“The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father "to gather all things in one," and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, "every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess" to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send "spiritual wickednesses," and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.”
“For the Father has delivered and subjected all to Christ our King "that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
“"And not only for our sins,"— that is for those of the faithful, — is the Lord the propitiator, does he say, "but also for the whole world." He, indeed, saves all; but some [He saves], converting them by punishments; others, however, who follow voluntarily [He saves] with dignity of honour; so "that every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth;" [Philippians 2:10] that is, angels, men, and souls that before His advent have departed from this temporal life.”
“After a little space the stone will come from heaven which smites the image and breaks it in pieces, and subverts all the kingdoms, and gives the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This is the stone which becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth, of which Daniel says: "I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and was brought near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him: and His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed." He showed all power given by the Father to the Son, who is ordained Lord of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and Judge of all: of things in heaven, because He was born, the Word of God, before all (ages); and of things on earth, because He became man in the midst of men, to re-create our Adam through Himself; and of things under the earth, because He was also reckoned among the dead, preaching the Gospel to the souls of the saints, (and) by death overcoming death.”
“From a single beginning come many differences and varieties in creation. All these are now being recalled once again, synoptically in this text. They are now being viewed in relation to God's goodness made known through the obedience of Christ. They are being drawn into a unity by the Holy Spirit. Everything is moving toward a common end, which corresponds to the goodness of the beginning. This means all those "in heaven and earth and the lower regions," who, "bowing the knee at the name of Jesus," have declared through this very act the tokens of their subjection. In these three appellations the whole universe is indicated. All things issue from one origin. They have been driven by their own motions in diverse ways. They are to be allotted different levels of blessedness in accord with their own willing.”
“We should not understand this carnally, so as to suppose that even the heavenly bodies, which he says bend their knees, do this with fleshly limbs.… What spirit has knees? But the bending of the knees indicates that all is in subjection and observes the worship of God.”
“For all this was done that the Lamb and Son of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, might, of His own will, and for us, come to His saving Passion, and might be recognised, as it were, in the market and place of selling; and that those who bought Him might for thirty pieces of silver covenant for Him who, with His life-giving blood, was to redeem the world; and that Christ, our passover, might be sacrificed for us, in order that those who were sprinkled with His precious blood, and sealed on their lips, as the posts of the door, might escape from the darts of the destroyer; and that Christ having thus suffered in the flesh, and having risen again the third day, might, with equal honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be by all created things equally adored; for to Him every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, sending up glory to Him, for ever and ever. Amen.”
“This name has become superior to every name. His divinity is such that it cannot be adequately manifested merely through verbal signs, no matter how exalted they are. As the exalted One comes to be in the lowly, so the lowly One may receive in return the properties of the exalted.”
“The One who once came into the world has now become the Firstborn from the dead, both of brothers in faith and of all creation. He will return to the world as judge of all the world in righteousness, as the prophet declares, when it will become clear. The name of Firstborn, which he assumed first on our behalf, will not be cast away in in those last days. Every knee will bow at the name of Jesus. He is above every name. The whole company of angels worships this One who has been called the Firstborn. They all rejoice in the restoration of humanity, whom he has restored to their original grace by becoming the Firstborn among us.”
“Now if they had said this of Him that was incarnate, there had been reason, for God the Word allows that this be said of His flesh. It touches not His divine nature, but has to do altogether with the dispensation. What means "of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth"? It means the whole world, and angels, and men, and demons; or that both the just and the living and sinners.”
“This means that after the mystery of the passion and the triumph of the ascension he who was wholly the Son of God with that which he had consented to be for our sakes, while remaining in the glory of God the Father (which means of course in the divinity of his own nature), should be adored by all the powers in heaven, on earth and below.”
“He worships as one who has assumed the worshiping nature of humanity. It is this same One who is now worshiped as transcending the worshiping nature of humanity. He is now known to be God.”
“God the Word inhabited as his own temple the body taken from the woman. In this body lived a rational soul. God remade it into his own glory. On this account the holy Scripture declares that worship is proper only to the one who is God by nature. This is what Paul means when he writes that "at the name of Christ Jesus every knee shall bow.”
682 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholasticc. 1100 – 1500
Theophylact of Ohrid · c. 1055–11071126
“That is, the whole world: angels, men, and demons; or: both the righteous and sinners. Because even the demons will acknowledge, and the disobedient will submit, no longer opposing the truth, just as even before that time they said: "I know You, who You are" (Luke 4:34).”
“I have heard that there was a certain conjurer of demons. One day, when he was invoking a demon in the midst of certain persons who wished to obtain something from the demon, a certain priest passed by carrying the Body of Christ, and immediately the demon bowed down before him, and likewise on his return. And the conjurer said: whence is this? You have forbidden me to adore Christ, and yet you adore him? The demon replied: I did so unwillingly. Is it not written: "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth?"”
“He, then, is the Strong One. That is why "at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth." And so all the wars of Scripture refer to the victory of Christ.”
“This is supported by the text which follows: it implies that He did not give Him a name He did not already have, but that all should venerate it. And he mentions two types of veneration, namely, subjecting the body and confessing with the mouth: and every tongue confess. He says therefore: He has given Him a name which is above all names, even as man; hence he adds, that at the name of Jesus, which is the name of the man, every knee should bow; "To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Is. 45:23).
But here is where Origen erred, because when he heard that every knee should bow, which is a sign of subjection, he believed that at some future time every rational creature, whether angels or men or devils, would be subjected to Christ by the allegiance of charity. But this is contrary to Matthew (25:41): "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." It should be noted that there are two kinds of subjection: one is voluntary and the other involuntary.
In the future it will come about that all the holy angels will be subject to Christ voluntarily; hence he says, every knee should bow, where he mentions the sign for the thing signified: "Adore him all his angels" (Ps. 97:7). Likewise, holy and just and beatified men will be subject in this way: "All the nations thou hast made shall come and bow down before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name" (Ps. 86:9); but not the devils and the damned, for they will be subject involuntarily: "Even the demons believe—and shudder" (Jas. 2:19).”
“That in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of beings celestial and terrestrial and subterranean; where by beings celestial are meant the angels, by the terrestrial men, and by the subterranean those that are buried in the earth. For the Apostle says that this is to take place at the resurrection, when all, alike angels that are in heaven, men that are upon the earth, and the dead that are buried in the earth, shall all rise and bow the knee in the name of Jesus the Son of God”
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