Every Knee shall Bow and every Tongue Confess

by George Sidney Hurd
 
Paul said in Philippians 2:10-11, “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 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
 
How are we to understand this declaration? It clearly refers to every rational creature, whether in heaven, on earth and even under the earth in Hades. Will this be a voluntary act of worship, or a forced confession? Will it result in salvation, or will it be followed by eternal damnation for all except for the few who heard the gospel and confessed Him as Lord during their brief lifetime?
 
The majority position of the Church during the past 1,500 years has been that only those who hear the gospel and bow the knee to Him in this lifetime will be saved, while the rest of mankind will find themselves obligated to bow before Him, only to afterwards be cast away from His presence forever. But is this what the Scriptures actually teach? How did the Early Church Fathers who spoke New Testament Greek understand this declaration? While very few of the writings of the Fathers still in existence make reference to this passage, they make a couple of allusions to it which are quite revealing.
 
Gregory of Nyssa (330 to 394 AD), commenting on 1Corinthians 15:28 where Paul declares that God will be all in all when all have finally become subject to Christ, says:
 
''For it is evident that God will, in truth, be 'in all' then when there shall be no evil seen in existence…when every created being is at harmony with itself and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; when every creature shall have been made one body then shall the body of Christ be subject to the Father.  Now the body of Christ, as I have often said, is the whole of humanity." [1]
 
Here we see that Gregory of Nyssa understood that when every tongue has confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord, all will then be subject to the Father and God will at that time truly be “all in all.”

Ambrose of Milan (340 to 397 AD), also commenting on 1Corinthians 15:28 says essentially the same thing:
 
“When every creature learns that Christ is its head, and that Christ’s head is God the Father, then God is all in all; that is to say, that every creature should believe alike, that with one voice every tongue of things in Heaven and earth and under the earth, should confess that there is one God from Whom are all things.”  [2]
 
Both Fathers believed that for God to truly become all in all, it will require that the whole of humanity and even every created being in heaven, on earth and under the earth, come into subjection to God and that this subjection will be the result of every created being confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. It is logically impossible for God to be all in all if in fact the majority are eternally separated from Him.
 
Also, in addition to their belief that God could not truly be all in all unless the confession of all results in salvation and reconciliation of all, I believe that they were also aware of a couple of other considerations which militate against this being a forced confession. The first has to do with the prevalent meaning of the word “confess” (ἐξομολογέω, exomologéo), and the second would be the context of the passage in Isaiah 45 which Paul quoted in Philippians 2:11, as well as several other passages of Scripture which declare that all will be saved.
 
1) The meaning of the word “confess”
 
The actual meaning of the word rendered “confess” in Philippians 2;11 is central to understanding the nature of their confession. In our culture a confession is often thought of as simply an admission of guilt. However, in Hellenistic Jewish worship this Greek word for “confess” is ἐξομολογέω which is the strengthened form of ὁμολογέω meaning, “to confess or say the same thing.” The word acquired the meaning of a heartfelt liturgical confession of sins followed by praises to God for His mercy which endures forever. [3] This can be seen in the LXX Greek translation which was what Paul used. Here are a few of examples:
 
 "When your people, the Israelites, sin against you, their enemies will defeat them. But if they come back to you and praise (ἐξομολογέω) you and pray to you in this Temple, 34 then hear them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.” (1 Kings 8:33-34 NCV)
 
The NET Bible renders ἐξομολογέω in this verse as “renew their allegiance,” which is a definition complementary to what we see in Isaiah 45:23, "every tongue will swear allegiance." The underlying idea seems to be that of a heartfelt confession of sin, praising the Lord for His mercy and grace. Spiritual songs use ἐξομολογέω as an expression of praise to God for His mercy:
 
“the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: "Praise (ἐξομολογέω) the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever" (Jer 33:11)
 
“Praise (ἐξομολογέω) the LORD with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.” (Psa 33:2) 
 
This combined meaning of confession and praise or thanksgiving is carried over into the New Testament where at times we see believers making a heartfelt confession of their sins (Acts 19:18; Matt 3:5-7), and we also see Jesus using it to express praise to the Father:
 
“At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise (ἐξομολογέω)You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.’” (Luke 10:21 NASU)
 
Considering this two-fold meaning of confession of sins and praise to God for His mercy, it is easy to see why the Early Fathers saw this confession as resulting in the salvation and restoration of all.
 
2) The context of the parallel Isaiah 45 passage requires that the confession
     result in salvation.
 
A careful consideration of the context of Isaiah 45:23 which Paul cited in Philippians 2:11 makes it clear that he meant to convey the truth that someday all will have bowed to Christ, confessing Him as Lord. The Lord said through Isaiah:
 
“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. 23 I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance, 24 ‘saying (λεγων LXX) of Me, 'Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.' Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.” (Isa 45:22-24 NASU)
 
Here we see that salvation is inseparably linked to all bowing the knee and every tongue swearing allegiance to God, and God has sworn by Himself that no one will remain in an unsaved state forever. His enemies will be ashamed, bowing the knee, saying: “Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength." This is a confession unto salvation, and surely the Early Fathers understood it as such, especially considering that the meaning of ἐξομολογέω entails a heartfelt allegiance.
 
3) Multiple Old Testament passages require that the confession result in salvation
 
Finally, the Early Fathers would have known very well that the final salvation of all is a theme that runs all the way through Scripture. As Peter said, the restoration of all was prophesied since the foundation of the world (Acts 3:21). The following are just a few of the many passages that the Early Fathers would have been aware of:
 
“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.” (Ps 22:27)
 
“Say to God, ‘how awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power your enemies shall submit themselves to You. 4 All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name.” (Ps 66:3-4) [4]
 
“All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name.” (Ps 86:9)
 
“Jehovah is gracious, and merciful; slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness. 9 Jehovah is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works. 10 All thy works shall give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah; and thy saints shall bless thee.” (Ps 145:8-10 ASV)
 
“And in this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people, a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. 7 And He will destroy on this mountain, the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces…” (Isa 25:6-8)
 
“No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:34)
 
All the ends of the world will remember and turn to the Lord. All His enemies will submit themselves to Him and sing praises to Him. All nations which He has made, which includes everyone, will worship before Him and glorify His name, and all His works shall give thanks to Him. When the Lord removes the veil spread over all the nations, He will swallow up death forever, wiping away tears from all faces. Everyone will know Him, from the least to the greatest and He will forgive all iniquity forevermore.
 
To me, it couldn’t be any clearer. Taking into account this great abundance of scriptural testimony, it is no wonder that the majority of the Church Fathers believed in the final restoration of all during the first five centuries prior to Augustine of Hippo.
 
“For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
(Rom 11:36)
 
 


[1] Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. in 1 Cor. xv. 28, vol. i. p. 844
 

[2] Allin, Universalism Asserted, p. 133.
 

[3] Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. NT:1843
 

[4] The word for “submit” in this verse normally refers to a feigned submission. However, there are no words in Hebrew which express true, voluntary submission. Here it is the context itself which determines its meaning as true submission and adoration in spite of its normal meaning, since feigned submission would never result in His enemies worshipping and praising Him.

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