The NAME of GOD!

 The Name Of GOD!

The Name of GOD - there is too much controversy in the Church today about The Name of GOD. GOD is not His Name, GOD is Who He is! We call Him GOD because He is GOD! We use His title rather than His Name because we do not know His Name.

What is The Name of GOD? I doubt if any living human being knows! Adam and Eve knew GOD’s Name, I believe all the Melchizedek priests knew GOD’s Name. Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau and Jacob should all have known GOD’s Name. The twelve sons of Jacob should have known GOD’s Name, but we do not know if they did or not. It was most likely lost during the 430 years in Egypt and the 40 years in the wilderness when the fear of GOD was strong upon the children of Israel. The first four commandments are about honoring GOD, number 3 is, “You must not take The Name of The LORD your GOD in vain, for The LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain.” (TLV) Christian tradition tells us it was the children of Israel’s fear of this commandment that caused them to stop saying and writing GOD’s Name.

Lord is the English word used instead of GOD’s Name, from the Hebrew transliteral Adonai.

GOD describes Himself as “I AM WHO I AM!” Exodus 3:14 We could call GOD, “I AM”. but that is a description not His Name. GOD has always existed, before time and after time ends I AM, is!

So what do we call GOD’s Name? We have Jehova which is the English translation of the Hebrew Yahweh, (YHVH where the vowels and maybe other consonants are left out). Sometimes Hebrews say HaShem which means The Name for GOD’s Name, but that is not GOD’s Name. The Hebrew transliteration for GOD is El or Elohim (which is plural).

The first Name given to the prophesied Messiah was Immanuel in Isaiah, 7:14.In Matthew 1:23-25 His Name is proclaimed and changed, “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and they shall call His Name Immanuel,’ which means ‘GOD with us.’ When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of ADONAI commanded him and took Miriam (Mary) as his wife. But he did not know her intimately until she had given birth to a Son, and he called His Name YESHUA (JESUS).” (TLV)

There are only two names given to The Messiah in The Bible, Immanuel and YESHUA, like GOD He has a lot of descriptions, The Son of GOD, The Son of Man, The Word, Messiah (Christ) etc.The difference is that we have the original Hebrew and Greek Names of the Promised Messiah.

Immanuel = Strong’s 6005 Hebrew: עמנואל from 5978 and 410 with stuff. Pron. ins.; with us (is) God; Immanuel, a typ. name of Isaiah’s son:-Immanuel.

Emmanuel = Strong’s 1694 Greek: Εμμανουήλ of Heb. or. [6005]; God with us; Emmanuel, a name of Christ:-Emmanuel.

JESUS (YESHUA) = Strong’s 2424 Greek: Ιησούς of Heb. or. [3091]; Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites.:-Jesus. (Acts 13:6; Colossians 4:11)

JESUS (YESHUA) = Strong’s 846 Greek: αύτός (John 8:1) from the particle αύ αu [perh. Akin to the base of 109 through the idea of a baffling wind] (backward); the reflex. Pron. self, used (alone or in the comp. 1438) of the third pers., and (with the prop. pers. pron.) of the other persons:-...Comp. 848.

So the controversy is in spelling and pronouncing the Names of GOD and His Son our Messiah. There are those that take issue with the fact that in the original languages there was no letter J and so GOD’s Name cannot be Jehovah and His Son’s Name cannot be JESUS. This is a religious argument with no more merit than the Jewdisers in Peter and Paul’s day saying the Gentile Believers had to be circumcised and to keep the Torah.

The Bible was written in three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. It was translated into Latin and then into German and English. Now it is translated into thousands of languages and dialects. And they all substitute different letters for ones that do not exist in their language. Jehovah is the word that interpreters chose to represent the incomplete Name of GOD in Hebrew, YHVH to English. JESUS is the word that interpreters used to translate the Latin name Iesus to English.

Some examples of how this works in other languages:

Albanian - Jezu; Arabic - ‘Isἀ (eisaa); Amharic - Iyesus

There are huge studies on this issue, but the only true argument is does speaking the Name JESUS have any effect on people and circumstances? YES!

 

Shakespeare said in Romeo and Juliet, “A rose by any other name is still a rose.”

It is not the spelling or pronunciation of the Names of GOD and His Son that have the power of GOD to save and redeem. It is the Faith (Trust) that you are calling on the One True GOD and His Son JESUS The CHRIST and that Their SPIRIT, The HOLY SPIRIT is the One Who comes to live in those who call out to GOD in the Name of JESUS or how ever it is pronounced in their language.

The Bible admonishes Christians to not get caught up in these types of controversies, they only do harm. 1 Timothy 6:3-6, 20-21; 2 Timothy 2:14-17.