Philippians 2:11

“and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”

“Should”: God does not consider it "unrealistic" for people to believe that Jesus is Lord, even though they cannot presently see Him. The evidence of His true nature is clear (John 20:30). Only. very limited number of choices are available when it comes to Who Jesus is. He is either. liar or deceiver,. lunatic or the Son of God. No other logical choice exists. Jesus claimed to be God (John 5:18) and that He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6). The option that He was. good man but not God does not exist, because good men do not make false claims. “Confess”: “Here it suggests the idea of man speaking forth the same concept of Christ, as God has affirmed of Him!” (Jackson p. 49). “The sense here is that of frank and open confession” (Vincent p. 436).

To "confess" Christ is much more than just admitting that He lived. Confessing Christ means that one freely admits everything about Jesus that the Bible asserts. This is no half-hearted confession. One either admits that He is the Lord and that He has every right to tell one what to do (Matthew 28:18), that whatever He taught is absolutely right (Luke 6:46), and that one is prepared to give Him the complete and final say in what one will do.

“That Jesus is Lord”: All other confessions, such as, “He lived”, that “He was. religious teacher”, “good man”, or “prophet”, fail to own up to who Jesus really is (Romans 10:9). Unfortunately, there exist. number of people who claim to be Christians, who have no intentions of ever confessing such. “One can sit comfortably in an easy chair and ask historical questions without any commitment or moral response. With the historian's hat on, one can play at the puzzle of trying to understand the sequence of events by which Jesus came to be called Christ, the Son of God. It is possible to raise fine and intriguing historical questions without ever being required to make any personal decision about them. The irony is that when we meet the Jesus of the text, He is constantly calling us to. decision about Him” [Note:. 'The Word of Life'. Thomas Oden p. 206]

“To the glory of God the Father”: The only statement about Jesus that honors God is the statement that Jesus is Lord. ”Not the earthly emperor but Jesus Christ is the real Ruler!” (Hendriksen p. 116). In this context, we have two beings that are called God (Philippians 2:6). Hawthorne points out, “Finally it is to be noted that although Jesus bears the name ‘Lord' the name of God Himself (Lord translates the Old Testament 'Yahweh'), and is thus obliquely declared to be God with all the rights and privileges of God. God (the Father) suffers no embarrassment; rather He is glorified for He has planned that this be so” (p. 94). Thus when we confess that Jesus is God we have subtracted nothing from the nature of the Father, rather we have only honored Him, because the Father does have. God-less Son!