Lastly, in the opening line about Jesus the creed confesses that He is Lord - "and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord..." This is an assertion that hardly needs verification from scripture, but let me quote Paul to the Philippians --
"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," (2:9-11).
We realize the significance behind this when we recall that this title "Lord" is that given to God in the old testament. Jews, out of reverence for God while reading the scriptures or speaking of Him would not pronounce His name and so began to replace it with "adonai" which in Greek is "kurios." (Jews today refer to God as HaShem, which means "The Name").
Though kurios cold be used lightly as in saying "sir," Paul's statement to the Philippians indicates that Jesus is being called "the Lord."
When he claims that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess, he is alluding to Isaiah 45:23 where the LORD Jehovah of Israel says, "By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear."
Paul's claim is that Jesus is the covenant LORD of Israel. Furthermore, Kurios and not Jesus is the name above every other name.
To the Roman Philippians, Jesus is Kurios, not Caesar. It was this conviction and confession that got the early Christians in trouble, for they would not confess "Caesar is Lord." Likewise, we live in a hostile world system making demands of compromise on Christians and to this we must stand fast and say, "No -- Jesus is Lord!"
