which comprise the second half of this hymn of celebration, the apostle briefly depicts the magnificent and unequaled exaltation that the Father then bestowed on the Son. No passage of Scripture more beautifully portrays the depth of condescension and the height of exaltation experienced by Jesus Christ than does Philippians 2:5–11. The gospel message is not complete apart from these monumental realities.

It was because of “the joy set before Him” that Christ “endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). As Peter explains, the dominant theme of the Old Testament prophets was the suffering of the Messiah and His subsequent glory. They sought intensely “to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ [Messiah] within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow” (1 Peter 1:11).

In 2:1–4, Paul establishes that the practical result of believers following the Lord’s example of humility is unity in the church.

If there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Humility is the key to the unity in the church for which the apostle is so strongly appealing. It is the key for believers to be truly one in Jesus Christ as He is one with the Father (John 17:21).

In this day of overweening pride, self-love, and self-promotion, even among many professing Christians, it is important to understand that “whoever exalts himself shall be humbled” (Matt. 23:12). The self-righteous Pharisee who prayed, “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get,” was merely “praying . . . to himself,” not to God (Luke 18:11–12). Because he exalted himself, God would humble him (v. 14). Just as surely as God “gives grace to the humble,” He “is opposed to the proud” (1 Peter 5:5).

But for those who follow the Lord’s example of humility, who “have this attitude in [themselves] which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5), there is promise of great reward. Like their Master, they will be exalted by their heavenly Father. As Jesus promised: “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:12; cf. Luke 14:11; 18:14). Echoing that principle, James said, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:10); and Peter wrote: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:6). Philippians 2:5–11 is not simply a picture of the humiliation and exaltation of the Son of God. It is also a profound illustration of a divine principle that brings immeasurable blessing to God’s obedient and humble servants. By God’s matchless grace, just as they are humbled with Christ, they also will be glorified with Him. “The glory which You have given Me,” Jesus said, “I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:22).

The central truth of this hymn, as in this epistle and the entire New Testament, is the exalted sovereign lordship of Christ. Paul begins Philippians by proclaiming himself and Timothy to be “bond-servants of . . . the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1–2), and he ends the passage by declaring that one day “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (2:11). That cardinal truth of the gospel will be further developed later in this chapter.

The exaltation of Jesus Christ is nowhere more beautifully portrayed than in the first chapter of Hebrews.

In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. . . . And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.’ . . . But of the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.’” (Heb. 1:2–3, 6, 8; cf. v. 13)

In the last days, only the exalted Son of God, Jesus Christ, will be worthy to take the scroll from His Father’s right hand and open it (Rev. 5:1–7). This scroll, which might be called the title deed to the universe, delineates Christ’s rightful inheritance of all creation, which He made and over which He will rule throughout all eternity (cf. Rev. 11:15). No wonder Paul exulted, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).

The humble, incarnate Savior has been exalted as the almighty and sovereign Lord. Because of that, believers have the assurance that their redemption is certain and that their place in heaven is secured forever. He is also to be obeyed as divine Lord, and honored and worshiped throughout all time and eternity.

In the second half of this hymn, Paul presents four aspects of the Father’s exaltation of the Son: the source (2:9a), the title (2:9b), the response (2:10–11a), and the purpose (2:11b).

THE SOURCE OF CHRIST’S EXALTATION

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, (2:9a)

For this reason refers back to Jesus’ humiliation described in verses 6–8. His exaltation was “the joy set before Him” for which He willingly endured the cross, despised the shame, suffered the hostility of sinners, and was seated “at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2–3). The way to exaltation is always through humiliation. If that principle was true for the Son of God, how much more is it true for His followers?

Highly exalted translates the compound verb huperupso, composed of huper (over) and hupso (to lift, or raise up). God lifted up His beloved Son in the most magnificent way possible. It involved four steps upward: His resurrection, His ascension, His coronation, and His intercession.

First, Jesus was resurrected from the dead. When the women came to the tomb where Jesus had been buried, the angel said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him” (Mark 16:6). Peter explained to his hearers at Pentecost that “this Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32; cf. Rom. 1:4). Later, after being released from prison in Jerusalem, Peter and the other apostles with him testified before the Sanhedrin: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross” (Acts 5:30; cf. 13:33–39). Many years later, Paul wrote that God the Father “raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20).

