good news 1972 (vol xxi no 07) nov-dec

8/10/2019 Good News 1972 (Vol XXI No 07) Nov-Dec

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i t b ~ i ~ K WOUT COVEX +On the night of Friday, August 25, 1972 in Calgary,Alberta, the Worldwide Church of God took an-

other big step forward in preaching Christs Gospel to theworld . Garner Ted Armst rong began the first o f a planned se-ries of Personal Appearanc e Cwrnpaigns for Canada an d theUnit ed States. Since then he has also spoken before capacitycrowds in St. Petersburg, Florida and San Antonio, Texas.Response in all three cities was very favorable. To date, thosewho attended the meetings have returned nearly three thou-sand coupons requesting literature, and nearly two hundredpeople have requested visits. Scores have already been in-vited to church services and Bible studies. Be sure to read,beginning on page 22, our Vancouver Ofice Managers firstimpressions of the meetings held in Calgary, and see the pic-ture report on page s 24-25.

Cover P h o b b y D on l o r b n mbossodor College

International magazine ofTHE CHURCH OF GOD

ministering l o its members

sratt ered abroad

November-December 1977

What our READERSSAYI have just finished reading for the sec-

on d time Dr. Dorothys article on the Span-i s h Wo r k w h i c h a p p e a r e d i n t h eSeptember-October issue of The GOODNEWS magazine. I was glad for the short bi-ography on Dr. Rea. It is iuterestiug andhelpful to learn about the men who workedso hard and had so much to do with the be-ginning of various phases of the Work. Ifeel that I knew Dr. Rea. There is no otherwork or activity on earth that makes onefeel so close to its leaders and all those in-volved, although we may never see many ofthem face to face.

The Spanish Work has been added to myprayer list. There was a time when I couldhardly th ink of anything t o pray about for

.tn~ miruvsx n~ w 1 . b . v , c n . m ~ ~ ~,hing adpeople to pray about. I hope that is a sign of

growth.M. H., Palmyras,

-i\cew-J ersey

I want to comment on how inspiring thenew GOOD NEWS was this month. They areall wonderful, but the articles in this oneconcerning children were so helpful. In thisage, even in Gods Church, we need all thehelp we can get on the subject of rearingchildren; and helpful articles seem to alwayscome a t the right time. Ive read the articlesover and over making notes and praying,and thanking God for inspiring these mento write these fantastic articles with such in-spired instruction.

D. P., Carlock,Illinois

W e wanted to tell you how very muchwe appreciated the last issue of The G o o n

NEWS. W e hope you will continue with ar-ticles on the Foreign W or k, as they make usrealize how much our brethren worldwideneed our prayers. The articles on child-rearing and the open letters from Mr. Car-r v u o and so11 rcally hit home. Having bccnin the Church for some time, we do take forgranted that our children will just followalong. W e also needed the article on Spiri-tual Heroin hat a perfect analogy It isso easy to allow ourselves a little potwithout realizing how easy it is to gethooked on real bitterness. Thanks to all ofyou who are responsible for the G ~ DNEWS, nd for these great articles we so des-perately need

R. H., Albuquerque,New Mexico

Thank you so much for the last GOODl\kWs LVwn- miy- c rE&r crrspniax~ I+dom. To see two men ppur out thei r hearts

as Messrs. Tom and A1 Carrozzo did shouldshake us all into trying much harder. Yetwe know it will go over many heads. Mr.

Robert Faheys masterpiece is what weveneeded for so long. Some only correct theirchildren when they are in front of otherbrethren, and it is so heartless and can beseen through so clearly. Mr. Dankenbring swarning to not become drugged is quite ananalogy. Dr. Dorothys article on the Span-ish Work gives us something more to prayabout, with much more understanding.Thanks t o all who had a part in making itso dynamic. The printers and binders andall others behind the scenes also.

J . L., Granite City,Illinois

Continued on back cover)

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{olume XXI Number 7

Published at Pasadena, Caliiornia92 Wo r l d w i d e C h u r c h of God

EDITORHERBERT . ARMSTRONG

MA NA GING EDITOR

David Jon Hill

SENIOR EDITORS

Roderick C. MeredithAlbert J. PortuneHerman L. Hoeh

A.rrociate EditorsRichard H . Sedliacik Ronald Kell

Conrriburir ig EditorsDavid Albert Dennis G . LukeDavid L. Antion Ernest L. MartiiDibar K. Apartian Leslie L. McCullouglFrank Brown Bill L. McDowelAlfred E. Carrozzo Raymond F. McNaiC. Wayne Cole L. Leroy NefRaymond C. Cole Richard F. PlachWilliam Dankenbring John E . P o r t u nRonald L . Dart John RobinsoCharles V. Dorothy Paul S. RoyeCharles F. Hunting Norman A . SmitPaul W. Kroll Dean R . WilsoRobert L. Kuhn Clint C. Zimmerma

Lawson C s, G o p y Giaiior.

Thomas Haworth. AJt Edilor

BUSINESS MANAGER

Albert J. Portune

Aooarss A L L C O M I I U N I C AT I O N S to t h c E d i t oP. 0 . Box 111. Pasadena , Cal i forn ia 91109.

Canadian members should address P. 0 . Do4 i , Station A. Vancouver 1 , B. C., C a n a d a .Our members in Uni ted Kingdom. Europe . anAfr ica should address the Edi tor, P. 0. Box 111St . Albnns , Her t s . , England .

South Afr ica : P. 0 . Box 1060, Johannesbur,Tr a n s v a a l , R. S . A .

Members in Australia and Southeast Asia shoula d d r a s t h e E d i t o r , G. P. 0. Box 345, S y d n eNSW 2001, Aust ra l ia .

I n the Phi l ipp ines , P. 0. Box 1111. MakatRizal D-708.

change in your address . P lease inc lude both oa n d n e w a d dr e ss . I M P O RT A N T

R E S U R F TO N O T I F Y U S I M M E C ; I AT E I . Y of LI


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THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUTTHE SACFED NAME

T h i s i s the first of a series of articles in this issue on theHebrew-name question. There i s only one name wherebyw e m a y b e s av ed . W e w a n t all o f our members to BESURE, on PROOF overwhelming and i r r e fu tab le , that w e

have that name

by Herbert W. Armstrong

E T I I K , first, rcll you o f my rxperi-ence, and a bit of history regard-ing the Sacred Name doctrine.

I first cncountered this teaching, andmade a study of i t , in 1937, thirty-fiveyears ago.

I t was then apparently a new idea orcontention arrived at by one or morezealous but unscholarly men. Carefulexamination proved i t absolutely false,and contrary to the teaching and ex-ample set by Jesus Christ Himself. Italso was totally contrary to the ex-ample of the apostles, and of the in-spiration of th e Ho ly Spirit.

I d o not w a n t to takc up with a n y -thing totally contrary to the usage ofJesus Christ, the apostles and the in-spiration o f the Holy Spiri t, and d o no tthink that our members do either.Nevertheless, to avoid any of Godsp e o p l e b e i n g m i s l e d b y w e l l - i n -tentioned but mistaken advocates ofthis false doctrine, w e are publishing aseries of in-depth articles in this issueof The GOOD NEWS, etting beforeGods people the P L A I N T R U T H .

But first, I want to relate how If o u n d t h a t t h e H e b r e w N a m e s teaching is NOT new t ru th , but OLD

FALSEHOOD. And that was 35 years

L

PO.

Per sona l Expe r i ence

Most of you know that after Godhad called me as His instrument in HisGreat Commission after my con-version in the sprin g of 1927 mywife and I fellowshipped with Oregonmembers of the Church of G od, whoseheadquarters was a t Stanberry, Mis-souri. However, we never became

iiicr~ibcis f rhc Srdnberry organization.Research since the founding of Am-

bassador College has identified thatchurch (Rev. 3.1-6) as the Saidis era ufGods Church. It issued a weeklychurch paper called the Bible Advo-cate. I t was organized on the patternof a biennial General Conference.

At the 193-3 General Conference,held, as near as I can remember, eitherearly or mid-August, its president andeditor of its paper lost the presidencyby one vote. Thi s was cast by ElderBur t F. Marrs, acting as the chairmanof the conference. H e had the decidingvote in caw of a tie

That vote resulted in spli t t ing thechurch, which thereafter split and re-split until I was unable to keep track ofthe many splinter group s pin-offs ofwhat once was the Sardis era of theChurch of G od. Thus . so far as the OR-GANIZED Sardis Era of t he Churc hofGo d is concerned, that 1933 conferencemay well be said to have marked T H EE N D of the Sardis Era.

And that may be of considerablesignificance. For late in August of thatyear, the small parent church of thePhiladelphia Era (Rev. 3:7-12) was

raised up near Eugene, Ore gon .

1933 Conference, the deposed presi-dent-editor left that church and teamedu p with an Elder C. 0. Dodd in organ-izing a competing organization. I tclaimed world headquarters at Jerusa-lem (with no member there,so far as Iknow ), and United States headquartersat the l i t tle town o f Salem, W es t Vir-ginia.

To draw members from the Stan-

0~ ~ i ~ g~ e ~ ~ dL + L &dj j iy.

berry organization after them, theytermed their new church the Bibleform of organization. This was a mis-riumer, but it appealed to many. Halfo r more of the Stanberry church leftStanberry and lined up with this newSalcm, West Virginia giuup. Theypromptly issued their own Bible Ad-vocate lmost identical in form andappearance to the Stanberry paper.

This new Salem, West Virginia liai-son soon broke up, apparently in 1937,when Elder Dodd went in to the He-brew Names movement.

Beginning of Hebrew N a m e s Te a c h i n g

Apparen t ly t h i s new HebrewNames traching actually began in the1930s. D r. John R. Briggs met M r. Au-gust Sheffick, who insisted that theEnglish word Christ was of paganorigin. Dr. Briggs thereupon began toemphasize the Hebrew word Yahshua.He was in association with an A. BTraina in an assembly in N ew JerseyApparently he was going somewhatoverboard, and Mr. Traina insisted hecalm dow n, whereupon D r. Briggs anda Jewish man, Paul Pe nn, departedto

Detroit . Their Names Evangelization

began there in February,1937.Th is gro up first obtained a charteras

Assembly of Y.H.V.H. and later asYahveh Beth Israel. D r. Briggs actedas executive. Apparen tly there was littlgrowth or fruit borne, and he died in1961, having ordained ministers tocontinue his work. Thi s group believesChrist (whom they call Yahshua)was kept in prison a couple of days

R r t q m - m d : SA. IXrnP, GwP,,.f


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L GOOD NEWS November- December 1972

copies of his F h t h magazine for somelittle time, and there was one othercontact, mentioned later in this article.So far as I had contact or knowledge ofit, the movement had virtually died

Current research shows that therehave, indeed, existed a num berof smallsplinter gro ups ad vocating the so-calledsacred names. They are dividedamong themselves in many ways, espe-cially as to wha t the Hebrew namesare.

