Evidence · Case 04 · The Trinity
Isaiah’s every-knee text applied to Jesus, Isaiah 45:23 in Philippians 2:10-11
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Isaiah 45:23 has God swear that to him “every knee shall bow,” in a chapter insisting he alone is God. Philippians 2 applies those very words to Jesus, saying every knee will bow at his name.
Sources
Isaiah 45:23, NASB.
Philippians 2:10-11, NASB.
Objections & responses
- Philippians 2:11 ends “to the glory of God the Father.” The knees bow at Jesus’s name but the glory goes to the Father, which subordinates Jesus to God.
The Father’s glory is the destination, and the Trinity has always said so; the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son (John 17:1). The point of the passage is that the honor Isaiah reserved for YHWH alone is given to Jesus without any suggestion of idolatry, which is possible only if honoring Jesus is honoring God. Subordination of role and identity of nature are the two things the text holds together, and this verse shows both at once.