The second aspect of the Father’s exaltation of Jesus was His ascension. When the Lord appeared to Mary Magdelene after His resurrection He “said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I ascend to My Father and your Father,and My God and your God”’” (John 20:17). Later, after He had given last instructions to the eleven on the Mount of Olives, “He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9; cf. John 14:2; 16:7; Heb. 4:14). As Paul explained to Timothy, Jesus was “taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).

The third aspect of Jesus’ exaltation was His coronation. When giving the Great Commission, Jesus proclaimed, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). Having ascended, Jesus “is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven” (1 Peter 3:22). Peter and the others testified to the Sanhedrin that “[Jesus] is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). As Stephen was about to die, “being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’” (Acts 7:55–56; cf. Heb. 2:9; 10:12).

From heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ forever reigns “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come,” because the Father “put all things in subjection under His feet” (Eph. 1:21–22; cf. 4:10; Pss. 2:8; 89:27; 1 Peter 3:22; Jude 25). Because of His authority and power, Jesus will forever “be Lord both of the dead and of the living,” because it was “to this end Christ died and lived again” (Rom. 14:9). As the “myriads of myriads” of worshipers around the heavenly throne will one day declare: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. . . . The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 5:11–12; 11:15). The end will come “when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:24).

The fourth and final aspect of Jesus’ exaltation is His honored position of High Priest, from which He continually intercedes for believers. Christ, who died and was raised for us and “who is at the right hand of God . . . also intercedes for us” (Rom. 8:34; cf. v. 26). As believers’ great High Priest, “He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting,” the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:25–26; cf. 4:14; 5:1–6; 6:20; 7:21; 8:1–6; 9:24).

For the most part, Jesus’ exaltation involved the restoration of what He had eternally possessed before His incarnation. In His High Priestly Prayer, He implored: “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5). Yet from the passages just cited, as well as from many others, it seems clear that in some ways Jesus received even more in His exaltation than He had surrendered in His incarnation. He was not, of course, any more divine or perfect. It was not possible for Him to be further elevated in any way as far as His essential nature and being are concerned. But because of His perfect redemptive work, the Father bestowed on the Son even more rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities than He had before. The exaltation was therefore more than merely a reversal of the Incarnation. It was the Father’s giving the Son honor and tribute He could receive only after His redemptive sacrifice, which He made in obedience to the Father’s will.

Included in Jesus’ authority and power is that of being the final Judge. “For not even the Father judges anyone,” Jesus explained, “but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father” (John 5:22–23). Peter declared to the newly converted Cornelius and his household that God “ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42; cf. Rom. 2:16; 2 Tim. 4:1). Every human being that has ever lived will stand before Jesus Christ the Judge:

For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son. . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. (John 5:22, 25–29)

Every believer will “appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).

In a way completely incomprehensible to the human mind, Jesus Christ not only became the God-man in the incarnation but also will forever continue to be that. As High Priest, He continually intercedes for all those He saves. Because a priest must represent both God and men, He could not have been believers’ High Priest apart from His deigning to become a man. If He had never been touched with the feelings of their infirmities, including being tempted in every way as they are, He could not have fully identified with them and thereby been able to encourage, strengthen, and encourage them in their temptations (Heb. 2:18; 4:15; 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24).

William Hendriksen cogently describes Jesus’ coronation in the following comment:

He who stood condemned in relation to the divine law (because of the sin of the world which rested on him) has exchanged this penal for the righteous relation to the law. He who was poor has become rich. He who was rejected has been accepted (Rev. 12:5, 10). He who learned obedience has entered upon the actual administration of the power and authority committed to him.

As king, having by his death, resurrection, and ascension achieved and displayed his triumph over his enemies, he now holds in his hands the reins of the universe, and rules all things in the interest of his church (Eph. 1:22, 23). As prophet he through his Spirit leads his own in all the truth. And as priest (High-priest according to the order of Melchizedek) he, on the basis of his accomplished atonement, not only intercedes but actually lives forever to make intercession for those who draw near to God through him (Heb. 7:25). (New Testament Commentary: Exposition of Philippians [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1962], 114. Italics in original.)

THE TITLE OF CHRIST’S EXALTATION

and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (2:9b)

Bestowed is from charizomai, which conveys the idea of giving freely and generously. The Father conferred upon the Son the name which is above every name with the most divinely perfect love. Jesus so completely satisfied the Father in fulfilling the work of His incarnation, in providing redemption for the elect, that He generously granted Him this exalted title. “Having become as much better than the angels,” the writer of Hebrews explains, “He has inherited a more excellent name than they” (Heb. 1:4).