I remember hearing or reading inSardis literature of an Elder L. D.Snow who accepted the Sabbath andcame into that church in 1931. N ow Iunderstand he later left that church a ndhas his own independent group calledT he Assembly of Yahvah andplease note his group has a differentHebrew name pronounced differentlythan Yahweh. Elder Snow appar-ently won over a few former Sardisera members of the Church of Go d, forI am informed he moved his headquar-ters to Junction City, Oregon, during1957. He has a paper which uses bothYahvahshua and Yahshua as theMessiahs names. Elder Snow stoppedoff a t Ambassador College in Pasadenato argue his case in 1953.

Still anochrr group is t h r GrnrralCouncil of the Assemblies of Yah, of

Albany, Oregon, which address wouldsuggest having includcd some mcm-bers or former membe rs of the Sa rdisera Church of God. It was formerly as-sociatcd with the Assembly of Yahweh, and pu blishes a pa per called TheWord.

And there have been many othersplinter groups.

ou t .

J us t W h a t Do You M E A NSac red Names?

First, understand just what is thecontention of this so-called SacredName teaching.

Advocates of this belief doNOT con-tend that we must read the Bible onlyin the Hebrew language. They themselves use English-language translationof the Bible.

W ha t they do claim is that thenames of the Creator-Father, and of H iSon th e Saviou r, are sacredonly in theHebrew language. Th e t ru th i s, thenames of Go d or of Christ are as sacre

and not crucified until the preparationfor the weekly Sabbath, 28 A.D. , andthat H e was raised three days later ont h e l a t day o f I Jnlcavcncd Bread. Thcydip three t imes to baptize (The Faithmagazine, March 1969, page 4 , and lit-erature and correspondence from Yah-veh Beth Israel).

But what is more important thanthis group, is that Mr. Briggs had per-suaded Elder C. 0. D o d d to accept theHebrew names. H e had started a newmagazine called The Faith. M r. D o d dthen wen t in with M r. Traina.

Now we are ge t t ing in to h is tory Ipersonally remem ber. Mr. Do dd , nowleaving the Salem grou p as he had theStanberry organization, was rebaptizedin Michigan in the nam e of Yahshuaby Elder Earl Bigford in 1941. His

Faith Bible and Tract Society hadbeen publishing The Faith magazine,beginning March 1937.

I received The Faith somew hat regu-larly and remember the articles by Mr.lraina on speaking or writing thenames of God or of Christ only in theHebrew language which they, ofcourse, termed the sacred names.

Mr. Dodd and I discussed this newdoctrine on the telephone.

I said to hi m , as nearly as I can nowrecall the words: Elder Dodd, you

know, as all the evidence proves, thatthe New Trstamenr was originallywrit ten in the Greek language. I t wasinspired by t he l i v ing Word o f God ,JCSUS Christ , through the H o l y Spirit.And by inspiration of the Holy Spiritthe names of Jesus and of Go d, as wellas thc titlcs, wcre INSPIRED to be w rit-ten in the GREEK anguage o t He-brew.

And FURTHER, m u c h of the NewTestament contains quota tions or ci ta-t ions from the Old Testament, andwherever those OldTestament passagescontained the names or titles of God,the HOLYSPIRIT nspired them to bewrit ten into the N ew Testam ent in theG R E E Kanguage. I cannot change o rpervert what was I N S P I R E D through theHoly Spirit an Y O I J ?

For a moment Elder Dodd seemedconfused.

Af t e r some hes i t a t i on , he s a id ,Well then, I think the New Testa-ment must have been originally in-

spired and written in the H E B R E Wlanguage, and the Greek copies of theNew Testament must be uNinspiredand erro neous translations.

I said, Elder Dodd, do you realizewhat you are saying? All authoritiesknow that the ONLY copies of the orig-inal writings that have been preservedare in G R E E K absolutely NONE inHebrew. You are saying, as an argu-ment and with absolutely NO author-ity, that there are NO COPIES of theinspired original writings of t h e N e wTestament, and that the ONLY copiesare in error. And if they are in errorwherever the names of Jesus o r of Go dare mentioned, how do we know thatthey are not in error in many otherplaces? Then we have NO SURE Wo r dof God for the New Testament Scrip-

tures nly uNinspired translations.But maybe the translations intoGreek w ere inspired, h e suggested.

If that had happened,I said, thenthe Holy Spirit inspired the trans-lations that write the names of Godand of Jesus in GREEK, ot Hebrew.

Elder Dodd was now really con-fused. He had no real answer. But hecontin ued in this false teaching, regard-less, so far as I know.

If [hose sincere (though deceived)people who insist we must speak the

Hebrew language when we come tothe names of God or of Christ, try toestablish that the New Testament wasoriginally inspired and written in theIIcbrcw languagc, thcn:

1) the burden of proof is on themN D THERE IS NONE

2 ) we are left with ONLY faulty, er-roneous writings for the New Testa-ment. But God has said, . . . the truthof the Eternal endureth for ever (Ps.117:2) and, . . . his truth endureth toall generations (Ps. 100:5). But theword of the Lord endureth for ever(I Peter 1:25). And Jesus Christ said,Heav en and ea rth shall pass away: butmy words shall n o t pass away (Mark13:31).

D iv i s ion an d Confus ion

So far as my pe rsonal experience andcontact with this Hebrew names move-ment went, that telephone conversa-t ion with Elder Dodd ended i texcept tha t I cont inued receiv ing


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in one lan guage as anoth er, and there isno scripture to the contrary.

In other words, they allow that wemay freely translate all other words ofthe Bible into ou r English languageexcept those words that are the NAMESof the Father and the Son. They claimi t is wrong, even sin, to use the namesof the Father or the Son in the Englishlanguage. But that contention is notsubstantiated by the Scriptures.

They contend that we may useEnglish translations of the Bible, untilwe come to the N A M E S of the Fatherand/or the Son. THEN e must speakthe Hebrew language in pronouncingor writing their names.

people of any language may read, orquote the Bible in their language, EX-CEPT for the NAMES of the Father or theSon nd that these names mus t al-ways be written or spoken or copied inthe HEBREW anguage? M ost assuredlyNOT

T h r n does rhr Bible, as r h r y claim,substantiate their teaching? Even thequestion sounds ridiculous The re is nosuch statement or command anywheiein the Bible

Then how do they arrive at such acontcntion By a scrics of argumcntsand wrestings which arrive at an an-

swer C O N T R A RY to the usage of Christor the apostles, o r the inspiration of theHoly S pirit.

Is their teaching, then, according tothe Bible? ABSOLUTELYT IS NOTthough they try to prove that it is. NOS C R I P T U R E gives any such tea ching.

I have always said that in nearlyevery instance an error is based on afalse premise, assumed and taken forgranted.

YY a i ~ y SY?TX~ ~ - i ? l - a* L i k

T h e i r B a s ic P r e m i s e

The central, basic PREMISE, on whichtheir entire doctrine of using only He-brew names is based, is this: they con-t r n d a s s u m r ake carelrssly forgranted the false supposition thatthe name GOD is of pagan origin,and therefore we are following a pagancustom in using the name God. Theyclaim we are actually sinning when wecall the true Church the WorldwideChurch of God.

Their argument is that our Germa-

GOOD NEWS

nic-speaking ancestors used the nameGod to refer to their idols. But no-tice what the Bible reveals:

When they [the Gentile nations]knew God, they glorified Him not asGod, neither were thankful; but be-came vain in their imaginations [rea-sonings], and their foolish heart wasdarkened. Professing themselves to bewise, they became fools, and changedthe glory of the uncorruptible Godinto an image m ade l iketo corruptibleman, and to birds, and fourfootedbeasts, and creeping things (Kom.1:21-23). And in verse 28,. . . they didnot l ike to retain God in their knowl-edge.

L\Lw- mnrhs-ad ahk iik me isquoted from the English-languagetranslation. It was translated from theGreek version, which was inspiredthrough the Holy Spiri t . In the origi-nal writing, the Holy Spirit inspiredthe Greek name for God ,THEOS. T h every context shows that in the clause w h r ~ i h ry k nc w God [ theuj] , r h rHoly Spirit used the name theos tomean the true Creator. T he Gentilesonce knew this true Creator as G o d .But they turned from H im hang-ing the incorruptible glory of the Su-prcme Crcator in to IDOLS, calling themgod. They did n ot like to retain the

true Creator in their knowledgethey substituted idols, whic h they cam eto honor as god. They applied thename o f the t rue Creatorto their idols.

Now notice the faulty reasoning ofthe Hebrew name people: Becausethe Gentiles used the nam e of th e Cre-ator ( in Greek tbeos n Hebrew elo-him and in English God) whichoriginally they k new as the nam e of thetrue Creator, and began looking ontheir idols as God, these Hebrewname people reason that we are using

the nam e that originated in idolatry.Actually it was just the reverse. The

pagans took the namesof the t rue God2nd ral lrd their idols hy those namesThat made their idolatry all the moresinful. But did i t contaminate or cor-rupt or paganize the names themselves?O f course not. N otice further:

Th e Apostle Paul told certain menof Athens: For as I passed by. and be-held your devotions, I found an altarwith this inscription, TO THE UN-

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KNOWN GOD [THEOX].Whom there-fore ye ignora ntly worship, h im declareI unto YOU (Acts 17:23). Beyond con-troversy it was theos whom the Athe-nians superstitiously honored by thataltar, lest they sh ould accidentally over-look any unknown dei ty who mightpossibly exist. But that theos, said Paul,is the Deity he declared (preached, pro-claimed) to them. There is n o escapingthe fact that whatever was written inGreek on that Greek monument as thename of deity, that was the name Paulapplied to the true God he preached.Th at Greek name wastheos

The English name GOD s merelythe English translation from the tireeki-hEiT Like tdeos, the Teutonic wordgod originally meant simply thatwhich is worshipped, without refer-ence to its use in paganism. (Godhas no known connection with theOld Tes tament name Gad.

The customary practice of the pa-gans was to take the t rue names of Goda ~ i d pply thrrxi to rhcir idols. In theinspired Hebrew of the O ld Testamentthe Hebrew name elohim is used 240times as the trut name of the t rue God ,bu t is also used for pagan idols. Noticejust two examples: the idol gods ofEgypt arc callcd e l o h m , . . . against allthe gods [elohim) of Egypt I will exe-

c u t e j u d g m e n t ( E x . 1 2 : 1 2 ) . T h eEgyptians once had known of the trucGod but became total idol worship-pers.

Spealting of the heathen nationsHittites, Perizzites and CanaanitesGod commanded, Thou shal t notbow down to their gods [elohim] (Ex.23: 24).

