What does it mean to be a Christian? Well, among other things, it means basically and fundamentally to confess Jesus Christ as Lord of all. One cannnot be saved or be his disciple without this confession. "If you confess with your mouth," Paul says, that "Jesus is Lord . . . you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9). On account of his shame-filled sacrificial sufferings and sin-bearing for the elect, "God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him that name that is above every name" (Phil. 2:9). Kyrios! Jesus is YHWH! Why did God do this? Paul tells us: that every knee should bow and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11).
No bowing, no confession, no Christianity. No open acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord, both privately and publicly, no right to call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ. And this means acknowledgement that affects praxis--all that we do. He is Lord of all. That is the basic Christian confession of the New Testament, of the early church, of the ages. All authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. Jesus is Lord of all--all kings, all presidents, all parliments, all congresses, all corporations, all families, all counseling offices, all laboratories, all kitchens, all bedrooms, all universities, all nations. Lord of all. And all means, all. Whether they like it or not.
(Incidentally, I find it a pleasing thought that God ordained human knees for at least two primary purposes: one, that they may knock before his Word; and two, that they may bend before his Son.)
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