The Names of God
Our question as it reads is, what are all the names of God? Why are there so many different names for God? Why do most of our new translations not keep the different names?
A worthy question, and one that will take more than one post to answer. Before we dive into the vast array of names and the perceived absence of them from modern translations, it will be helpful to establish the biblical importance of a name.
What’s in a name?
Some background in Biblical language will be helpful here. In Hebrew name meant sign or mark. People were identified and described by their names. In Greek, to name someone was to know them. It was more than a label. It revealed the essential character of the person to whom the name was given.
For example, Adam names the animals according to their kind (Genesis 2:19, 20). Jesus means savior (Matthew 1:21). In both cases names were inseparable from personality and character.
At times a new name was given to a radical change in a person. Abram was named Abraham because God made him the father of many (Genesis 17:5). Jacob was named Israel, because he was one who strives with God (Genesis 32:28).
In the same way, God’s names reveal His essential nature, His personality and character. God’s names are more than titles, but descriptions of His attributes and activities. Therefore, when the Scripture employs a name of God, God in his fullness is meant. When men and women call on the name of God, God himself is worshiped (Genesis 21:33). When they forget the name of God, they depart from God himself (Jeremiah 23:27). When they take the name of God in vain, God himself is personally profaned and affronted (Exodus 20:7). (Van Groningen, G. (1988). God, Names Of. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 880). Baker Book House.).
Why so many?
Any attempt to answer this question sufficiently will come up short. No one name of God captures the entirety of God’s essence and character. In fact, all the names taken together do not reveal all that God is because He is infinite and eternal. He cannot be fully known or perceived, not on this side of the Kingdom anyway.
But He has revealed much about Himself in the multitude of His names. And thus we can conclude that in the self disclosure of His names, He wants to be known personally and intimately. As we come to know Him through His names, we are struck by greatness, holiness, majesty, glory, indescribable goodness, and justice. And the more we know Him, the more we come to terms with how inexhaustible He really is.
One to remember
We will dig more deeply into the many names by which God has revealed Himself next week. For now, there is one name above all others. You could say it is God’s favorite name for Himself, the one that distinguishes Him from all the rest. Yahweh.
Yahweh is a distinctly proper name of God. It appears 6823 times in the OT, occurring first in Genesis 2:4, where it is joined with Elohim and translated as the LORD God. Unlike El or Elohim, it is never used to refer to pagan gods. Neither is it used in regard to the lordship of men.
The Authorized Version of 1901 popularized the alternative Jehovah, which is taken from the Jewish practice of adding the vowels of Adonai to YHWH so as not to blaspheme the Name (Leviticus 24:16). With respect, this I s unnecessary. It needlessly diminishes the majesty of a name that reveals Him as the Uncreated One, the Moral First Cause of the Universe (Exodus 3:14).
Another passage is Exodus 6:2 & 3 is worthy of our consideration. “And God said to Moses, ‘I am Yahweh; I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them.’ ” The patriarchs did not know God as Yahweh. He had not revealed that name to them.
But in that name, they would come to understand the absolute faithfulness of God. He is the God of redemption and restoration, and would demonstrate that He is all that His name implies. He is Yahweh, merciful, gracious, forgiving, patient, abounding in steadfast love to 1000 generations (Exodus 34:5, 6).
We start with Yahweh because it reveals God’s nature in the highest and fullest sense. It presupposes the meaning of His other names. And without it, our understanding of who God is in essence and in character would be incomplete.
A worthy question, and one that will take more than one post to answer. Before we dive into the vast array of names and the perceived absence of them from modern translations, it will be helpful to establish the biblical importance of a name.
What’s in a name?
Some background in Biblical language will be helpful here. In Hebrew name meant sign or mark. People were identified and described by their names. In Greek, to name someone was to know them. It was more than a label. It revealed the essential character of the person to whom the name was given.
For example, Adam names the animals according to their kind (Genesis 2:19, 20). Jesus means savior (Matthew 1:21). In both cases names were inseparable from personality and character.
At times a new name was given to a radical change in a person. Abram was named Abraham because God made him the father of many (Genesis 17:5). Jacob was named Israel, because he was one who strives with God (Genesis 32:28).
In the same way, God’s names reveal His essential nature, His personality and character. God’s names are more than titles, but descriptions of His attributes and activities. Therefore, when the Scripture employs a name of God, God in his fullness is meant. When men and women call on the name of God, God himself is worshiped (Genesis 21:33). When they forget the name of God, they depart from God himself (Jeremiah 23:27). When they take the name of God in vain, God himself is personally profaned and affronted (Exodus 20:7). (Van Groningen, G. (1988). God, Names Of. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 880). Baker Book House.).
Why so many?
Any attempt to answer this question sufficiently will come up short. No one name of God captures the entirety of God’s essence and character. In fact, all the names taken together do not reveal all that God is because He is infinite and eternal. He cannot be fully known or perceived, not on this side of the Kingdom anyway.
But He has revealed much about Himself in the multitude of His names. And thus we can conclude that in the self disclosure of His names, He wants to be known personally and intimately. As we come to know Him through His names, we are struck by greatness, holiness, majesty, glory, indescribable goodness, and justice. And the more we know Him, the more we come to terms with how inexhaustible He really is.
One to remember
We will dig more deeply into the many names by which God has revealed Himself next week. For now, there is one name above all others. You could say it is God’s favorite name for Himself, the one that distinguishes Him from all the rest. Yahweh.
Yahweh is a distinctly proper name of God. It appears 6823 times in the OT, occurring first in Genesis 2:4, where it is joined with Elohim and translated as the LORD God. Unlike El or Elohim, it is never used to refer to pagan gods. Neither is it used in regard to the lordship of men.
The Authorized Version of 1901 popularized the alternative Jehovah, which is taken from the Jewish practice of adding the vowels of Adonai to YHWH so as not to blaspheme the Name (Leviticus 24:16). With respect, this I s unnecessary. It needlessly diminishes the majesty of a name that reveals Him as the Uncreated One, the Moral First Cause of the Universe (Exodus 3:14).
Another passage is Exodus 6:2 & 3 is worthy of our consideration. “And God said to Moses, ‘I am Yahweh; I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them.’ ” The patriarchs did not know God as Yahweh. He had not revealed that name to them.
But in that name, they would come to understand the absolute faithfulness of God. He is the God of redemption and restoration, and would demonstrate that He is all that His name implies. He is Yahweh, merciful, gracious, forgiving, patient, abounding in steadfast love to 1000 generations (Exodus 34:5, 6).
We start with Yahweh because it reveals God’s nature in the highest and fullest sense. It presupposes the meaning of His other names. And without it, our understanding of who God is in essence and in character would be incomplete.
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