And so that basic false assumption isclearly the source of the error. O fcourse i t is an attem pt to read doctrineINTO the Scriptures. W e give you some

examples of that in a separate, accom-panying box.

S a m e N A M E i f f e r en t Language

Let me give you a few examples ofhow the same name is spelled and pronounced differently in different lan-guages.

The name Anthony in English isAntoine ( p r o n o u n c e d A n t w i n ) i nFrench. It isAnton in German, and A n -tonio in Spanish.


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T h e name Charles is K m I i n Ger-man, and Carlos in Spanish.

Th e name Henry isHenri in French,Heinrich in German and Enrique i nSpanish.

J ames i s Jacques ( p r o n o u n c e dZhock) in French,Jukob (pronouncedYahkob) in Germa n, andJazme (pro-nounced Hi ghma y) in Spanish .

Peter is Pierre in French, and Pietro(pronounc ed Pi-ettro) in I tal ian.

Wil l iam is Guilktume in French,Wilbelm (pronounced Vil-helm) inGerm an, and Gugielmoin Italian.

The city of Vienna, in Austria, isspelled Wzenthere, and the W s pro-nounced l ike V. The city of Naplesis Ndpoli in Italy. The city of Belgradeis Beogrud in Yugoslavia.

T h e Holy Spiri t , inspiring th e origi-nal writ ing of the New Testament inthe Greek language, translated NOTO N LY all other words quoted from theOld Tes tament in to Greek, but thenames of God as well , thus sett ing theprecedent for ub, whcn translating intoEnglish, to translate these names i n toEnglish. THE HOLY S P I R I TOF GODD I D NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKE

A d d i t i o n a l PROOF

Go d a t tachesG R E AT IMPORTANCE tothe meaning of N A M E S . His N A M E is,

indeed, of supreme im portance.God names persons o r things W H ATT H E Y A R E . Th e archangel he cherubLucifer (Latin, light-bearer), was sonamed because from the time God cre-ated him he wus a bringer of L I G H T andTRUTH. His name (in Hebrew, HeLeLben Shachar) M E A N T Shining Star ofthe Dawn. But when in iqui ty wasfoun d in him when he rebelled,turned to vanity, lust and greed. be-came an adversary and enemy, Godchanged his name to Satan, which

M E A N S adversary enemycomp eti tor.Jacob was so named because he was a

supplanter, and that is the meaningof the name Jacob. But when he pre-vailed w i t h God, and overcame, Godchanged his name to what he then WA S

srael, which means prevailer withGo d or overcomer.

The purpose of words is to conveyM E A N I N G . O u r commission is to pro-claim the Good News of the coming

GOOD NEWS November-December 1972

Misapplied ScripturesPSALM 3:18 T h a t men m a y

know t h a t t h o u , whose n a m e alone

i s JEHOVAH, a r t the most high overall the earth.

Notice this verse doesNOT say Godhas only one name. Th e word a lonemodifies thou. The meaning is:You alone have a r ight to the nameY H W H you alone are the EternalOne. Other translations agree thatthis is rhr inrrnr of the Hebrew.

PSALMS:4 Sing unto God Elo-him], s i n g p r a is e s to h i s name : extolhim t h a t rideth upon the heavens byhis name JAH, and rejoice before him.This verse is sometimes quoted totry to show Gods only name is Yah-weh. Yet Yahweh is not even usedin th e verse T h e sh ort name]& (orYa h ) appears, and th e verse shows th atElohim is also God s name.

EXODUS 3:15 A n d God Elo-him) sa id moreover unto Moses,Thus shalt thou say unto the chil-dren of Israel , The LORD YHWHJGod {Elohim) of your f a the r s , theGod Elobim) of A b r a h a m , the God

Elobim) of Isaac , and the God Elo-hi7n) of Jacob, ha& sent me unto you:t h i s is my n a m e f o re v e r, a n d t h i s i smy m e m o r i a l unto a l l gene ra t i ons .

Does this say that Y H V H is theonly nam e by w hich the Father isto beremembered by all peoples forever? Itdocs not. In thc fiist placr, as provenelsewhere, it was not the Father speak-ing , but th e O ne wh o became the Son.Second, the message was specificallyu nto Israel nd His name was inHebrew because they spoke Hebrew.

Th i rd , no t Y H W Hb u t Y H W HElobimis the com plete nam e used in the verse.But if you will read verse 14, you willsee that the name sent to them was IAM and tha t God was to be remem-bered by the fact that HE LIVES.

Pour out thy wrathupon the h e a t h e n t h a t h a v e n o tknown thee and upon the k ingdomst h a t h a v e not ca l l ed upon thy name.

PSALM 9:6

Note that this Psalm does not speci y pronounc ing any one of Godsnames (and both Elohim and YHWHare used in its other verses). The plaimeaning is that wrath shallbe pouredou t , not on those who do not supes t i t i ous ly ca l l on Gods name bmouthing a cercain sound, b u t o nthose who fail to become His peopland cry o u t to Him fo r H i s power toquit siniiing, and for prorecrion fromthe tr ibulation, which can be d o n e iany language. Psalm 18:3; Joel 2 : 3 2Acts 2:21 and Romans IO: l3 also spcakof ca l l ing on the name of the Lord

(and are likewise misused) and all refto calling on Hispower for deliverancn o t to pronouncing a Hebrew name.

MALACHI :2 If ye will not h e a rand if ye will not lay it to heart, togive glory unto m y n a m e , s a i t h theLORD of hos ts , I will even send curse upon you. . . .

Ho w do we g ive gloryto His nameWe honor His name, powerand authoity, by obeying Him (De ut.2 8 : 1 5 ) .

MATTHEW : 2 1 Not every one

t h a t s a i th unto me, Lord , Lord, shae n t e r into the kingdom of heaven;but he that d a e t h the will of mF a t h er w h i c h is in heaven .

Here again, obedience to the commandmen t s o f God i s t he impor t ath ing . Talk ing about God i s nenough. Most emphatically, this verdoes not say that using the name Lord (Greek kztrios) is cause fobeing barred from Gods kin gdo m fact, it says plainly that just usiGods name is NOT what is requiredbut only conforming to His wi l l heart , mind and action can bring yto Gods K ing dom.

PROVERBS 8:10 T h e n a m e othe LORD s a s t r o n g t o w e r : t h erighteous runneth into it, an d is safe.

W ha t p ro t ec t s as described here? is most assuredly thepow er of the E tnal. There is no such thing as prote


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November-December 1972 GOOD NEWS 5

tion by enunciating a magic wordPsalm 91:14-15 Because he hath sethi5 love upon M E , therefore will I de-liver him: I will set him on high, be-cause he hath known [experienced] myname [my character and power). Heshall call upon M E [not on the soundof a particular name, notice), and I willanswer him.. . . See also Isaiah 58:9;Zechariah 1 3 9 .

And in all thingsthat I have said unto you be circum-spect: and make no mention of thename of other gods, neither let it beheard out of thy mouth. JOSHUA23:6-7 . . Do all that is written inthe book of the law of Moses, that yeturn not aside therefrom to the right

hand or to the left; That ye come notamong these nations, these that re-main among you; neither makemention of the name of their gods,nor cause to swear by them, neitherserve them, nor bow yourselvesunto them.

Psalms 16.4 and 44.20-21 are alw uwdwith these verses. But to make mentionof the name of pagan gods means tocall upon, or pray to. or call oneself afollower of such a god, in contrast tocalling on the name of the Eternal. It isnot a question of the pronunciation ofthe sound of heathen names, but oftaking up the false worship of the godsof the Canaanites. Nor is there any ref-erence here whatever to the use ofGreek, English or other translations ofthe names of God.

HOSEA :16-17 And it shall be atthat day, saith the LORD, that thoushalt call me Ishi; and shalt call meno more Baali. For I will take awaythe names of Baalim {Baals) out ofher mouth, and they shall no morebe remembered by their name.

The time setting is the Millennium.To His people. who are even nowcalled the bride of Christ, the Eternalwill then be My Husband (Ishi).Theold relationship (see Galatians 4 : l ) ofslave and Owner (Baal) will be super-ceded by a higher kind of union. Atthat time also, the very names of the

Exovus 3 : 1 3

idols which the Canaanites worshippedas Owners, and whose rites provedso attractive to ancient Israelites, willbe forgotten, along with the concept ofowner-slave religion. These verses do

not say that words like Tbeos, Kurios,God, Lord, Jesus, etc., arewrong or will be discontinued. That isan assumption read into the Bible.

M A L A C H I : 5 Behold, I willsend you Elijah the prophet beforethe coming of the great and dreadfulday of the LORD.

It is ludicrous to believe that, be-cause the meaning of the name Elijahis My God is Jah, that the sending ofElijah the prophet means sending forth

the Hebrew names theory. If youwill compare this verse with Revelation11:3-6; I Kings 1 7 : l ; Luke 4:25 andJames 5:17, you will see that an Elijahto come is literal. Note also that theElijah of Jesus day had the name,John

How do ye say,W e are wise, and the law of theLORD is with us? Lo, certainly thefalse pen of the scribes worketh forfalsehood {marginal rendering).The wise men are ashamed, they aredismayed and taken; lo, they haverejected the word of the LORD: andwhat wisdom is in them?

There is no statement or prophecyhere that the true text of Gods Wordwas perverted and lost. Rather it refersto the false written interpretationsabout biblical passages by which Jewishscribes and wise men even in Jeremiahsday were rejecting and making of noeffect Gods intended meaning. Unfor-tunately many people are doing the

same thing to this day. This verse alsosays people reject the word ofYHWH,NOT the word YHWH

EZEKIEL36:20 And when they{Israel) entered unto the heathen,whither they went, they profanedmy holy name, when they said tothem, These are the people of theLORD, and are gone forth out of hisland.

J E R E M I A H 8:8-9

How did they profane the Eternalsname? Was it by taking a supposedone-and-only name in verbal profanity?No. It was simply by setting such badpersonal examples while claiming tobe followers of the Eternal that theydefamed His character and gave Hima bad rianir among the Gmtilcs.

ACTS 7 : 4 5 W h i c h a l s o o u rfathers that came after brought inwith Jesus in to the possession of theGentiles, whom God drave out be-fore the face of our fathers, unto thedays of David. HEBREWS : s Forif Jesus had given them rest, thenwould he not afterward have spokenof another day.

These verses have sometimes beencited with special attention beingdrawn to the word LJoshua in themarginal notes. The careless readermight thus be led into believing theNew Testament says tJoshua wasJesus Christs real name. Check it foryourself. Dont you be careless. While1Jesus was certainly the Greek form ofthe more ancient Hebrew name Joshua,what these marginal notes are pointingout is that the Jesus referred to in boththose verses was the Joshua of the OldTestament, the successor of Moses.

