<p>2:10 <i>That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth</i>- These words are alluding to Is. 45:23,24: &ldquo;...unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength&quot;. We all find humility difficult. But before the height of His exaltation, a height which came as a result of the depth of the degradation of the cross, we should bow our knees in an unfeigned humility and realization of our sinfulness, and thankful recognition of the fact that through Him we are counted righteous. The reference in Phil. 2:10,11 to every knee bowing and every tongue confessing the Lordship of Jesus is perhaps a reference back to the great commission to take Him to all peoples. That day when every knee would bow to the Lord Jesus will be the result of the outcome of His exaltation. A grasp of who the Lord Jesus really is and the height of His present exaltation will naturally result in a confession of Him to the world, as well as a deep personal obedience to His word and will (Heb. 2:1).</p><p>In Phil. 2:10, the Lord Jesus is said to have been given power over all beings in heaven, earth and the nether&ndash;world. The Romans understood the world to be divided into these three spheres of the cosmos. But this passage is based upon Is. 45:23, which says that God has total supremacy &ndash; and this has been granted to His Son. As I understand it, Paul is reasoning that if God is all powerful, and if that power has been given to the Lord Jesus, then whatever cosmology there is around, e.g. belief in a nether&ndash;world, well, in that case, Jesus has all power over that as well. The same argument applies to demons. If they exist, well the essence is that they are well and truly under the Lord&rsquo;s control and aren&rsquo;t essentially powerful. Paul doesn&rsquo;t so much ridicule the idea of a nether&ndash;world, rather he takes the view, as Jesus did in His dealings with the demon issue, that God&rsquo;s power is so great that their existence is effectively not an issue.</p>