For it is written: "As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will confess to God."
Truth to Learn
We need to recognize God’s sovereignty now as we will eternally.
Behind the Words
“Confess” is translated from the Greek verb exomologeō, which is made up of ex, meaning “out,” used here as an intensifier and homologeō, meaning “to agree with, to have the same thoughts as, or to assent.” Homologeō is usually translated as “confess” which means to agree with God regarding His verdict against our sin. Thus, exomologeō means “to proclaim in agreement that God is who He claims to be.”
Meaning Explained
This verse is quoted from Isaiah 45:23 which says:
I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
As can be clearly seen, this is not a direct quotation for there are a couple of significant differences. Isaiah says, “I have sworn by Myself” whereas Paul says, “As surely as I live.” We learn in Hebrews 6:13 that God can swear by no one greater than Himself. We also know from Exodus 3:14 that Jehovah is the self-existing one; He has life in Himself. So, Paul’s expression, “As I live” is a declaration by God that He is the author of life itself, and as such, there is no one greater than He is. So it is roughly equivalent to “I have sworn by Myself.”
The other significant difference between Isaiah 45:23 and Paul’s quotation of it is that Isaiah says “every tongue will swear allegiance,” whereas Paul says “every tongue will confess to God.” The Hebrew word translated “swear allegiance” is the same word translated “I have sworn.” It means to swear an oath. The expression “every tongue will swear allegiance” means that everyone will swear an oath of allegiance to the supreme God. Thus, again, what Isaiah said and what Paul is saying are effectively the same.
The context of Isaiah’s proclamation seems to imply that every tongue among the Israelites will swear the oath of allegiance, and the context of the current verse (at the bema seat judgment) implies every tongue among the righteous. Thus, it appears to be a different event from Philippians 2:10, 11 which involves all created beings, righteous and unrighteous.
Paul’s point in the current verse, and the reason he quotes the particular passage in Isaiah, is that we should not be judging or despising our brothers and sisters in Christ because we (Christians) will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and there we will all bow before Him and confess that He is our Lord, our Judge, and our God
And, if we are submitted to Him and committed to doing His will now, then we will be too busy to worry about whether or not our brother or sister is convicted the same way we are.
Application
We are all guilty of casting judgment against our fellow Christians from time to time. Our sin nature wants to exalt itself by condemning others, but this is nothing more than selfish pride. Instead, we need to submit to our Lord and Master and focus our attention on serving Him in a manner that will please Him and bring glory to His name. If we all do that, we won’t be judgmental of other Christians and together we can proclaim His sovereignty and majesty.
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2018 Will Krause. All rights reserved