JOHN 5 : 4 3 I am come in myFathers name, and ye receive menot: if another shall come in his ownname, him ye will receive.

This is supposed (by some) to provethat Jesus name was Yahshzla and de-rived from Yahweh. What it does meanis that He came claiming and using HisFathers authority.

REVELATION4:1 And I looked,and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mountSion, and with hi m an hundred fortyand four thousand, having his Fathersname written in their foreheads.

Along with this scripture, some citeRevelation 7 : l - 3 to show that theFathers name is that sealing in theforehead for which the four winds areheld back. Turn there and you will findwhat the Fathers name is. It is the livingGod (Greek Tkos dzuntos), not Yahweh.

a w s o n C. Briggs


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6

K i n g d o m o f G o d w h ic h is the Gov-ernment of G o d n d t h e Famib ofGod to rule the earth and bringPEACE and salvation. English-speakingpeople know tha t the name GODmeans the supreme Creator bu t ifwe use Yahw eh or Yahvaho r Ya h o r Yahshuah o r

Yahashuah or some o ther formwhich these Hebrew names peoplead voca t e , Eng l i sh - s p eak ing peop l ewould not know who we were ta lk ingab ou t . W e use t he names o f God i nwhatever language we are speakingsothe people of that language wil l UN-DERSTAND,nd GET THE MESSAGE

Jesus and Paul dzd this, set t ing us theexample , which we fo l low

If w e do not use names I N THE LAN-G U A G E o f t he pe o p l e t o whom wespeak f we do not use the namestha t CONVEY M E A N I N G ,e are simplymaking usclcss, meaiiiiiglcm aiiJ uiicci-tain sounds.

An Uncertain Sound

Th e Hebrew names people say wemus t speak in anothe r language n-o ther TO N G U E he H eb rew w he n

GOOD NEWS

using the name of the Father or theSon. THE BIBLET E A C H E S O T H E RW I S EFor these Hebrew words or names are

to nearly all English-speaking people,as well as French-speaking, German-speaking, Spanish-speaking or thoseofother languages. But l is ten to the I N -

For the speaker in a foreign tonguedoes not speak to m e n . . . no man un-derstands i t . . . . So you also, with yourlanguages, unless you produce an in-tel l igible speech, ho w can i t be kn ownwha t is spoken? For you would be talk-ing to t h e w i n d ( I Cor. 14:2 , 9, Fen-ton trans.). An d the 8t h verse says:And if a t rumpet should g ive an un-know n [uncertain in the Author izedVersion} sound, who would preparefor batt le?

We are commissioned to proclaimChrists Gospcl of tlic Kiiigcluiii uTGod to al l the world as a witness oA L L NATIONS speaking languages otherthan Hebrew to people who DONOT UNDERSTAND H E B R E W t opeop l e who w ou ld n o t know WHO wewere poin t ing them to if we use the

an UNKNOWN OREIGN ONGUE

SPIRED TEACHING:

Derivafion of YHVHH E word * Y H V H(which is always

the Hebrew when the capital let-ters LORDare used in the King JamesVersion) is explained by R abb inicsources as encompassingthree Hebrewwords:

HYH meaning War

HVH meaning Ir (literallythe presenttense -the word

is isnot used inHebrew

HYH meaning Will Continue o Be

Putting them all together, YHVHa c tu a ll y m e a n s t h e WUJ-2s- Con-tinue to Be Being. Even Hebrew lin-guistic scholars agree that Y HV H must

be derived from some formof the verbto be (was,is, will be).

By His very nam e, then , Godquiteliterally encompasses all aspectsof time

past, present and future. Thic is i ncomplete accord with Mal. 3:6 For Iam YHVH, I change not; Heb. 1323,Jesus Christ the same yesterday [was],and today [is), and forever [will con-tinue to be]; and Rev. 1:8, I am Al-pha and Omega, t he beginning and theending, sa i th the Lord, which is andwhich was, and which is t o come, the Al-mighty.

Consequently both Moffatts theEternal and Fentons Ever-Living areexcellent translations.* The V was originally pronounced as W, thoughin modern Hebrew i t is pronounced as V . Yo umay see either V or W used in transliterations.

obert I. Kohn


Hebrew Y H W H . And N O O N E can becertain HOW to pronounce or S O U N Dthat name in Hebrew. I ts pronuncia-tion has h e m LOST and these He-brew names groups DISAGR EE a m o n gthemselves as to HOW to pronounce thename Certainly we would be givingou t an UNCERTAIN SOU N D.

C h r i s t s E x a m p l e

Jesus S TA RT E D t h e Wo r k of G o d ,proclaiming this Gospel. He never onceis recorded to have wed the HebrewY H W H during the entirety of Hisearthly ministry, though He spoke He-brew (as wil l be explained in a fol low -ing article in this series).

Paul spoke to Gent i les who spokethe GREEK anguage. There is no re-corded use of the Hebrew Y HW Hbut he used the Same names in theGREEK anguage.

Thr Holy Spiri t inspired the NewTestament in the GREEK anguageand did NOT use the Hebrew Y H W H ,o r Yahshua o r Yahashuali , b u t tlicGREEK ords that conveyed the MEANI N G of the names of deity in th e Gre eklanguage.

W e are the ins truments the l iv ingChrist is using in proclaiming Hi sGos-pel tn t h r world. We could n o t p o i n tpeople to the Creacor and Saviour, orto understand His Gospel , unless weuse words and names that make clearWHO the Creator is

Moreover, although NO ONE can beC E RTA I N ( though most think Yah-we h is probably cor rect)of the correctvowels that should be used in theHe-brew Y H W H , Hebrew scholars doshow that i t M E A N S The Ever l iv ingOne or The Eterna l or The Se l f -Existent One, or T h e O n e w h o w a s,and is, and is to be (see accompanyingbox for the derivationof Y H W H ) .

WHY N a m e Is Important

The Sacred Na me people contendthe I M P O RTA N T th ing , in us ing thenames of the Father or the Son, is theSOUND, more t han t h e ME ANING.u teven they are not certain as to thesound so t l i r y liavc a n uncerrainsound.

I have said that names A R E impor-t an t to G o d . G o d NAMES th ings or

(Cont iwed O H p q e i ?/


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GOOD NEWS 7ovember- December 197 2

Wit ho u t r eal i z ing i t , t he Hebrew names ad-

vocates may be k b g h ~ mmwW wroyw h i c h led the pagans in to supers t i t ion a n dmagic

H E R E was a primitive belief thatto know a name gives power

over its bearer ven whe n it wasGod Himself . The supersti t ion pre-vailed that when a man uttered thename of a god and then demandedor asked something, it would be ful-filled because he spoke the name.

Men can have this magical powerover the god only because.. . thename is essentially linked with theone w ho bears i t . Of both men andgods it is finally true that the namecontains rnana (supernatural force orpower) . Th e name is thus a powerwhich is very closely associated withthe bearer and which discloses hisn a t u r e. P r o n o u n c e m e n t o r i n -vocation of the name sets in opera-tion the energy potentially in him(Theological Dictionary of the New

Testament,vol. V. p. 243).This irrationality was not re-

,.rt,kLd m d ~ h m i h c d~ am@:assume. R ather, Gen tile and Jewishmagic intermingled freely in Egypt.This may be seen in the fact that theefficacious vowel sequences oftene c h o Ya l ~ w r h ,or rhe name aooften appears. In order that themagic may work the true namemust bc namcd, the onc inaclrknown by the god himself (ibid. p.2 5 1 ) . Th e pagans . . . supposed thatanyone who doubted the power ofnames did not believe in the gods atall (Luc. Philops., 9f., 1 2 , 1 7 ) .

There is no doubt that todayGods name n any langzlage, in-cluding Y H W H in Hebrew ym-bol izes all o f His p o w e r a n dauthority. But that power simplycannot be magically conjured by

pronouncing or carcfully tracingHebrew letters. Mere squiggles o n apiece of paper o r parchment are nei-ther sacred nor magical evcn thoughthey spell Gods name. Neither doesprecise pronunciation of those sameletters magically capture Gods at-tention and unleash H is power. G od

responds to those whose hearts arecontrite, submissive and obedient.H e hears those who have faith inthe redemptive sacrificeof His Son.He honors those w ho have repented,been baptized and so have his HolySpirit.

Nowliere do the Scriptures com-mand the Christ ian to become 2perfect penman or excellent enun-ciator. Everyonc knows you can stillproperly worship God with your

hands cut off and your tongue torno u t .CLd siq.., Is ,wA* LmRmiL?d

about specific sounds. He is con-cerned about both the a t t i tude inwhich a sound is made and the men-tal concept it represents. Paul usedthe Greek word Tbeos to teachabout the Hebrew word Y H W H .H e def ines the concept of bot hwords a t once: This O ne is Creatorand Ruler of heaven and earth. Heneeds nothing from man. He is ut-terly superior to man who dependsupon Him for life itself. Every raceand each man has been given thetimc and space to f ind God (Act5

Th e name of God is more than amere label. Y H W H , Tbeos, Gott, andGod are words that speak vol-umes. They concentrate His fame,

1 7 2 4 - 2 8 ) .

leilo w 1, glory, repu ration, character.These names are all laden with Hisauthority, pow er, holiness. Ther e areo t h e r n a t i v e l a n g u a g e narnebthrough which He is revealed to allmankind. But th ink No three- orfour-letter wor d, nor even any sho rtphrase such as I AM THAT I AM

(Ex. 3:14) or Him which is, andwhich was, and which is to come(Rev. 1:4) can really convey all thatis needful even though they enlargethe concept contained in the namesof God .

Nonetheless, the English-speak-ing Christian can quite piopcilyworship The Creator by using thename God. W hy ? Because thetransplendent magnificcnt conce pt isin that wonderful name: The su-

preme and ult imate reali ty. Theholy, infinite and eternal spiritualrea l iypresente d in the Bible as the

Creator, sustainer, judge, righteoussovereign, and redeemer of thc uni-verse who acts wi th powe r in historyin carry ing out His purpose . Theeternal, invisible, arbitrarily omnipo -tent Lord of the worlds and finaljudge of all men. All-knowing, just,compassionate, merciful and un-changeable perfect Being that is thefirst and final cause of the universe.Th e one ultim ate infinite reality tha tis pure existence, consciousness, andbliss without distinctions (as oft ime and space). T he Being supremein power, wisdom and goodnessthat men worship and to w h o mthey pray ( WebstersDictiondry).

