Gr. aiōn, “age,” “era” (see on Matt. 13:39). “This world” may be viewed as denoting the present order in both heaven and earth, and the world “to come,” as the future age for the universe. As a result of His humiliation and His exaltation Christ will be acknowledged as universally supreme not only in this age but also in the age to come.

The phrase is all-inclusive, used as if to bring the accumulated series to a climax. There is no name that can be compared with His because there is no being who can be compared with Him.

 This series is commonly understood as referring to angelic powers (cf. on Eph. 6:12; Rom. 8:38), possibly either good or bad. Christ is superior to all powers, both heavenly and earthly. He is Sovereign Lord, with supreme and universal authority (see on Rom. 8:38; cf. 1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16). Paul is anxious at all times to make clear that Christ should not be regarded as a subdeity, a concept that might easily be accepted in view of the growing influence of the Gnostic heresy. He uses the terms already familiar in current Jewish teachings (see the apocryphal work Enoch 61:10) and sets forth the truth that Christ is above all other beings, no matter what their real or supposed rank might be.