Paul’s High View of Jesus

One of the joys of the Christian life is to mine the riches of the Bible’s appeals to Jesus’ divinity— some of which can be tricky to discern, others which are staring us in the face. One appeal, one that’s glaring at us, is found in Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi. In chapter 3, Paul issues a clarion call to humility in view of Jesus’ example in 2:6-11. After Paul highlights the humility of Jesus in his incarnation, describing him as “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” Paul points to the day of his exaltation, when the whole world will take a knee in homage to Jesus. He writes these words:

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Most of us are familiar with this famous flourish. But how many of us know that Paul is quoting the Prophet Isaiah when he writes these words? Isaiah 45:22-23 reads:

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’”

Paul attributes this grand declaration of God, pointing to the end of history, to Jesus Christ. The same one who says, “For I am God and there is no other” is the one who was “obedient to death, even death on a cross.” This is the divinity of Christ staring us in the face. This is Paul’s view of Jesus—that He is the God before whom every creature will lie prostrate. Dear friends, put this little gem in your pocket and bring it out the next time someone says that Jesus is merely a good man. Say something like, “I have it on good authority that Jesus is Lord of all.” If they ask, “Says who?” say to them, “That great persecutor turned church planter—Paul was his name. He told me.”