that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, [ASV]Phil 2:10
You may be surprised to find I have moved on to the next verse. “But Ian, what about our choice for the Name that is above every name? You haven’t told us what name Paul was referring to.” No, you are right, I haven’t. I wrote in the previous Gem: “I told you in the last Gem that I would give the answer in this Gem. The answer will be delayed until we reach the appropriate point.” Quite simply we haven’t reached the appropriate point yet. Furthermore I only have a trickle of readers who have ventured a guess or a choice. I think perhaps you are concerned you will make the wrong choice. But you can’t make the wrong choice if the world’s experts have come up with these options. Some key NT expert over the years will agree with you. Take the risk and make a choice. I will return to unpack this verse further at the right time. See what you can make of it in the interim.
For the moment I am going to begin the examination of the next verse, Philippians 2:10 which also includes some interesting features. Exactly what is Paul meaning by the nuances found in this verse.
Here is the Greek Interlinearised for you
ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι ᾿Ιησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων,
{so that} in the name {of Jesus} every knee {should bend} {of heavenly beings} and {of earthly beings} and {of under the earth beings}
Help from the Versions
- (ASV) that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
- (BBE) So that at the name of Jesus every knee may be bent, of those in heaven and those on earth and those in the underworld,
- (CEV) So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
- (CJB) that in honour of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow—in heaven, on earth and under the earth—
- (ERV) God did this so that every person will bow down to honour the name of Jesus. Everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow.
- (ESV) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
- (GNB) And so, in honour of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees,
- (GW) so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will kneel
- (ISV) And so, when Jesus’ name is called, the knees of everyone should fall wherever they’re residing.
- (JUB) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth,
- (KJV) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
- (LITV) that at the name of Jesus “every knee should bow,” of heavenly ones, and earthly ones, and ones under the earth,
- (MKJV) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly ones, and of earthly ones, and of ones under the earth;
- (MSG) 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,
- (Murdock) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth;
- (NLT) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
- (RV) that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
- (TLB) that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
- (TLV) that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth,
- (TPT) The authority of the name of Jesus causes every knee to bow in reverence! Everything and everyone will one day submit to this name—in the heavenly realm, in the earthly realm, and in the demonic realm.
- (TS2009) that at the Name of יהושע (Yehoshua) every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
You can see by a cursory look at the above versions we have two issues to resolve in this verse.
- Should the Preposition [ἐν] be translated “in” or “at”?
- Whose Knees will Bow to Jesus?
The Preposition Paul Used (In or At)
- What does “bowing in the name of Jesus” actually mean or signify?
- For that matter, what does “bowing at the name of Jesus” mean?
Bowing “in the name of Jesus” is an unusual use of the preposition [ἐν] “in”.
- Why did Paul choose that preposition to make his point?
- What was his purpose behind the use of that preposition?
It is a difficult one to grasp.
The actual word used [ἐν] literally gives us “bowing in the name of Jesus”. What does that mean? Most of the translations substitute at in the place of in. Did you notice some of the slick moves by the translators to get around the difficult reading of the literal Greek text. Some of the translators have added explanation to the text.
- in honour of the name of Jesus
- in honour of the name given Yeshua
- every person will bow down to honour the name of Jesus
- when Jesus’ name is called
- all created beings will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ
Oh so that is what “in the name of Jesus” means is it?
Well if that is the case, does the phrase “at the name of Jesus” make it any clearer. Do some thinking of your own. I will leave you until the next Gem to imagine what Paul’s use of “in the name of Jesus” instead of “at the name of Jesus” might signify.
Whose Knees Will Bow to Jesus?
Then we have another interesting nuance in the next clause. Notice the difference between the Literal Version and the ASV compared with the others:
- (ASV) that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
- (LITV) that at the name of Jesus “every knee should bow,” of heavenly ones, and earthly ones, and ones under the earth,
This is the first time I have approached this Majestic Passage investigating every word using Deeper Bible methods. I think I have found something that amazes me which I have never considered before despite reading the Bible multiplied times, all the way through each year. Let your mind run wild, give it free reign to imagine in the Spirit as to what Paul was meaning here by his construction which causes the literal version to translate this line as they have in the examples above. Paul could have easily used a grammatical construction with the words ἐπουρανίων, ἐπιγείων and καταχθονίων above to indicate people. Instead he used a straight genitive plural which I think adds a whole new dimension that I have just seen. That construction is what leads the literal versions to translate things and heavenly ones.
Consider the interlinearised Greek along with the layout of the Propositional Analysis to lead you to the conclusions you draw. In addition to that, consider the implications of Romans 8:18-22 and see what you come up with. Both clauses in this verse have difficult Greek constructions to explain in order to understand what Paul was meaning here. It is that which leads the translations in different directions. See what ideas you come up with to deal with it. Again, this throws the experts and commentators into wonder at what Paul could be meaning.
So in summary there are three challenges:
- What name, the name above all names is referring to?
- What Paul could mean by using the strange construction “bowing in the name of Jesus”?
- What inference we should draw as result of Paul’s use of the Greek which leads the literal versions to insert “things” instead of people?
I will leave you to ponder those challenges before the next Gem. The first one we will deal with at the end. But it would be good for you to ponder the other two before you read the next Gem.
For the Proposition Analysis layout you will have to look at the previous Gem 1936 to see how the pieces align together. Enjoy your time to imagine.
Gem 1936
Yeshua the Messiah is YHVH. Gen 1:26 “Let us make man in our image.”