This name was given Him to emphasize His rank above all other beings. It reflects not only His divine essence and nature but also the new and unique privileges mentioned above that the Father gave Him in response to His redemptive work. This name is incomparable, the superlative of superlatives.

Paul does not reveal the supreme name, the name which is above every name, until verse 11, where he declares that “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ” (emphasis added). Lord is the title of majesty, authority, honor, and sovereignty. One day that exalted name will be expanded to “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16). Obviously Lord, used in the sense of ultimate sovereign authority and command, ranks over all other names. Whoever is Lord is over everyone else—and that is precisely the point in so titling the Savior—has absolute supremacy and the right to be obeyed as divine Master.

In the marvelous grace of God, believers not only will be fellow heirs with Jesus Christ but also will share His names. Through the apostle John, God promises: “He who overcomes,” that is, every true believer (1 John 5:4–5), “I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name” (Rev. 3:12; cf. 2:17). When they are glorified, all believers will be stamped with the name of God the Father (“My God”), with the name of heaven (“the city of My God, the New Jerusalem”), and with Christ’s supreme title of Lord (“My new name”). Those names will mark them out, brand them, as it were, as belonging to God and identifying with Him in the fullest and most intimate way.

THE RESPONSE TO CHRIST’S EXALTATION

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, (2:10–11a)

When the Greek word hina (so that) is used with a subjunctive verb (such as kamps, will bow; and exomologstai, will confess) it introduces a purpose clause. Paul is therefore saying: “Jesus is given the name which is above every name for the purpose that, or with the result that, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess the supreme name of Jesus Christ, which is Lord.” It is critical to understand that this response will not be to the name Jesus. A form of Joshua (meaning “Jehovah, or Yahweh saves”), Jesus was a common name in New Testament times. It obviously could not be the unique, much less supreme, name intended by God as a title of exaltation. It is rather at the name of Jesus, that is, at another name (Lord) given to Jesus Christ in His exaltation by the Father, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

There had long been indications of what His supreme name would be. Kurios (“lord”) was a common term of respect in New Testament times, similar to the English word sir but carrying a much higher degree of respect (cf. Matt. 10:24–25; 18:27–34; Luke 12:42–47). During His earthly ministry, Jesus was sometimes respectfully addressed in this way. It seems probable that some of those who called Him “lord” did not, at least when they first encountered Him, consider Him to be more than a great teacher (cf. John 8:11; 9:35–38). Even the Twelve’s understanding of His true identity was gradual and often tentative. And, as Jesus Himself made clear, even calling Him Lord as an acknowledgment of His deity is not necessarily evidence of a saving relationship with Him.

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matt. 7:21–23)

Because the Jews considered God’s name too holy to utter, they substituted the title Lord in place of His personal, covenant name, Yahweh (or Jehovah), whenever it would have been spoken. (Most modern English translations of the Old Testament therefore render the Hebrew YHWH [Yahweh] as LORD.) Consequently, God was called both adonai (“Lord”), a title of divine authority, and YHWH (“LORD”), referring to His covenant name, which has the basic meaning of “I am” (cf. Ex. 3:13–15). When Scripture was read, only a knowledge of the Hebrew text would enable a listener to know which term was involved. In preaching, teaching, or ordinary conversation, a listener could judge only by context.

In the present text, Lord obviously refers to Jesus’ deity and sovereign, exalted authority in the highest sense. It represents the divine title and name as well as all the divine rights, honors, and prerogatives. Ultimately, whether by choice or by force, every creature, human and angelic, will submit to Jesus Christ as the divine and exalted Lord.

In the first act of homage, every knee will bow, just as Isaiah had prophesied some seven hundred years earlier. Through him the Lord declared, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow” (Isa. 45:22–23). Jesus Christ is that divine Savior and Lord, to whom every knee will bow.

Those who will submit to the supreme authority of Jesus Christ will comprise three groups. First will be those who are in heaven, which will include the holy angels and the saints, the redeemed believers of all ages. That heavenly group, of course, has long been worshiping Jesus Christ as Lord (cf. Heb. 1:6; 12:23; Rev. 4:8–11; 5:8–14).

