Texts in Conversation
Isaiah describes all nations bowing and confessing loyalty to God alone, presenting a vision of universal acknowledgment of divine authority. Philippians adapts this language to express a picture of universal loyalty to Jesus.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Isaiah 45:23
Septuagint
21 If they will declare, let them draw near, that they may know together, who has caused these things to be heard from the beginning: then was it told you. I am God, and there is not another beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none but me. 22 Turn to me, and you shall be saved, you that come from the end of the earth: I am God, and there is none other. 23 By myself I swear, righteousness shall surely proceed out of my mouth; my words shall not be frustrated; that to me every knee shall bend, and every tongue shall confess to God, 24 saying, Righteousness and glory shall come to him: and all that separate themselves shall be ashamed. 25 By the Lord they will be justified, and in God shall all the seed of the children of Israel be glorified.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Philippians 2:10
New Testament
8 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross! 9 As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 12 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence,
Date: 56–63 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Paul’s presentation of the Messiah as “Wisdom” in 1 and 2 Corinthians and as a preexistent heavenly being in Philippians is analogous to the depiction of the heavenly Messiah in the Similitudes of Enoch ... In both cases, the Messiah is portrayed as divine, both functionally and, to some degree, ontologically. But in neither case is the preexistent figure equal to God. Thus, we do not yet seem to have an expression of binitarianism in Paul’s letters. Hurtado also points out that Philippians 2:10 is an adaptation of Isaiah 45:23. He infers from this allusion that: The monotheistic thrust of Jewish tradition that is stridently expressed in Isaiah 45:23 is adapted to express in equally strong terms a new and remarkable “binitarian” form of monotheism, with two closely linked but distinguishable figures: God and Jesus. But this inference seems to be an overinterpretation. The worship of the God of Israel alone can, in the Second Temple period, be combined with obeisance to God’s primary agent, the Messiah ..."
Adela Yarbro Collins, “How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?: A Reply,” in Israel's God and Rebecca's Children: Christology and Community in Early Judaism and Christianity, ed. Helen K. Bond (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007), 55–66.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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