Was just out at church and came home picked up my bible and read some thing. It really jumped out at me so I thought I would share it ... it never made sense to me before it was always very confusing. If it confuses you wait for the explination because i feel it may let you see what I saw in it. In Philippians 2:5 it says: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking on the form and likeness of a bond servant, and comming in the likeness of men.
The bit where it says he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, jumped out at me. When some one steals something, they take it, they take it away from the owner and they take it to them self. Here it says Jesus did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. He did not consider that he was stealing by saying he was equal to God. If we were to say we were equal to God we would be stealing, we would be taking something that belonged to God, and taking it to our selves. If we did that then it could rightly be said of us we were stealing from God. It is saying here of Jesus he did not consider he was stealing by saying he was equal to God, because he was. But he made himself a servant, comming in the likeness of men. So that is how we should think, God has given us his spirit, and great blessing, but we should be willing to serve, to take on a servants attitude.
Why is it then that it says "therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every toungue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father".
It is not because he humbled him self to the point of death that he received the name, which I had always thought. He already had it. The word "Therefore" refers to what comes before not just the single verese before but all of it. Jesus did not consider he was stealing by saying he was God. That is why he has the name at which every knee should bow. The way I read it is, Jesus said he was God, he did not think he was stealing by doing this, he became a man, was obedient until death, to save us. An now he has a new name, which is highly exalted (he did not have it before, because Jesus was not previously a known name for God). That is why all tongues will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, because the name Jesus is a name of God. To further suport this I once did a study on the word for Lord used in Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord is the greek work Kyros. It is Kyrios, the NWT translates the word Kyrios to Jehovah everywhere but not here. But Jesus is Kyrios, Jesus is Jehovah, but it is his new name to which every knee should bow. The new, and highly exalted name of Jesus. You are not stealing from God by calling Jesus Kyros, Paul did not think so.