The second group will be those who are on earth, both redeemed and unredeemed. The redeemed will continue their worship of Him that began when they were saved. “When He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day,” He will “be marveled at among all who have believed” (2 Thess. 1:10). At that same time, however, though unwillingly and in terror, the unredeemed will also be forced to bow their knees before Him. He will “[deal] out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, [who then] will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (vv. 8–9).

The third group who will worship the exalted Lord will be those who are under the earth, the fallen angels and unredeemed dead who are awaiting final judgment and eternal punishment. Revelation 20:11–13, perhaps the most frightening passage in all of Scripture, depicts the ultimate fate of the unredeemed:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

This third group will also include “the spirits now in prison,” the demons already bound in the abyss to whom Jesus “went and made proclamation” between His death and resurrection, by which He triumphed over them (1 Peter 3:19; cf. Col. 2:14–15).

As Isaiah predicted (Isa. 45:23), in the second step of this universal worship of the exalted Son of God, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Glssa (tongue) is frequently used, as here, to represent a language. No matter what their language, every human and angelic being will declare Jesus’ lordship. The holy angels, the redeemed saints in heaven and on earth, and all the enemies of God on earth and in hell, forever confined by His unbreakable power that holds them in eternal punishment, will bow their knees before His sovereign authority. Even the damned demons, including Satan, will have no choice but to agree with and confess the reality that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Exomologe (will confess) is an intensive form of homologe (to confess, agree with) and refers to an open, public declaration. At the time about which Paul is here speaking, however, such a confession will not lead to salvation, because that supreme blessing will already have been received or forever forfeited. Before death or the Lord’s return, the promise is that “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). But as the apostle makes clear later in that same letter, in the day of judgment that confession will not change the spiritual status of those making it. Quoting Isaiah, he says, “For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall give praise to God’” (Rom. 14:11; cf. Isa. 45:23). On the lips of those who belong to God, this will be a willing, continuing, and loving declaration of allegiance and adoration. For those who have rejected Him, the confession will be unwilling but irresistible, a compelled acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as the sovereign Lord of the universe by those under His immutable judgment.

Jesus already possesses His full divine title and authority, but it is not yet the Father’s time for that authority to be fully manifested. Jesus already sits at the Father’s right hand on His heavenly throne, but not everything has yet been brought into subjection to Him (cf. 1 Cor. 15:27–28). While there is time, the Savior continues to call men and women to Himself in saving faith, to proclaim and receive Him willingly as Lord. Paul rejoiced that he had “found mercy, so that in me as the foremost [of sinners], Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:16).

At Jesus’birth, the angel announced to the shepherds that “today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Jesus told His disciples, “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am” (John 13:13), and after the Resurrection Thomas confessed Him as “My Lord and my God!” (20:28). At Pentecost Peter proclaimed, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36; cf. 10:36). Paul told the Romans: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9; cf. v. 12). Later in the same letter he said, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (14:9; cf. v. 11). He reminded the Corinthians that “there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Cor. 8:6; cf. 12:3; 15:57).

Contrary to much popular teaching and preaching, Scripture nowhere speaks of a person making Jesus Lord. Although many people who use that phrase are merely referring to believers’ obedient submission to Jesus’sovereign authority, such expressions are seriously misleading and confusing. The problem is especially serious because some evangelicals maintain that confessing Jesus as Lord is not an integral part of saving faith. They wrongly view that as an optional, though desirable, step that believers should take sometime after they are saved. The notion is that it is possible to be saved by confessing Jesus as Savior but not as commanding, ruling Lord. But as just cited, it was God the Father who “has made Him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), and in order to be saved it is necessary for a person to “confess . . . Jesus as Lord, and believe in [his] heart that God raised Him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9), a truth repeated a few verses later: “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. 13). Acknowledging Jesus as Lord must include submission and obedience, because, by definition, the title of Lord assumes it.

The centrality to the gospel of the lordship of Jesus Christ is abundantly clear. In the New Testament, He is called Lord some 747 times. In the book of Acts, He is referred to as Savior only twice, but as Lord 92 times. The first known creed of the early church was “Jesus is Lord!” The lordship of Jesus Christ is the very essence of Christianity and the necessary confession of anyone who desires to be saved. Jesus frequently reiterated the necessity of obedience as an element of saving faith (Matt. 7:22–27; 19:21–22; Luke 14:25–33; John 8:31; 14:23–24; 15:14).