No w, tha t i s a NAME eal andpractical NOT MAGICAL

l in t C. Z i m m e r m a n


10/36

THE UNKNUWN GODThe ancient Greeks labeled the Creator: The UnknownG o d (Acts 77:23). They forgot WHO He i s ecauset hey h a d lost the meaning of His nam e That nam e i s im-

por tan t ha t i s i t? Wh at does i t mean?

by Herman L Hoeh

OW impo r tan t i s a name.; Does i tmakr a n y d i f G r r n c r w h a t n:am,-you use t o designate the Cre-

Th e Son came in His Father s name. heavenly Father an d/o r theS o n . w eWbut is His Futberi nume.2 Unless YOU, should use only the Hebrew namesoftoo, bear your heavenly Father s nam e, Deity . They insist thati t is a sin to useYOLJ are not His son and he i r W i th out the words G od. Lord, Jesus,

D o e s i t mat ter in zoho.re nume vou Hi s name you wil l neversee His Kin g- Chr is t, W ord . and Chr is t ian .

Ha t o r ?

pray?

A u t h o r i t y in aN a m e

A persons name iscer ta in ly im por tan t . Butwhat in real i ty does thew o r d n a m e m e a n ?Wrrm urw XCTS iir am-other s name, on e ac ts inhis stead by his au-r h m b , Tbc t7a.m~- &jsgnates the source of theauthor i ty i t desig-nates who the person isfor whom o ne ac t s . Topray in someones N A M Eis to t ake the A U T H O R -I T Y o f t ha t name .

x ptTsvrr\- iramr ia l w his rrputarion. Agood name i s ra ther tob e c h o s e n t h a n g r e a trich?


11/36


12/36

10

the second syllable like th ewhe in whereand accented) is a close approximation.(Editorsnote: See the accompanying ar-ticle by Dr. Martin which shows thisreconst ruct ion i s par t ly based onChristian transliterations into Greekseveral centuries A.D., and preserves

nota

Jewish but primarily a Samaritanpronunciation.) But other scholarsbe-lieve the original name was Yaho orYabwo or Y2hu or something else.These include such well-known men asG . B.. D+.ec, B. .S. F3dm.m~. md W .Visc her.

However, the important meaning ofthe name is not so uncertain. Lackingthe original vowels, we cannot be posi-t ive abou t the exact grammatical form,bu t s cho la r s gene ra l ly ag ree tha tY H W His from the verb to be. Somesuggest the name was the original formwhich meant he causes to be, othershe exists, etc. And no better inter-pretation of the overall meaning canbefound than that given by inspirationi nReve la t ion 1 :8, refer r ing to JesusChrist: I am the Alpha and theOmega [in English we would say theA and the Z ) , says the Lord God, wh ois, and who was, and who is to come,the Almighty (RSV ). English equiva-lents would be the Eternal, theEverliving, the EternalLORD.

If we believe the Creator reallyis all-powerful, and since only the meaninghas been preserved today, this shouldtell us what HE considers important.The meaning of the Almightys nameis infinitely more important than i tsmere sound in Hebrew.

Now notice definite SCRIPTURALP R O O F that it is proper to TRANSLATEeven the names of G o d so that we mayunderstand what they mean in what-ever language we speak today

Part of Old Testament Not

Written in HebrewSome deny we should ever translate

the Hebrew namesof Deity. But noticethe Bible evidence

In the Old Testament the Englishword God is often a rendering of theHebrew words El, Eloah, and Elohim.Remcmbcr that thcsc words arc asm u c h G o d s names as is Y H W N(Ps. 69 :30 ; sa. 9:6 lso see the ac-companying box, God Has ManyNames). Were these Hebrew names

GOOD NEWS November-December 1972


13/36

November-December I 9 7 2 GOOD NEWS 1

ever translated into other tongues ithe original inspired Ol d and N ew Tetamen ts?

Th e answer isa iesouncling yesW he n Babylon conquered the Kin

dom of Judah ( 6 0 4 - 5 8 5 ) ,Hebrew gradually ceased to be the languagc ocom m on speech of the Jews. Hebrewas replaced by Aramaic , spokthroughout the Babylonian EmpirDaniel w rote five whole chaptersof hiprophetic book in Aramaic hapte3 t h rough 6. And Ezra wrote fouchapters of his work in Aramaicchapters 4 t h r o u g h 7 (specifical4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26).

When Daniel and Ezra referred tthe Creator in these chapters,did theuse the old Hebrew words, or theAramaic translations?

The surprising answer is that Daniand Ezra TRANSLATED the Hebrenames for God into the Aramaic woE L AV ' h 78 dif6ic~1.1. ' k s ir iihrchapters, the Aramaic word Elahused to translate these Hebre w words

If anyone says that Aramaic wreally just a dialect of the earliest Hbrew and that Elah is a virtual tranliteration of Hebrew El, Eloah oElobim, THEY SHOULD KNOW that thdivergence between these two differenlanguages was far greater than mere d

lectical difference. And the chanfrom the Hebrew names to AramaElah was as great as the transliterationo f H e b r e w Yehoshua (Joshua) Yeshua (Neh. 8:17) to Greek 'I9aoiioUesus).

If the Almighty intended that Hname should bc pionuunrccl unly iHebrew, then Daniel and Ezra wefalse prophets Bu t Daniel and Ezwere not false prophets Thcy wcrc inspired men They wereinspired to tranlate the Hebrew namej for God into thAramaic word E L A H . Every wordevery letter which Ezra and Danwere inspired to write has been prserved f o r u s today' Not one jot otittle (t he least letter or mark of the phabet) of the Old Testament hpassed away that God's people shounot obey all His will (Matt.5:18; Luk16:17).

Since the Creator inspi red Hiprophe t s to t r ans l a t e t he Hebrenames for God into the Arama


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1 2 GOOD NEWS November-December 1972

E L A H , then it 2.r fttting dndproper thdtthe Hebrew word ELOHIM should betranslated into English in Engli.rh trans-h t i o n s o f t h c O l d T m r a r n m r

N ow le t us not ice how G od inspiredthe apostles to write His name in theinspired Greek New Testament.

The Name in the Ne wTestament

The words of your Savior are givento us in the New Tes tament . Someclaim they were originally writ ten inHebrew and only translated rongly

y some later hand into Greek, thusdeleting the name Y H W H .But beforeHe ascended to heaven, He promisedHis disciples, Heaven and earth shallpass away, but my words shall not passaway (Mat t . 24:35).

I think all will agree, that heavenand earth have no t passed away Th enneither have the words of the SaviorFor H e ever lives to prevent such athing from occurring. His words arefound inspired in the New Testamenttoday H ow were the names of Deityrendered in the New Testament for theGreek-speaking con verts? Notice

Paul was sent to the Genti les ar-t icularly the Greek-speaking Genti les.His ministry covered the w hole Greek-speaking wor ld . The Greeks d id not

know Hebrew or Aramaic. They knewGreek. How did Paul explain ru rhcscGreek converts who the Father andwho the Son were? W ha t names d id heuse fui tlic Grccks whcn rcfcrring L Othe Creator?

The answer i s he used the Greekworzls for Go d, Lord , Ch r i st , thc Wo r d , a n d ~ e s u s . God inspiredhim to translate the Hebrew word El,meaning God, i n t o the Greek wordTheos. God inspi red Paul in the NewTestament to t ranslate the Hebrewword YHlFH in to the Greek word K z -rios, meaning Lord.

In 665 different places in the NewTestament the apostles were inspired tot ranslate the Hebrew word Y H W Hinto the Greek word Kurios, meaningthe eternal Lord. And 1,345 t imesthe apostles were inspired to translatethe Hebrew word for G od in to theGreek word Theos which meansGo d in the Greek language Thesetwo Greek words Kurios and Theos

meaning Lord and God inGreek, are found hundreds of t imes inthe gospels, and in the directly quotedwords of Jesus Himself A n dJesus .widHis words would not pass away Mat-thew 24:35.

Either we have the inspired words ofJesus, or He lied nd if H e lied, youhave no Savior He did not l ie . Theseare His words. H e inspired His apostlesto t rans late the names of G od f rom theHebrew in to the Greek when wr i t ingto the Greek converts; and H e has seento i t that no t on e word has perished orbeen lost

Gods Word has not been corruptedor tampered with G od has preservedHi s message unaltered. Otherwise,youwou ld have no basis for your faith.

There i s not one New Tes tament

manuscr ip t wi th the names of Dei tywrit ten in Hebrew There is no t oneNew Testament manuscript which sup-ports the idea that the apostles exclu-sively used Hebrew names for Godwhen speaking to the Greek people.

N e w Testament Inspiredin Greek

Those who believe that God canonly be correctly addressed or referredto in Hebrew must deny what the in-spired N ew Testam ent says, and denyi t

was originally writ ten in Greek. Theyassume Jewish Christ ians could not un-derstand Greek and would also have usbelieve Paul wrote to the Greek con-vcrts i n Gicccc, Asia Miiiui arid Ruriicin Aramaic instead of Greek. This isnot t rue

Greek was thc onc univcrsal lan-g u a g e w h i c h u n i te d t h e c o m m o npeople in the Roman Empire in NewTestament t imes. T h e Jewish historianJosephus testified to Greek as the lan-gua ge which the Jews everywhere un -derstood in New Testament days Notonly did the Jews w ho l ived in theGreek world speak Greek, but even theJews w ho l ived in Palestine, he de-c l a r e s , we re we l l a cqua in t ed w i thGreek

Greek-speaking Jews wh o coi i ldno t speak Hebrew nor even Aramaicwere so prevalent in Palestine thatsynagogues for them had to be buil t(Acts 6 : 9 ) . Jewish law for Palestinepermitted that the Scriptures may be

read in a foreign tongue to them tha tspeak a foreign tongue (Megil lah2 ,article 1 ) . And i t was further permittedthat the Rooks [of the Bihle] miy hewrit ten in any language, but that atthe time of Christ the Books wereonlypermitted to be wrztten in Greek (Megii-lah 1, article 8, The Mishnah, HerbertDanby, Oxford University Press).

Th ou gh the native-born Jews in Pal-estine in th e days of the apostles gener-ally used Aramaic (or perhaps evenHebrew in certain areas) as their com-mon spoken language, yet Greek wasthe next i n importance even to them.

Josephus tells us why he, a Jewishpriest, when he had decided after thedestruc tion of Jerusalem in70 A . D . tobecome a writer, had to make a specialstudy of Greek:

I have also taken a great deal ofpain to obtain the learning of theGreeks, and un derstand the elements ofthe Greek language, al thoug hI have solong accustomed myself to speak ourown tongue , tha t I cannot pronounceGreek with such an exactness o-sephus spoke Greek with a Semitic ac-cent for our nation does notencourage those who learn the lan-guages of other nations, and so adorntheir discourses with the smoothnessoftheir periods; because they look upon this

sort of accomplishment i im i t a t i ng t hesupposedly great men of the Greeks]AS COMMON, not only to al l sorts of free-men, but t o as many of the servants uspleu~ed o Ieurn Ihem. B U L licy give hiriithe test imony of being a wise man w hois fully acquainted with our laws, andis ablc to intcrprct thcir mcaning A Ntiquities o f the Jews, Book XX, chapterXI, Section 2 ) .

