According to the God-breathed writings, Christ in his post-resurrected heavenly exaltation possesses the name above all names:

“That is why God has now lifted him so high (hyperhypsosen), and has given him the name BEYOND ALL NAMES,” Philippians 2:9 J. B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

Jesus’ exaltation places him far above all names and powers both in this present age and the age to come. I.e., Christ’s exalted status places him far beyond all creation, a position which he holds forever and ever!

“and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ, by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 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. And He put ALL THINGS in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head OVER ALL THINGS to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:19-23

Compare this with the following passage:

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And came near before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14

The NT identifies Jesus as this very Son of Man that reigns forever over an indestructible kingdom and whom all nations must worship:

“… Again the high priest was questioning Him and said to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” Mark 14:61b-62

“Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” 1 Peter 3:21-22

Remarkably, the status which Christ now has is that which the Hebrew Bible ascribes to YHWH alone:

“For thou art Lord most high over all the earth; thou art greatly exalted (hyperhypsothe) above all gods.” Psalm 96:9 LXX

Furthermore, since YHWH’s name is the only name that is exalted on high,

“Let them praise the name of Yahweh, For His name ALONE is set on high; His splendor is above earth and heaven.” Psalm 148:13

And since Jesus possesses the name above all names this essentially means that Jesus is YHWH Incarnate!

This is further reinforced by the fact that the blessed Apostle states that every created being must and will worship Jesus as Lord.

“so that at the name of Jesus ‘every knee shall bow’, whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. And that is why, in the end, ‘every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ’ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:10-11 PHILLIPS

Here’s another rendering:

“Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that ALL CREATED BEINGS in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.” The Message (MSG)

What may not be apparent is that Paul has attributed to the risen Christ the following monotheistic text, where YHWH swears that every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance to him, in recognition of his being the only just God who saves!

“Declare and draw near with your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has made this heard from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, Yahweh? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. 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, every tongue will swear allegiance.” Isaiah 45:21-23

Interestingly, John the Apostle sees a vision in which every created being in all of creation worships God and the Lamb Jesus Christ:

“And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.’ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ And EVERY CREATED THING which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and ALL THINGS IN THEM, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, AND TO THE LAMB, be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever.’ And the four living creatures kept saying, ‘Amen.’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.” Revelation 5:8-14

Therefore, what Paul stated should and will eventually happen, the Apostle John actually saw taking place!

The fact that Jesus is distinguished from every created being in creation confirms beyond any reasonable doubt that he is not a mere creature according to the inspired Scriptures. Rather, the Holy Bible depicts Christ as being on the same side of the Creator-creature divide that the Father belongs to, which is precisely what Paul wrote in the following verse:

“Yet for us there is only one God. He is the Father. All things (ta panta) come from him. He is the one for whom we live. And there is only one Lord. He is Jesus Christ. He made all things (ta panta). He is the one who gives us life.” 1 Corinthians 8:6 Worldwide English (WE)

Note the way the following versions translate this text:

“yet for us there is only one God, the Father, FROM WHOM everything came into being and for whom we live. And there is only one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, THROUGH WHOM everything came into being and through whom we live.” International Standard Version (ISV)

“But for us, ‘There is only one God, the Father. Everything came from him, and we live for him. There is only one Lord, Yeshua Christ. Everything came into being through him, and we live because of him.’” Names of God Bible (NOG)

Seeing that all things, meaning all creation, were brought into existence by the Father through the agency of the Son, this means that both God and Christ are the one true Creator of all things. Moreover, since the Father and the Son brought all creation into being this also means that both God and Christ were existing from before creation itself, and therefore are both eternal and uncreated by nature.

Here’s a helpful breakdown of the logical implications of the foregoing texts:  

1. Every created thing will give both God and Christ the exact same worship and for the exact same duration.
2. All creation came into being by God through Christ.
3. This means that both God and Christ are differentiated and distinguished from all of creation.
4. For God and Christ to be distinguished from every created thing in existence this means that neither God nor Christ is created.
5. The only Being that is uncreated is YHWH God Almighty.
6. Since Christ is uncreated, he must therefore be YHWH God Almighty that became a human being.
7. Christ is not the Father, who is also uncreated.
8. This, therefore, means that both God the Father and Christ the Son are the one true God YHWH.
9. Since the Father and the Son are not the same Person this means that YHWH God Almighty is not a singular divine Person but is, rather, an infinite multi-Personal Being.  

GOD BECOMES A SERVANT

The inspired Apostle helps us appreciate the reason why the Father would elevate his Incarnate Son to a status, which belongs uniquely to YHWH alone:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God (en morphe theou hyperchon), did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8 New International Version (NIV)

Christ has always been existing as God in nature who then willfully humbled himself to become a human being for the express purpose of dying on a cross.

Here are two additional renderings of this passage:

“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” MSG

“For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man.” Philippians 2:6-7 PHILLIPS

Hence, Jesus isn’t a mere man who was granted a status that he did not deserve, or which did not belong to him by divine right. Rather, Jesus is God that chose to be born as a human being who then later returned to the position and glory that he had already possessed, but which he voluntarily set aside. The only difference being is that Christ now exercises that authority as the Godman, being both truly divine and human. Whereas prior to his human conception and birth, the Son had been reigning as God and did not have a human nature.

FURTHER READING

How can Jesus be God if he is given the name Lord only at his exaltation?

Jesus said that all authority was given to him, … which means that Jesus cannot be God.

“The Form of a god”? The Translation of Morphē Theou in Philippians 2:6

Philippians 2:6 In Various English Translations

Carmen Christi: Worshiping Christ as God

Revisiting the Deity of Christ in Light of the Carmen Christi Pt. 1, Pt. 2

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