00 Overview
title: “Chapter 0: The Name Above Every Name”
Section titled “title: “Chapter 0: The Name Above Every Name””The Name Above Every Name
Section titled “The Name Above Every Name”“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” --- Philippians 2:9 (KJV)
The Question
Section titled “The Question”What exactly did God give Jesus after the cross?
Paul says God “highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9). But Jesus was already God. He was already “in the form of God” (Phil 2:6). He was the Word who “was God” (John 1:1). He was the one “by whom also he made the worlds” (Heb 1:2). What could the Father give the Son that the Son did not already possess?
The answer runs through the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and it changes how we understand not only Christ’s exaltation but our own calling as believers.
The Ancient Pattern
Section titled “The Ancient Pattern”Scripture reveals a pattern so consistent it can only be by design. A faithful servant is placed in obscurity. He is tested --- often through suffering. His wisdom and loyalty are demonstrated under pressure. And then, at the appointed time, he is elevated to authority and given a new name or title that marks his new status.
Joseph goes from the pit to Potiphar’s house to prison, and then to the right hand of Pharaoh, who gives him the name Zaphenath-paneah and his own signet ring (Gen 41:42-45). Moses spends forty years in the desert, then stands before Pharaoh as one whom God says “I have made thee a god to Pharaoh” (Exod 7:1). David is anointed as a shepherd boy, hunted for years, and crowned king over all Israel. Solomon receives the name Jedidiah --- “beloved of the LORD” (2 Sam 12:25) --- and sits on the throne of his father.
The pattern is always the same: faithful service, suffering, demonstration, elevation, delegated sovereignty.
Christ fulfills it perfectly. He who was “in the form of God” did not grasp at equality but “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7). He was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil 2:8). And then --- “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9).
(Chapter 1 traces the ancient pattern through seven biblical figures in full detail.)
The Name
Section titled “The Name”What is this name? In Jewish tradition, there is only one “name above every name” --- the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, the covenant name revealed to Moses at the burning bush: “I AM THAT I AM” (Exod 3:14). When Jews spoke reverently of “the Name” (ha-Shem), they meant this name alone.
Paul makes the identification explicit. He writes that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:10-11). This is a direct quotation of Isaiah 45:23, where YHWH says of himself: “Unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Paul takes a passage about the unique, non-transferable worship of YHWH and applies it to Jesus.
This is not a metaphor. It is not an honorary title. Paul is saying that the risen Christ received the divine name itself --- the authority and identity that belongs to God alone --- as a gift from the Father, earned through obedience.
Jesus did not merely resume his pre-incarnate glory. He earned something new. Not a new nature --- he was always God --- but a new name, a new position, a new function in the divine economy: Lord of all creation, with every knee bowing and every tongue confessing.
(Chapter 2 provides the full exegesis of Philippians 2:6-11 and the Isaiah 45:23 connection.)
The Sacred Names
Section titled “The Sacred Names”The Bible treats names as revelations of nature and mission, not just labels. God reveals himself progressively through his names: El Shaddai (God Almighty), YHWH (the covenant God), Adonai (Lord and Master), El Elyon (God Most High). Each name discloses something about his character.
The same pattern operates in human lives. Abram becomes Abraham --- “father of many nations.” Jacob the deceiver becomes Israel --- “he who strives with God.” Simon becomes Peter --- “the rock.” Saul the persecutor becomes Paul the apostle. In every case, the new name marks a new identity and a new calling.
This reaches its climax in Revelation, where believers are promised not one but three new names: “the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem… and my own new name” (Rev 3:12). The name that Christ earned through obedience, he shares with his people.
(Chapter 3 explores the theology of divine names throughout Scripture.)
The Great Timeline
Section titled “The Great Timeline”The exaltation of Christ is not a single moment but an unfolding drama in four acts.
Act 1: Pre-Incarnate Glory. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Before creation, the Son existed in full divine glory.
Act 2: Incarnation and Humiliation. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He “made himself of no reputation,” veiling his glory in human flesh, becoming “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil 2:7-8).
Act 3: Exaltation and Naming. “God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Phil 2:9). This is the moment of cosmic enthronement: the crucified Galilean carpenter is declared Lord of all creation.
Act 4: The “Until” Period. “He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Cor 15:25). We live now in the “until” --- the time between Christ’s exaltation and the consummation. He reigns with delegated authority. His enemies are being subdued. And believers participate in his reign: “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6).
The timeline ends not with the loss of Christ’s authority but with its completion. “When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). The mission of delegated sovereignty is fulfilled.
(Chapter 4 traces the full timeline from eternity past to eternity future.)
Wonder and Worship
Section titled “Wonder and Worship”The most stunning realization of this study is not intellectual but devotional. The Son of God descended from equality with the Father to the lowest point of human experience --- “even the death of the cross” --- and was exalted not back to where he was, but higher. He earned the name above every name. He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess.
And the promise of the gospel is that this is not just Christ’s story. It is ours. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev 3:21). We are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). We receive new names (Rev 2:17). We are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6).
The pattern that runs through all of Scripture --- faithful service in obscurity, testing through suffering, and elevation to authority --- is not just a historical curiosity. It is the shape of every life surrendered to God. The ancient template that produced Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon finds its perfect fulfillment in Christ and its continuing echo in every believer who follows him.
(Chapter 5 unfolds the full devotional and theological implications.)
For the Reader
Section titled “For the Reader”This study traces a single thread from Genesis to Revelation: the pattern of faithful service, suffering, and exaltation, culminating in Christ receiving the divine name and sharing it with his people. It is not primarily an academic argument. It is an invitation to wonder.
If the God of the universe emptied himself, became a servant, died on a cross, and was given the name above every name --- and if that same God promises to share his name, his throne, and his nature with those who follow him --- then nothing in the Christian life is wasted. Every act of faithful service in obscurity, every suffering endured with patience, every moment of obedience when no one is watching --- all of it follows the ancient pattern. And the pattern always ends in exaltation.
“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” --- Revelation 3:5 (KJV)
For the full study, begin with Chapter 1: The Ancient Pattern, which traces the biblical pattern through seven lives. Or see the At a Glance page for a one-page summary.