Nearly everyone in Palestine inthose days knew at least a moderateamo unt of Greek.

Greek the INSPIRED Version

Now let us notice the test imony ohistory as to the language in which thebooks of the New Tes tament were inspired. ONLY wo books ut of a to-tal o f twen ty - seven i n t h e N e wTestam ent were ever assertedeven 6yecclesiastical trad ition to have been writ-ten in H ebrew. Th e Catholic historianEusebius did relate, basedin part on anearlier tradition of Papias: . . . the


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November-December I 9 7 2 G O O D NEWS 1 3

Epistle to the Hebrews is the work ofPaul, and . . . i t was writ ten to the He-brews in the Hebrew language; but. . . L u k e translated i t carefully andpublished i t for the Greeks, and hencethe same style of expression is found int h i s epistle and in the Acts

f Eusebius account writ ten twoand a half centuries later be true,then the letter to the Hebrews was in-spired to be translated by Luke andpublished in the Greek language. I t isLukes inspired t ranslat ion God in-tended to be preserved for us.

Eusebius also wrote, and Jeromerepeated, that Matthew wrote the re-ports , which he took to mean Mat-thews gosp el, in H ebrew for JewishChrist ians. But we need not think thatsomeone o ther than Mat thew wrote

the inspired Greek gospel. It is likelyMatthew made such changes and addi-t ions as Go d inspired him to make, andwrote his f inal account in Greekforthewhole Church. I t is Matthews inspiredGreek gospel, whether there wasa H e -brew precursor or not , which God haspreserved.

N o n e of the other twenty-five booksof the New Testament were ever saidto have been written in Hebrew.

The Aramaic versions of t he NewTestam ent which w e have today are ad-

mittedly translations from the Greek de-spite what some mistakenly claim. (SeeThe Books and the Parchments bBruce, p. 189.)

Proof T h a t A r a m ai c IsNot O r i g i n a l

O p i yuui Bible tu Ma&The English rendering of thisreads : And a t the n in th hour

F.F.

5 : 34.verseJesus

cricd with a loud voicc, saying, Eloi,Eloi, lama sabach thani? whi ch is, beingin terpre ted , My G od , My G od , whyhast thou forsaken me?

No tice this T h e last half of verse 34proves that Mark was writing hisgos-pel account, including these finalwords of Christ, in a language differentfrom the on e in which Jesus spokeJesus own words are quoted in Ara-maic, but trunsluted in to Greek.

Now consider the Aramaic version,which s o m e haw c l a imrd to h e theoriginal version of the New Testam ent.If Aramaic were the original language

of the Ncw Tcstamcnt, thcrc wouldhave been no reason to insert in theAramaic version the words which is,being interpreted, My Go d, My Go d,why hast thou forsaken me? becauseevery Aramean would have understoodJesus words without translat ion. Yetthe Aramaic New Testament does re-peat the exact Greek original word forword Thisprover Aramaic NOT to havebeen the original language of the NewTestament, but merely a translationfrom th e Greek.

There are at least a dozen places inthe New Testament where Aramaicwords are quoted and aretransbted intothe Greek for the Greek-speaking people

nd in most cases the Aramaic NewTestament retranslates the originalGreek word for word

Ano ther example is Jo hn 1:41:He[Andrew) first f indeth his own brotherSimon, and sa i th unto h im, We havefou nd the Messias,which is, being inter-preted, the Christ. Th e word Messias isa Greek spell ing of the Hebrew wordMeshiach, w h c h means the Anointed.But the Greek-speaking people wereno t generally acquainted with t hemeaning of the word Messias, henceJohn translates i t for them into theGreek word Cbristos which means theAno in t ed O ne .

Christ or Messiah ?

Hebrew names people claim weshould use only the word MESSIAHand never the word CHKIW.Thei rassumption is that the word Christcomes f rom the name of the Hindugod K i i h i a CIiris(. dues ~ i u r omefrom the name of t h e H i n d u g o dKrishna Christos is a common Greekword which mcans anuintcd, exactlythe sam e asMessiah means in Hebrew.

T h e New T estament was inspiredtoread that Jesus Is th e Christ . Even theenemies of the early true Church calledthe disciples Christians (Acts 11:26).The disciples would not have beencalled Christians in the city of An-tioch if they had not been followersofChrist. They would have been calledthe Messians

Now turn to I Peter 4:14: If ye berrproachrd f o r the name o f Christ[Christos in Greek], happy are ye. Thescripture does not use some unknown

IIcbrcw namc; i t uscs thc I Z U I ~ Z K JChrist. And now verse 16 Yet ifany man suffer as a Christian, let himno t be ashamed; b u t let him glorifyGod on this behalf . The disciples inthe New Tes tament Church could nothave suffered as Christians unlessthey were the followers ofChrist

Fa lse Churche s Use T r u e N a m e

Notice Jesus startling prophecy inMat thew 24:4-5 : A n d Jesus answeredand said un to them , Tak e heed that noman deceive you. For many shall comein my name [using His Name], saying, Iam Christ; and shall deceive many.Inwhose name are the many coming? Arethey coming in some Hebrew name?No They are coming in the name ofChrist n the name oft /esus. And

Jesus said these would be using HIS

N o w t u r n to Acts 4 : l O . W ha t is theonly name given among men wherebywe may be saved? Be i t known untoyou all, and to all the people of Israel,that by t he name of JESUS CHRISTofNazare th , whom ye crucified, whomGod raised from the dead, even by himdoth this man stand here before youwho le he man wh o had just beenhealed. Verse 1 2 : Ne i the r is there sal-vation in any other: for there is none

other name under heaven g iven amo ngmen, whereby we must be saved.

Notice According to the inspiredGreek New Testament, there is noother name given whereby we must besaved than the na me ofJesus Christ

The English word Jesus is an an-glicizcd spcllirig uf t he Gr rck wordlesous. T he Greek word for Yesus isbut the common Greek name used tocranslatc thc I Icbrcw narnc Yehoshuu(Joshua). Th e meaning of the Hebrewword for Joshua is the Eternal is theSavior. Over 910 places in the NewTestament God inspired the Ne w Tes ta-ment writers to use the Greek wordlesozds as the personal name of Christ ,the Messiah EITHE RYOU WILL H AV ETO ACCEPT THE N A M E OF JESUS ASYOUR SAVIOR OY Y O 2 1 WiLL hnue t o

N A M E .

throw away the entire New TestamentBu t eason Heb rew Na me be-

lievers oesnt t h e Grrrk word l e r o u rcome from the pagan Greekgod Zeus?

(Continued un page 30)


16/36

WHO - WHAT- WAS JESUSBEFORE HIS HUMAN BIRTH?

Was He God as He angel as He spiritual essenceid He exist only in the p l a n , thought and purpose o f

God? Each o f the variant Hebrew names proponents findtheir theory in grave difficulty when one understands W H O

fhe God of fhe O l d Testament really is

TtRi,the

is irrefutable proof that theVH of the Bible is usuallysame God wh ich t he New

Testa men t reveals to be th e Son

Jesus C hrist . He was a l i teral God-be ing whose name i s Y H V H just asmuch as is the Father s. He proclaims, I a m th e LORD ( Y H V H ) ;and I up-peared to Abraham, Isaac, and Ja-c o b . . . (Ex. 6 : 2 , 3). The patriarchssaw and heard this G o d heLogosthe Spokesman he Son esusChrist of Nazare th .

Most of you brethre n have alreadystudied the t rut h abo ut Jesus priorexistence. But many of the newerm e m b e r s h a v e n o t . A l l m e m b e r s

should definitely reud and STUDY thisarticle with their Bibles to crystallizethis vi tal t ruth,

Jesus Had a Father

Du rin g H is earthly ministry, JesusChrist revealed a Father-Son relation-ship cxisrir ig bcrwccn H im arid Hish e a v e n l y F a t h e r . T h r o u g h o u t t h eBible, God stresses thisf u m i b relation-ship wliicli is his1 b r~wcc i i Gud ilirFather and the Son , and then be tweeneach begotten Christ ian and the Father.Th e Church is rcvcalcd as themother ofus a l l . Ind iv iduals wi th in the Churchrefer to each other as brothers and

S I S ~ C ~ S . hc rc is a rAMILI known a sG o d .

Lets understand i t .The logical place to begin is in the

veery beginning, so get your Bib le , andturn to Genesis , the f irst chapter. Inthe beginning GOD [Elohim in Hebrew] created. . . . A n d God [Elohim]

by Garner Ted A r m s t r o n g

said, Let us make man in O U R image ,after O U R l i k enes s . . . (Gen. 1:1, 26).God was not one Person , who wasspeaking to Him self ut was reveal-

i ng a P L U R A L I T Y of persons, MORE thanone , in the word appearing in yourBible as God.

Elohim is a uniplzlral word hat is,a word which can be used as ei thersingular or plural , l ike sheep ordeer. It can include more than oneperson. In fact , unlike sheep ordeer the actualform of th i s Hebrewword is plural though often used as ifsingular.

W hat s more l l o ther scr ip turesuphold and suppor t th i s v i ta l t ru th

Listen to the words of the inspiredApostle Paul , w ho said, For by him[Christ] were al l things created, thatare in heaven, and that are in earth, vis-ible arid irivis illr, whcrlicr they bethrones , or dominions , or pr inc ipa l -ities, or powers: A L L THINGS W E R E CRE-ATED BY IIIM, nd fur Iiiiii. Paul w e n ton to say, And he is BEFORE all things,and BY H I M all things consist (Col.

W as P aul just f lat tering Christwas he simply adding spir i tual-sound-ing phrases to m ake Christ sccm mor emagnified to the Christ ians in his care?Certainly not . For A L L S C R I P T U R E isgiven by inspiration of God, and isprofitable for doctrine, for reproof, forcorrection, for instruction in r ighteous-ness I1 Ti m . 3:16).

If all things were CREATED by Christ,then H e must have been ONE of thepersons included in the Hebrew wordElohim used in Genesis 1 1, 26.

1 16-1 ).

Christ Be fo re Adam

Strange though it may seem, therearc TWO accounts of rhe beginningof al l things given in your Bible In theGospel of John , chapter 1, a most vi talpassage gives us the clear, simpleT R U T H of Christs office prior to H i shuman b i r th . In the beginning wasrhe Wo r d ( Jo h n 1 : l ) . Not ice , Zn thebeginning. . . . This was exactly thesame time as Genesis 1 1. In the begin-n i n g was the Word, and the Word waswith G o d , an d t he Word WAS G OD.

There is the vital truth still unseenby so many nd yet so plainly re-vealed in your Bible.

