*2:3 Personally I have a hard time with this one. But it may have more to do with social level and prestige within the congregation than with personal qualities and abilities.

†2:4 Agape love is the opposite of selfishness.

‡2:6 Since Jehovah the Son was (and is) equally God, the point appears to be that He did not insist on hanging on to His prerogatives.

§2:7 Note that to be a human being is to be a slave. We are born slaves, live slaves and die slaves. We are born slaves to self, sin and death (with Satan behind the scenes); Christ offers us the option of being slaves to God, good and life. You can't stop being a slave, but you can choose your owner.

*2:8 Hebrews 5:8 says that Jehovah the Son “learned obedience by the things that He suffered”. He had never experienced anything like that before. So what happens to us if we have the same mindset?

†2:10 Note that it is at the name of Jesus, not Christ or even Jehovah, that every knee will bow. ‘Jesus’ is His human name—recall that in Revelation the slain Lamb (5:6,12; 7:14; 12:11) receives glory and praise along with the Father. You cannot kill God, so the Lamb is Jesus. Recall further that in John 5:22 Jesus affirmed that the Father had “committed all judgment” to Him, which means that it will be Jesus sitting on the “great white throne” (Revelation 20:11), not to mention a certain “winepress” (Revelation 19:15). Although at the moment I see no way of ‘closing the question’ (as we say here in Brazil), I verily suspect that the correct transliteration of ‘Jesus’ into Hebrew will prove to be יֵסוּס and not יֵשׁוּעַ.

‡2:10 This presumably includes the angels, whether or not they have literal ‘knees’.

§2:10 Those actually alive on the earth when this decree is imposed; I suppose it will be during the millennial Messianic Kingdom.

*2:10 Since Hades is inside the earth (Matthew 12:40, Ephesians 4:9, 1 Samuel 28:13), this will presumably include the wicked dead, as well as the demons in the Abyss (at least). Just suppose that God wanted to confine evil to this planet; the logical place for a ‘prison’ would be beneath its crust.

†2:11 The verbs ‘bow’ and ‘acknowledge’ are in the subjunctive mood in the Text, so many versions render ‘should bow’ rather than “will bow”. However, the mood of the verbs is governed by the conjunction ινα, that normally takes the subjunctive; in the context the author evidently does not intend to leave any doubt about the extent of the recognition.

‡2:13 Paul places our responsibility and God's sovereignty side by side; we must consciously cooperate with Him.

§2:14 When we grumble or argue we are rejecting the Holy Spirit's control, and the result is not purity.

*2:15 Can there be any doubt that our generation is crooked and depraved? And it is not getting any better.

†2:15 As we both live out and actively promote biblical values, the “Word of Life”, we will stand out like a bright torch at night. The darker it is, the farther any light can be seen.

‡2:16 At the Accounting, one measure of our success will be the extent to which others bought into our commitment.

§2:20 This statement puzzles me; wouldn't Epaphroditus qualify? Perhaps Paul had in mind a messenger who would return with news, since Epaphroditus would stay there.

*2:21 Unfortunately, things have not changed much in 2,000 years.

†2:22 That is what the Text says.

‡2:24 Recall that Paul was writing from prison.

§2:30 Right. That is the kind the Church and the world need to see.