“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”
– Philippians 2:9 NASB
With all the praise and worship seen in the Gospels through Revelation, it is interesting that the Greek word (hupersupsoo), and translated “highly exalted” in this passage, is only used here in the New Testament.
Thayer defines hupersupsoo this way[1]:
1) metaphorically to exalt to the highest rank and power, raise to supreme majesty;
2) to extol most highly.
Thus, the Father highly exalted Jesus; that is, He exalted His Son in the highest rank and power and bestowed upon Him the name which is above every name.
However, there was a reason for the Father’s action, as seen by the first phrase of this Scripture. “For this reason also” penned the Apostle Paul.
For what reason?
Why did the Father extol Jesus most highly and give Him a name above all others?
The answer is seen in the preceding verses,
“Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”
– Philippians 2:6-9 NASB
Through His humility, Jesus was highly exalted. “He stripped himself of the insignia of majesty” (Lightfoot)[2] and received a name above any other name.
A.T. Robertson offers an intriguing thought concerning Jesus being “highly exalted”:
“Because of Christ’s voluntary humiliation God lifted him above or beyond (huper) the state of glory which he enjoyed before the Incarnation. What glory did Christ have after the Ascension that he did not have before in heaven? What did he take back to heaven that he did not bring? Clearly his humanity. He returned to heaven the Son of Man as well as the Son of God.”[3]
In essence, the humiliation of humanity, and all that Jesus willingly did in His humanness, resulted in the eternal esteem of a name like no other…forevermore.
And that is why every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
