Wednesday 17 February 2016

Jesus: The Name Above Every Name

The name above every other name is Jesus (Greek: Ἰησοῦς, Iesous). Image courtesy of Andreas Wahra, Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).




Joel Kontinen

How could God best show us what He is really like?

He has done that in two ways: 1) By giving us His Word, the Bible, and 2) by coming to live among us for a short while. The apostle Paul called Jesus “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).

During His earthly ministry, Jesus “went about doing good and healing all those being oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38).

To identify with humanity, Jesus used the title Son of Man (Greek: ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ ἀνθρώπου), a sign of humility.

Writing to the Philippians, Paul exhorts us to imitate Christ:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Who subsisting in the form of God, did not consider to be equal with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, having taken the form of a servant, having been made in the likeness of men. And having been found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself, having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (2:5–8).

Whereas His disciples wanted to be great, Jesus was willing to wash their feet.

This humility eventually led to exaltation:

Therefore God also highly exalted Him, and granted to Him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in the heavens and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (2:9–11).

Even today, there is power in the name that is above every other name. In Jesus' name, sinners receive salvation and the sick are healed.

Scripture quotations from the Berean Literal Bible