Philippians 1:2
Philippians 1:22Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The familiar greeting again, understood as naming Jehovah as source and Jesus as the appointed channel. Philippians is a letter Witnesses know well for chapter 2, which the Watchtower reads as describing a creature who was rewarded with exaltation for his obedience.
Use this one to close the pattern, having already walked through three or four identical openings. By now the point is made without needing to be argued: the slot Jesus occupies in every Pauline greeting is the slot the Hebrew Scriptures reserve for God. Then let the letter itself carry it forward, because Philippians is where Paul says most plainly what he assumes in the greeting. Chapter 2 has Jesus existing in God's form, not treating equality with God as something to seize, and taking a slave's form. And in 2:10-11 Paul quotes — where Jehovah says every knee will bend to him and every tongue swear loyalty — and applies it to the name of Jesus. That is the same move as the greeting, done at length: a text about Jehovah, with Jesus placed in it. The greeting is a small thing repeated thirteen times. Chapter 2 is the large thing said once. They say the same thing. Compare , , .