<p>2:9 <i>Wherefore God highly exalted him- </i>The Lord Jesus &quot;humbled himself&quot;, and was later &quot;highly exalted&quot; (Phil. 2:9), practising His earlier teaching that he who would humble himself and take the lowest seat at the meal would be exalted higher (Mt. 23:11,12; Lk. 14:10,11). The Lord Jesus at the Last Supper humbled Himself from the seat of honour which He had and took not only the lowest seat, but even lower than that: He washed their feet as the servant who didn't even have a place at the meal. And both James and Peter saw the Lord's humbling Himself at that supper and His subsequent exaltation as a direct pattern for us to copy (James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6). Paul takes things one stage even further. He speaks of how he humbled himself, so that<i>his hopelessly weak and ungrateful brethren</i> might be exalted (2 Cor. 11:7). He is evidently alluding to the Gospel passages which speak of how we must humble ourselves so that <i>we</i> may be exalted (Mt. 23:11,12; Lk. 14:10,11). But Paul sees <i>his</i> exaltation, which his humbling would enable, as being identical to <i>theirs</i>. He doesn't say: 'I humbled myself so that I may be exalted'. He speaks of how he humbled himself so that <i>they</i> might be exalted.</p><p>We can understand 2 Cor. 8:9 in this same context- the choice of Jesus to 'become poor' for our sakes is held up as an example to the Corinthians, to inspire their financial giving. The choice is whether or not to live out the cross in our lives- rather than deciding whether or not to come down from Heaven to earth. Jesus gave up the 'riches' of His relationship with God, calling Him &quot;abba&quot;, to the 'poverty' of the cross, in saying &quot;My God, Why have you forsaken me?&quot; (Mt. 27:46). Poverty was associated with crucifixion, rather than with a God coming from Heaven to earth: &quot;Riches buy off judgment, and the poor are condemned to the cross&quot; (Quoted in Martin Hengel, <i>Crucifixion In The Ancient World</i> (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977) p. 60 note 15. ). It is Christ's cross and resurrection, and not this supposed 'incarnation', which is repeatedly emphasized as being the source of our salvation (Rom. 5:15,21; Gal. 2:20; 3:13; Eph. 1:6; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18). This is a far cry from the teaching of Irenaeus, one of the so-called 'church fathers', that Christ &quot;attached man to God by his own incarnation&quot; (<i>Against Heresies</i> 5.1.1). The New Testament emphasis is that we were reconciled to God by the <i>death</i> of His Son. The whole of Phil. 2 is about the Lord's attitude in His <i>death</i> and not at His <i>birth</i>. It was <i>after</i> His birth but <i>before </i>His death that the Lord could talk of his freedom of decision as to whether or not to lay down His life (Jn. 10:18)- and it is this decision which Phil. 2:9-11 is glorifying.</p><p><i>And gave to him the name which is above every name</i>- These verses are taken to mean that Jesus was God, but at his birth he became a man. It is significant that this is almost the only passage which can be brought forward to explain away the &lsquo;missing link&rsquo; in Trinitarian reasoning - how Jesus transferred himself from being God in Heaven to being a baby in Mary&rsquo;s womb. Yet &ldquo;God also has highly exalted&rdquo; Jesus &ldquo;and given him a name&rdquo; (:9) shows that Jesus did not exalt himself - God did it. It follows that he was not in a state of being exalted before God did this to him, at his resurrection.</p><p>Jesus carried the name of Yahweh when on earth- He came in the Father's Name (Jn. 5:43) and did and said many things which previously had been specific to Yahweh. Thus He walked on the water and stilled the waves as Yahweh was said to do (Ps. 107:29);&nbsp;yet Phil. 2:9 implies He was given the Name at His ascension: &quot;God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him the Name which is above every name&quot;. Does this suggest there are degrees of God manifestation and degrees of bearing His Name?</p><p>Peter preached in and about the name of Jesus- this is emphasized (Acts 2:31,38; 3:6,16; 4:10,12,17,18,30; 5:28,40,41; 10:43). The excellence of knowing Him and His character and the wonder of the exalted Name given on His ascension (Phil. 2:9; Rev. 3:12) lead Peter to witness. Because of His exaltation, we confess Jesus as Lord to men, as we later will to God at judgment (Phil. 2:9). According as we confess Him before men, so our judgment will reflect this.</p><p>Phil. 2:9 in the AV says that the Lord Jesus has a name &ldquo;above&quot; every name. Yet His Name surely cannot be &ldquo;above&quot; that of Yahweh. The Greek for &ldquo;above&quot; is usually translated &ldquo;for the sake of&quot;, and I would suggest we read Phil. 2:9 as saying that the name of Jesus is for the sake of every name, in that every man and woman was potentially comprehended in His all-representative sacrifice. By baptism into the name of Jesus, they confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. There was and is no other name given under Heaven by which men can be saved; &ldquo;every name&quot; under the whole Heaven must take on the name of Jesus in baptism. This is why Acts associates His exaltation (Acts 2:33; 5:31) and His new name (Acts 2:21,38; 3:6,16; 4:10,12,18,30; 5:40) with an appeal for men and women to be baptized into that Name. Realizing the meaning of the Name of Jesus and the height of His exaltation meant that they realized how &ldquo;all men&quot; could have their part in a sacrifice which represented &ldquo;all men&quot;. And thus they were motivated to preach to &ldquo;all men&quot;. And thus Paul&rsquo;s whole preaching ministry was a bearing of the Name of Jesus before the Gentiles (Acts 9:15).<br />Christ as our representative means that He is the representative of the church as a whole, the entire body of persons who are &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo;, we each have some unique contribution to His body upon earth. This is why He suffered <i>so</i> much- so that He found a fellow feeling true with every tempted mind which is in Him. In society and the workplace, nobody is irreplaceable, no cog can somehow not be replicated albeit in a slightly different form. But the part we have to play in Him is unique and in one sense irreplaceable by anyone else. He has been highly exalted and given a name <i>huper</i> every name, that each of us should bow our knees before Him (Phil. 2:9). <i>Huper</i> here is usually translated &ldquo;above&rdquo;, but perhaps the idea is rather that through His representative sufferings, the Lord has now a Name <i>for</i> every one of our names / personalities / histories / characters. He tasted death <i>for</i> every man (Heb. 2:9), and we are therefore to be <i>for</i> Him and all that are in Him. His whole suffering <i>for</i> us was to leave us an example, that we should follow in His steps to the cross (1 Pet. 2:21). Forasmuch as He suffered <i>for</i> us, we are to arm ourselves likewise with that same mind (1 Pet. 4:1- this is repeating the teaching and reasoning of Phil. 2, that we should have the same mind in us which was in Jesus at the time of His death). As He laid down His life <i>for</i> us, so we should lay down our lives <i>for</i> our brethren (1 Jn. 3:16)- in all the myriad of large and small sacrifices this requires, from phone calls through thoughtful comments and cash generosity to literal death <i>huper</i> others if that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s required. His whole priestly, reconciliatory work is to be ours. Not that <i>we</i> are Saviours of the world in ourselves, but we are to do this work <i>huper</i> Him and <i>huper</i> this world.</p>