T he Greek word which is t ranslatedin to the Engli sh as W ord in John1 1 is logos which also meansspokesmun,o r o ne wh o speuks. To con t i n u e : T h esame was in the beginning with God.All things were made by him; andwi thout h im was not anyth ing madedial was ~iiadc ( J u h 1:2-3) . Yes,E V E RY T H I N G WA S MADE BY HIM, h espokesman or logos who b ec a m e C H RI Sas we read in Culossians 1.16-17.

Th e Person in the Go d Family wh olater becume Jesus Christ was the Onewho SAID ( spokc) , Lct US m ak e m a nin O U R image , th us execut ing Hisawesome office as the very E X E C U T I V Eof the God Family.

No tice how clearly Johns Gospes ta te s t h is t r u t h A n d t h e W or d[logos] was MADE FLESH, dnd dwdtamong us, (and we beheld his glory, theglory as of the only begot ten of theFather,) ful l of grace and truth (John1:14).


17/36

November-December 1 9 7 2 GOOD N E W S 1 5

W H O w g s fu l l o f grace and t r u t h ?Verse 17 says, . . .grace and t ru thcame by Jesus Christ.

Further light is shed on this com-monly misunderstood subject in thewonderful book of Hebrews. Paul tellsus, God, w ho a t sundry times and indivers manners spake in time past un tothe fathers by the prophets, hath inthese last days spoken unto us b y hisClw.. w.km he h x h c + ~ ~ i ~ ~ - twm

all things, 611 whom also he made theworlds (Heb . 1:1 , 2 ) .

Jesus Christ is the very CREA TOR. ndyet millions do not know, nor evenfaintly comprehend this amazing truth.

God Made Flesh

Paul called Jesus Christ God our

Saviour (Titus 1:3) . And so n thepevson of Jesus Christ , our very CRE-ATOR became our Saviour. Christ is atonce our Maker, and a member of theGodhead. Therefore,His l ife which H egave for us is o f f a r greater value thanthe sum total of every living, breathinghuman being.

To pay rhe P P, N A L I . Y for your sinsand mine, which penalty is deathdeath for all eternity nless it is par-doned and washed a w a y ( R u m . 6:23),i t was necessary that Christ bedivine

that His life be worth more than allo u r hunzan livcs put togcthcr W h c nChrist took our sins He paid the pen-alty w e have incurred ot eternal lifei n hellfire, but the cessation of lifcD E AT H . Christ died for our sins accord-ing to the scriptures ( I Cor. 15:3) .Jesus w a s M A D E FLESH (John 1 : 1 4 ) andbecame a human being for this verypurpose, that He migh t be pu t to deathfor all mankind

And yet , i f Chr is t were O N LYhuman , His death could have paid the

d r a t h prnalty incurred hy o n l y one othwhuman. T h e penalty for every individ-uals sin had to be paid. Remem ber, thepenalty of sin is D E AT H and God ran-no t die Therefore, the penalty isH U M A N life and God of Himsel fcould not have paid such a penalty. Itwas absolutely necessary, then, thatChrist be BOTH huma n an d divine.

Remember, the Bible never saysthere is only ONE member in the GodFamily, but rather expresses a PLURAL-

k bLr2mr25 c.e,f,psv? LTrl, -hm,, -hrdI

ITY of persons more than one.Otherw ise Jesus would bea liar, for Heprayed constantly to His Father whowas in heaven.

This awe-inspiring mystery of Godis grasped in its overwhelming signifi-cance only by those who will hungerand thirsl for Gods truth (Matt . 5 : 6 ) .T h e Logos, t he One who spoke and CRE-ATED by His very WORD,emptiedhim-

JezjLmd ~ ~ m - a p r hm the rorm oraservant, and was made in the likenessof men: and being found in fashion asI - r i m , ne numdled himsdl, and be-came obedient unto death, even thedeath of the cross (Phil. 2 : 7 - 8 , mar-g in ) .

The divine Being who was in-strumental in C R E AT I N G all things waschanged into hum an flesh. W as Jesus

human? YES,He was Yo ur very salva-tion depends o n th is fact

Jesus Had HUMAN Nature

It stands conclusively proved thatJesus Christ was HUMAN, that He DIEDand was absolutely DEAD during thethree days and three nights He was inthe grave. It was for this very reasonthat Jesus was God made in to mortalflesh tfor the suffering o death(Heb. 2 . 9 ) .

But notice further: He also himself

likewise [as the children are partakersof j%h und b l o o q took part of thesame ook on H U M A N N AT U R Ebecame flesh and blood th atthrough death Hc might dcstroy himthat had the power of death, that is,the devil (Heb. 2:14).

Because He was human, Jesus con-stantly had to CRY OUT to His Fatherto keep Himself from falling MIL -LIONS of people do not understand thetremendous battle, the life-long struggleChrist had with Himselfl in overcoming

His o w n human nature he naturalpulls of the flesh nd in living a per-fect life totally without sin, the sacri-fice of which wniild thii5 h,-=availahleto pay for OTHERS sins. Not realizingthis, millions do not fulb zlnderstdnd theextent of the sacrifice their Saviour made.and in many cases are trusting in aFALSE SAVIOUR

For we have not an high priestwhich cannot be touched with the feel-ing of our infirmities; but was in A L L

P O I N T S tempted like as we are, ye twithout s in (Heb.4:15.)

Who in the days of hisfled, whenhe had offered up prayers and supplica-tions with stron g crying and tears untohim that was able to save him fromdeath, and was heard in that he feared(Heb . 5 : 7 ) .

Your very Saviour had to C R YALOUD TO GOD, n strong crying andT,SCRJ, Lf?-pwn- J m m v m e Himself:to withstand the temptations ofSIN tofinally be put to death with the record

this trem endo us sacrifice?h a Tc?hTZCi I&, h R you -WUKTHY 01

Jesus Christ he LORDof he Old Testament

In the Ki ng James authorized ver-sion of thc Biblc the word LORD isfrequently used, and usually in smallcapital letters. Wherever this wordappears all in capital letters, it is translated from the Hebrew word Y H V H .Y H V H ,when more literally translated,implies The E T F R N A I , r t h e F V E R -LIVING one.

I t is commonly supposed that theGo d of the O ld Tes tament Y H V H ,sometimes translated Yehovah, and inthe Authorized Version The LORD

was always God, the FATHERofJesus Christ. This is a pagrant error

Throughout the books of the Old

Testament, the LORDappeared to vari-ou s individuals, dealt particularly andpersonally with the ancient Israelites,and talked directly (though from thedarkness of a cloud or the brightness ofa fire) to Moses. This Person whospoke to Adam, to Enoch, and toMoscs waJ lhe One who later becameJesusChrist

Y H V H was the God of Israel, theonly One of the Godhcad known toancient Israel . When He came inhuman flesh they did not recognize

H i m . He was in the world, and theworld was made by him , and the worldknew him no t (John 1:10), Howevern e i t h p r did they know God the Father(Matt. 11:27 and Luke 10:22).. . . N oone knoweth . . . wh o the Fatheris, b u tthe Son, and he to who m the Son will-eth [Greek] to R E V E A L him (Luke10:22).

Elohim he Go d kingdom n-cludes both the Father and the Sonwho was the Logos or the WORD f


18/36

16 GOOD NEWS November-December 1 9 7 2

God (most often the O n e referred toby the word YHVH), and also theirSpirit emanating from them, the HolySpirit, t h c lifr, characrcr, and pnwrr ofGod . Jesus, in praying for t he welfareof the Church, prayed that its manymembers mig ht be ON E, as we are(John 17:11, 2 1 ) . The church is ONEbody, yet composed of many members

I Cor. 1 2 : 1 2 ) . A husband and wife areONE FLESH, yet two persons.

Th e word G od has two meaningshe God kingdom or the family of

God, mi) the persons composing thatkingdom or family. Christ and theFather are O N E God , no t two Godsone Elohim. T h a t is why Elohim said,Let us make man in ULJR image(Gen. 1:26) .

Y H V Hwas thc WORD or Spokcs-man of the Godh ead its secondmember. As soon as God began toSPEAK to man, i t was always Y H V Hwho spoke (Gen. 2:16, 18; Exodus

As a fragment of the evidence thatthe LORD of the Old Testament is thesame person as the Lord of the New,compare Isaiah 8:13-14 with I Peter2:7-8. Isaiah said, T he LOR Dof hosts

Y H V H hall be a ston e of stum -bling and a rock of offence. Peter said,in quotzng this text in reference toChrist, He is a stone of stum bling, anda rock of offence. Jesus is the LORDthe Eternal of the O ld Testament.

Now compare Isaiah 40:3 withMatt. 3 :3 and M ark 1:3. Joh n preparedilir way brfvrr IHbH (Isa. 40:3) whowas CHRISTMark 1:14-1>).

In Revelation 1:17 we read (I amgoing to use the Revzjcd Stclndard Vcr-szon f rom here on) , When I saw h im,I fell at his feet as tho ugh dead. But helaid his right hand upon me, saying,Fear not, I am the first and the last.And in verse 8, I am the Alpha and

the Omega; says the Lord Go d, whoisand who was and who is to come, theAlmighty. Again Revelation2 2 : 13, 1am the Alpha and the Omega, the firstand the last, the beginning and theend. Study also Revelation 22:16 forproof it wasJesus speaking.Jesus Christca l l s H imse l f t he A lpha and theOmega, the Beginning and the End,the First and the Last. Now comparethese texts with Isaiah 44:6: Thus saysthe LO RI), he K ing o f Israel and his

20:2).

Redeemer, thc LORD of hosts: I am thcfirst and I am the last; besides me thereis no Go d.

Now turn to Isaiah 48:l l 1 2 . Formy own sake, I do it, for how shouldmy n ame be profaned? My gloryI willn o t give to another. Hearken to me, 0Jacob, and Israel, wh om I called I amHe, I am the first, and I am the last. Verses 17-18 show it was Y H V Hspeaking. And also in Isaiah 41:4,Who has performed and done this,calling the generations from the begin-nin g? I, the LORD, the first, and withthe last; I am He.

All of these scriptures show thatY H V H is the first and last. Christ isclearly the Y H V H of the Old Testa-men t

W h o Is Our Redeemer?

The person of the Godhead who iso u r R E D E E M E Rs Jesus Christ. Jo hn4:42 contains this: They said to thewoman, It is no longer because ofyour words that we believe, for wehave heard for ourselves, and we knowthat this i s indeed the S AV I O U Rf theworld, But our commonwealth isin heaven, and from it we await aSau-iour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil.3120) . Rrad also Ti t u s 2 : l O - 1 4 , Luke1 68-69.