Jesus is Savior so that He may be Lord, and He will not save those for whom He cannot be Lord. As mentioned above, even verbally professing Him as Lord without allowing Him to be Lord is worthless. Early in His ministry He declared:

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matt. 7:21–23; cf. Luke 6:46–49)

Jesus was not, of course, teaching works righteousness—that salvation comes through obedience—but that a profession of faith that produces no true obedience to His lordship is worthless.

The argument that the title Lord refers only to the fact of Jesus’ deity is spurious in the extreme, robbing the term of its essential meaning. By definition, Lord denotes a master, a supreme authority, a sovereign ruler. Not only that, but the reality of deity itself inherently carries those same meanings. The notion of some critics of “lordship salvation,” that confessing Jesus as Savior is an act of faith, whereas confessing Him as Lord is a form of works righteousness, is absurd. Both saving confessions are made possible only through the gracious provision and power of God (Eph. 2:8; 1 Cor. 12:3).

I have commented on this very essential and often maligned requirement of Jesus’lordship in my book The Gospel According to Jesus:

When we come to Jesus for salvation, we come to the One who is Lord over all. Any message that omits this truth cannot be called the gospel. It is a defective message that presents a savior who is not Lord, a redeemer who does not demonstrate authority over sin, a weakened, sickly messiah who cannot command those he rescues.

The gospel according to Jesus is nothing like that. It represents Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and demands that those who would receive him take him for who he is. In the words of Puritan John Flavel, “The gospel offer of Christ includes all his offices, and gospel faith just so receives him; to submit to him as well as to be redeemed by him; to imitate him in the holiness of his life, as well as to reap the purchases and fruits of his death. It must be an entire receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

A. W. Tozer wrote in the same vein, “To urge men and women to believe in a divided Christ is bad teaching, for no one can receive half of Christ, or a third of Christ, or a quarter of the Person of Christ! We are not saved by believing in an office nor in a work.”

He is Lord, and those who refuse him as Lord cannot use him as Savior. Everyone who receives him must surrender to his authority, for to say we receive Christ when in fact we reject his right to reign over us is utter absurdity. It is a futile attempt to hold onto sin with one hand and take Jesus with the other. What kind of salvation is it if we are left in bondage to sin? (Rev. ed. [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], 235–36)

R. A. Torrey, second president of Moody Bible Institute, dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and a prominent evangelist, advised those who witness for Christ: “Lead [an unbeliever] as directly as you can to accept Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, and to surrender to Him as his Lord and Master” (How to Work for Christ [Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, n.d.], 32). W. H. Griffith Thomas, a cofounder of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote:

Our relation to Christ is based on His death and resurrection and this means His Lordship. Indeed the Lordship of Christ over the lives of His people was the very purpose for which He died and rose again. We have to acknowledge Christ as our Lord. Sin is rebellion, and it is only as we surrender to Him as Lord that we receive our pardon from Him as our Savior. We have to admit Him to reign on the throne of the heart, and it is only when He is glorified in our hearts as King that the Holy Spirit enters and abides. (St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.], 371)

THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST’S EXALTATION

to the glory of God the Father. (2:11b)

Finally, as for everything in the saga of redemption, the purpose of Jesus’ exaltation is the glory of God the Father. To proclaim the sovereign lordship of His Son is the greatest glory that can be given to God the Father. Christ’s universal acknowledgment as Lord does not make the Father jealous. Instead, that is the supreme objective and fulfillment of the Father’s divine will as He demonstrates His perfect love for the Son.

Herein, of course, is a great mystery, a mystery that confounds everyone who presumes to fully understand the Trinity. The three Persons are but one God, wholly united and indivisible. They never compete, disagree, or differ with one another in the slightest degree. Men therefore are not called to worship God through Jesus, but to worship Jesus as God. Jesus explained that “The Son of Man [is] glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself” (John 13:31–32; cf. 14:13; Rom. 9:5; 11:36; 16:27). It is the Father’s and the Son’s supreme pleasure to glorify each other. In His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You. . . . I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:1,4–5). Whoever honors the Son honors the Father, and whoever dishonors the Son dishonors the Father (John 5:23). Throughout all eternity, the Father will continue to say of the exalted Lord Jesus Christ: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17; cf. 17:5).