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Should the Name JEHOVAH Appear in the New Testament? Does it matter whether God's name appears in the Bible? God obviously felt so. His name, as represented by the four Hebrew characters known as the Tetragrammaton, appears almost 7,000 times in the original, Hebrew text, of what is commonly called the Old Testament.* * The Tetragrammaton refers to the four letters, YWWH, that represent God's name in Hebrew. It is commonly translated as Jehovah or Yahweh in English. Bible scholars acknowledge that God's personal name appears in the Old Testament, or Hebrew Scriptures. However, many feel that it did not appear in the original Greek manuscripts of the so-called New Testament. What happens, then, when a writer of the New Testament quotes passages from the Old Testament in which the Tetragrammaton appears? In these instances, most translators use the word "Lord" rather than God's personal name. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures does not follow this common practice. It uses the name Jehovah 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, or New Testament. What problems do Bible translators face when it comes to deciding whether to use God's name in the New Testament? What basis is there for using God's name in this part of the Holy Scriptures? And how does the use of God's name in the Bible affect you? A Translation Problem The manuscripts of the New Testament that we possess today are not the originals. The original manuscripts written by Matthew, John, Paul, and others were well used, and no doubt they quickly wore out. Hence, copies were made, and when those wore out, further copies were made. Of the thousands of copies of the New Testament in existence today, most were made at least two centuries after the originals were penned. It appears that by that time those copying the manuscripts either replaced the Tetragrammaton with Ku'ri•os or Ky'ri•os, the Greek word for "Lord," or copied from manuscripts where this had been done. Knowing this, a translator must determine whether there is reasonable evidence that the Tetragrammaton did in fact appear in the original Greek manuscripts. Is there any such proof? Consider the following arguments: When Jesus quoted the Old Testament or read from it, he used the divine name. Deut.6 13 Jehovah your God you should fear, and him you should serve, and by his name you should swear. 14 YOU must not walk after other gods, any gods of the peoples who are all around YOU, 15 (for Jehovah your God in your midst is a God exacting exclusive devotion,) for fear the anger of Jehovah your God may blaze against you and he must annihilate you from off the surface of the ground. 16 “YOU must not put Jehovah YOUR God to the test, the way YOU put him to the test at Mas´sah. Deut.8 3 So he humbled you and let you go hungry and fed you with the manna, which neither you had known nor your fathers had known; in order to make you know that not by bread alone does man live but by every expression of Jehovah’s mouth does man live. Psalm 110 1 The utterance of Jehovah to my Lord is: “Sit at my right hand Until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.” 2 The rod of your strength Jehovah will send out of Zion, [saying:] “Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.” 3 Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your military force. In the splendours of holiness, from the womb of the dawn, You have your company of young men just like dewdrops. 4 Jehovah has sworn (and he will feel no regret): “You are a priest to time indefinite According to the manner of Mel•chiz´e•dek!” 5 Jehovah himself at your right hand Will certainly break kings to pieces on the day of his anger. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations; He will cause a fullness of dead bodies. He will certainly break to pieces the head one over a populous land. 7 From the torrent valley in the way he will drink. That is why he will raise high [his] head Isaiah61 1 The spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to those taken captive and the wide opening [of the eyes] even to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah and the day of vengeance on the part of our God; to comfort all the mourning ones; Matthew 4 1 Then Jesus was led by the spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he felt hungry. 3 Also, the Tempter came and said to him: “If you are a of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But in reply he said: “It is written, ‘Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.’” 5 Then the Devil took him along into the holy city, and he stationed him upon the battlement of the temple 6 and said to him: “If you are a of God, hurl yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels a charge concerning you, and they will carry you on their hands, that you may at no time strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him: “Again it is written, ‘You must not put Jehovah your God to the test.’” 8 Again the Devil took him along to an unusually high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him: “All these things I will give you if you fall down and do an act of worship to me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him: “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’” 11 Then the Devil left him, and, look! angels came and began to minister to him. Matthew22 41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them: 42 “What do YOU think about the Christ? Whose is he?” They said to him: “David’s.” 43 He said to them: “How, then, is it that David by inspiration calls him ‘Lord,’ saying, 44 ‘Jehovah said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet”’? 45 If, therefore, David calls him ‘Lord,’ how is he his ?” 46 And nobody was able to say a word in reply to him, nor did anyone dare from that day on to question him any further. Luke 4 16 And he came to Naz´a•reth, where he had been reared; and, according to his custom on the sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue, and he stood up to read. 17 So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, and he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 “Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, 19 to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.” 20 With that he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were intently fixed upon him. 21 Then he started to say to them: “Today this scripture that YOU just heard is fulfilled.” In the days of Jesus and his disciples, the Tetragrammaton appeared in copies of the Hebrew text of what is often called the Old Testament, as it still does today. However, for centuries scholars thought that the Tetragrammaton was absent from manuscripts of the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, as well as from manuscripts of the New Testament. Then in the mid 20th century, something remarkable came to the attention of scholars, some very old fragments of the Greek Septuagint version that existed in Jesus' day had been discovered. Those fragments contain the personal name of God, written in Hebrew characters. Jesus used God's name and made it known to others. (John 17:6, 1.1,12, 26) Jesus plainly stated, "I have come in the name of my Father." He also stressed that his works were done "in the name of [his] Father." In fact, Jesus' own name means "Jehovah Is Salvation."-John 5:43; 10:25. The divine name appears in its abbreviated form in the Greek Scriptures. At Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6, the divine name is embedded in the expression "Alleluia," or "Hallelujah." This expression literally means "Praise Jah, you people. The Meaning Of God's Name Jehovah chose His own name, one rich in meaning. "Jehovah" literally means "He Causes To Become". True, He brought all things into existence, that in itself is an awe-inspiring thought, but is that the point of God's name? The use of God's divine name is not new. Genesis 4:26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a , and he called his name Enos, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord (King James) God told Moses the meaning of His name when He said, "I shall prove to be what I shall prove to be"Exodus 3:14(New World) Many bible translations here read: "I Am that I Am" but the careful rendering in the New World Translation shows that God was not merely affirming His own existence. Rather, He was teaching Moses - and by extension us - what that names implies. Jehovah would 'prove to be', or cause Himself to become whatever was needed in order to fulfill His promises. J.B. Rotherham's translation pointedly renders this verse: "I Will Become whatsoever I please". One authority on Biblical Hebrew explains the phrase this way: "Whatever the situation or need, God will 'become' the solution to that need" Surely that name inspires confidence in God. Moses and the Israelites learned that Jehovah is true to His name by becoming an unbeatable Military Commander, the Master of all natural elements, a peerless Lawgiver, Judge, Architect, Provider of food and water, Preserver of clothing and footgear and more. Unquestionably, God wants us to know Him but many people are blinded to the Truth that Jehovah is Sovereign Lord. He has the right to be Ruler of all the Universe owing to the fact that He created everything in existence. Jehovah is eternal in both direction -past and future- "Even from time indefinite to time indefinite Psalm 90:2 which means that God is permanent and unaffected by the passage of time, even untold billions of years! |
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