“And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”” (Matthew 22:35–40, ESV)
Translating El Into Greek
Many of the Old Testament names for God were translated into the New Testament. The Hebrew names El and Elohim have been translated into the Greek word Theos, which is generically translated at “God” in our English bibles. This is where we get our word “Theology,” which is the study of God.
Interestingly, in the New Testament there is a “new twist” added to this name for God. Louis Berkhof points this out by saying, “[This name] is frequently found with a possessive genitive as ‘my God’, ‘thy God’, ‘our God’, ‘your God’. In Christ, God is the God of each one of His children” (A Summary of Christian Doctrine, p. 22).
Translating YHWH into Greek
You may wonder how one would translate the Hebrew name YHWH into Greek. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the Jews would not speak the name YHWH because they did not want to misuse God’s name. So, they replaced it with Adonai—which means Master/Lord.
When translating the Hebrew name YHWH into Greek, the writers translated Adonai using the Greek word Kurios—which is translated “Lord” in our English Bibles.
This name caries with it some additional nuances in the Greek language. Herman Bavinck says, “Lord, or Kurios, makes God known as the Mighty One, the Lord, Owner, and Ruler who legally exercises power and authority…” (Reformed Dogmatics, p. 146). He “legally” exercises power and authority because he is the faithful Creator of the universe.
Jesus and God’s Names
Once we understand the way these Hebrew names for God have been translated into the New Testament. Let’s take a moment to see how these names are used regarding Jesus.
At the beginning of 2 Peter, he writes, “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:” (2 Peter 1:1, ESV). What does this passage say about Jesus? He is our GOD (Theos) and Savior. In this passage, Peter is blatantly applying the names of God from the Old Testament to Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
How about Kurios? It’s all over the New Testament. Paul uses the word Kurios 43 times in the book of Romans. Right away, at the beginning of the letter, he writes, “…who was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Romans 1:4, ESV). Remember what Hebrew names are being translated by Lord (Kurios). Paul explicitly uses this name for God and applies it to Jesus—over and over and over again. It’s actually Paul’s favorite way to speak the name of Jesus—to call him “our Kurios.”
One More NT Translation
I’m not sure why most of my theology books don’t include this in the NT Names for God, but I’m going to do it anyway.
Remember when we looked at the name YHWH, I mentioned that it could be translated either “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be” or “I am.” These phrases are also translated into the NT and used by Jesus.
One of the most famous uses comes in John’s gospel: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” (John 8:58, ESV). Jesus isn’t improperly using the future tense here. He is intentionally using this name of God and applying it to himself.
Jesus is God
I want to end with one final note. Throughout history, people have repeatedly tried to say that Jesus wasn’t God, that he didn’t think He was God, and the Apostles didn’t think he was God. In light of the few paragraphs I’ve written in this post, these claims should make us laugh. The NT repeatedly claims that Jesus is God. Jesus repeatedly claims that He is God. It’s everywhere. You cannot deny it.
Not only did Jesus claim He was God, but he proved it. He died, was buried, and rose again from the dead.