For furth er proof tha t Jesus th e Sav-iour is Y I W I I , scc Isaiah 4 9 : 7 andIsaiah 60:16, where H e Y H V H sthe Redeemer and Saviour and ulsothe Mighty One of Jacob to beOF Jacob means a son,or descendant ofJacob) he Mighty O ne of all Ja-cobs children. In Isaiah 4 8 : 1 7 , Y H V His also called the Redeemer and theHoly One of Israel he O ne o f Israelw h o i s holy The same is expressed inIsaiah 43:14, Thus says the Lord,your Redeemer, the Holy O ne of

Israel . . . Also note verse 1 5 whereY H V His Israels Kin g. Now notice inActs 3:14-15 that the Christ who wasdenied was the same HOLY O N E YHVH. But ye denied the Holy Oneand R igh teous One .. . the Prince [orAuthor, margin) of life. Seealso Acts2:27 and Mark 1:24.

Christ Was Davids Shepherd

W h o was Davids shepherd? T h eLORD Y H V H (Ps. 23 : l ) .

I i i J u l i ~ i 0 : 1 1 , J r sus sdid H r was thrShepherd. Open your Bible also to He-brews 13:20: N ow may the God ofpcdcr w h o broughr again from rhedead our Lord Jesus, the greatshepherdof the sheep. . . . Compare this textwith I Pcter 2 : 2 4 - 2 5 , which says, For

you were straying like sheep, but havenow returned to the Shepherd andGuardian of your souls.We also read,Tend the flock of God that is yourcharg e, no t by constraint but willingly,iiuc fur sliarnrful gain bur agcr ly, noras domineering over those in yourcharge but being examplesto the Hock.A d W I I I ~t l i r c h i d Shqhtru i s marii-fested you will obtain the unfadingcrown of glory I Peter 5:2-4).

The great Shepherd who is comingto R U L E as King over all kings isY H V H . And you are my Hock, thesheep of my pasture, and I am yourGod, says the Lord [ Y H V K )G o d Christ (See Ezekiel 34:11, 30-31.)

I t is JESUS CHRISTwho is comingagain in person as KI N G of kin gs torule, and to restore. In Revelation19:13 He is clad in a robe dipped inblood, and the name by which he iscalled is The Word o f God . F romhis mouth issues a sharp sword withwhich to smite the nations, and he will

rule them with a rod of i ron; h e wi l ltread the wine press of the fury of thewrath of God the Almighty (verse1 5 ) . And again in Revelation 17:14 weread, They will make war on theLamb, and the Lamb [Christ] will con-quer them, for he is Lord o f lords andKing of kings, and those with him arecalled and chosen and faithful.

Now notice Isaiah 2:2 and Micah4:3. It shall come to pass. . . that themountain [Kingdom) of the house ofthe Lord [ Y H V H ) shall be establishedas the highest of the mountains [king-doms] uling the world. A nd he[ Y H V H Christ ] shall judge be-tween many peoples, and shall decidefor strong nations afar off, and thenthey shall have lasting peace.

In almost every Old Testament pas-sage, the LORDY H V H he Eternal

s Jesus Christ. Clearly, Jesus o u rSaviour is the God of the Old Testa-ment.


19/36

Did Christ or the Apostles

Use the Name YAHWEH?In this most revealing article, the Chairman of the Depart-ment of Theology at our Pasadena campus presents proofpositive y the example o f Jesus a n d the apostlesthat the USE and PRONUNCIATION o f the Hebrew name

YHW H s unimportant a n d unnecessary to day .by Ernest L Mart in

T IS supposed in some circles thatYdhweh ~~ o r perhaps Ydwabshould be the principal name by

which we address God. Whi le i t wi l lbe admit ted on all hands tha t God i sjealous over His name (especially itss igni f icance) , one mig ht wonderi f tha tjealousy extends to the exclusive useand pronunciation of Y H W H .

For all of us who wish to live asGods children, we have a divine arhi-ter who can settle all such matters forus ur Savior. l f we can determin ethat Jesus Chris t constantly (o r evenoccasionally) used and pronounced thename Y H W H , then perhaps there issome justification f o r o u r u s i n g i ttoday.

But what i f Christ N E V E R pro-no~incrc - l t h e n a m r , W h : l r if Haavoided i ts use al together? I t then be-comes a different matter.

Thr r r i i r h i q , i t can br proved abso-lutely that Christ N E V E R used the nameYahweh even when He spoke Hebrewo r Aramaic to the people o f Palestine

I

He Wo u l d H a v e Been Cal led aB la sphemer

Christ preached to the Jews of Jeru-salem, Judaea and Galilee in t he periodof the Second Temple. He t augh t pub -licly for over three years. Thousandsupon thousands o f Jewish people heardH i m . If Christ had used the divinename Y H W Hin the midst of that Jew-ish communi ty, He would have beenaccused of utter blasphemy and judgedworthy of excommunication from thesociety

W h y ?Because NO O N E was permitted to

pronounce the d iv ine name in the t imeof Christ . This can be proved beyondthe shadow of a doubt .

W h y was there such fear of pro-nouncing the name Y H W H a m o n gJews in the t ime of Christ, It seems lu-dicrous, even bordering superstitionand perhaps there is some tru th in thatassessment u t t h r J P W S did havc amajor reason why they never utteredthe divine name. There was actually abiblical command which ,ar the Jews in-terpreted it, clearly forbade them to ex-press the divine name precisely.

Why Jews Av o i de d t h eTe t r a g r a m m a t o n

T h e whole matter seems absurd.Ye t, was it ? Actually, th ere are two ver-ses in the Old Testament which can beinterpreted as a prohibition againstphonetically expressing the name ofY H W H . These scriptures are Leviticus24:11 , 16. They say in our AuthorizedVersion the following: A nd the Israel-i t ish womans son B L A S P H E M E D the

name of the LORD[ Y H W H ) . . . . Andhe that B L A S P H E M E T H the name oft he LORD [YHWH) he shall surely beput to dea th .

I have capitalized and italicized thewords b1asphemedand blasphemethbecause in Hebrew these two wordscome f rom the Hebrew verb nachdv.The word nnchav is clearly susceptibleof more than one meaning.

As Duvidsons Lexzcon shows, theverb can signify to bore or to per-

forate. The Authorized Version doeson occasion translatenacbav as pierce(I1 K i n g s 18:21), or bored (I1 Kings12:9), or s tr ike through (Hab .3:14) .By extension it can mean to pierce(as in speech) or to give cutt ing re-marks. This is tantamount to cur-sing o r to blaspheming. I t is alsoused this way a few times in the BibleBut another m eaning, and o ne which icommonly uscd in the Old Testamcnt,is to declare distinctly (Davidson) . I tmeans to express precisely, to say~ l ~ d d y , ~ to iianir w i t h precision.It is used t his way in I Chronicles

12:31; 16:41; I1 Chronicles 28:15;31:19; Ezra 8:20; Nu mb ers 1:17; Isaiah62:2 and Amos 6:l. There is no ques-t ion about i t . The word nacbav canmean, as one of i ts prime meanings,to pronounce or express d istinctly.

It thus becomes clear that the wordnachav might mean e i ther t o bLas-pheme or to pronounce distinctly. Andthis is just where the trouble comes.

Th e Jews about the t ime of Nehe-miah began to wonder just hownuchav

in Leviticus 24:11, 16 was to be inter-preted. W hi le the tradit ional (and certainly the correct) way was to say i tmeant to blaspheme. it could just awell mean to pronounce dist inctly.This is a fact which no one can arguwi th . Now, tak ing the la t te r meaninui the correct rendering of nuchav, Levit icus 24:11 would read: And thIsraelitish womans sonpronounced dir-tinctly t h e n a m e o f Y H W H , a n dcursed. Verse 16 could be: A nd h


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that pl-orzounceth Uirtim-tly the iiaiiic u fY H W H , he shall surely be put todeath.

Looking at nuchuv in this fashion,theJews soon decided they were on far

safer ground not even to express orpronounce the divine tetragrammaton.Soon after the t ime of Nehemiah theybegan to play it safe in regard to thename of Y H W H . They came to believethat Leviticus 24:11, 16 commandedone NOT to pronounce the name becausei t was 0 h o l y which is the motivewhy some people today feel theyMUSTpronounce i t , because i t is so holy Nei-ther. of course, is correct

T h e Use of Ya h w e h a n dH i s t o r y of i t s P roh ib i t i on

From the t ime of Moses to theperiod of Jeremiah, the name Y H W Hwas used freely without any fear of pro-nouncing i t . The Lachzsh Letters writ-ten in the t ime of Jeremiah use thet e rm Y H W H indiscr iminate ly andshow that it was commonly used evenin everyday parlance. Immediately afterthe Babylonian Captivity, we find Ezrathe priest preaching before the peoplein Jerusalem using th e name Y H W H

Photos: Nathan Ambassador College; P. Gross; Courtesy: Views o f ihe Biblical World

Flavius Joscphus ( Icf t ) , f i r s t century Jewish priest-turned-historian and contempo-rary witness that it was not considered lawful in the time of Christ and theapostles to pronounce the name YHWH. Above i s a Samaritan scroll of the To r a hthe books of Moses). The Samaritans h ad their ow n pronunciation of the letters

YHW H which Moses wro te. Lachish Letter VI i s shown at right. The Lachish let-ters, written i n Jeremiahs time, r eveal the name YHWH was then fr eely used. Atextreme right is shown one of the Dead Sea Scrolls written in the first centuryB.C. Scrolls reflect Jewish relu ctance to use YHWH even in wri ting.

(Neh . 8: l -8) . However, a change inJewish attitude c oncerning its use com -mences about this t ime. With Nehe-miah (during the latter part of Ezraslife), it has been noticed by scholarsthat Nehemiah almost wholly shunsits use (Heinisch, Theology of the OldTestament,p. 39).

About the t ime of Nehemiah wemeet wi th a movement to be careful inrelation to the use of Y H W H . T h ecommon people were told not to utterthe name. Only the priests were privi-leged to retain the pronunciation of it,because it was included in certain bene-dictions prescribed in the Law whichthey were compelled to read to thepeople at the Temple.

Th e Tet ragrammaton, the four-lettered N am e o f Go d, was fullypronounced only by the priests inthe Temple when blessing the

people. Everywhere else it waspronounced Adonai. (Note toAbodah Zarah, the Talmud, p.90, Soncino.)As time went on, the use of the

name became even further restricted.Its use was finally confined to the highpriest and even he might pronounce itonly on the D a y of Atonement.

The Universa l Jewish Enqiclopediasays:

Th e rabbis, however, were certainthat the true name of God wast h e Te t r a g r a m m a t o n . I n t h eperiod of the Second TempleY H V H was never pronounced ex-cept by the high priest on Y omKippur [ the Day of Atonement)(vol. 6, p. 7 ) .We are told by R. H. Charles, the

translator of the Apocrypha and Pseu-dopigrapha, published by Oxford Uni-


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ve r s i t y Press , t h a t t h e D a y o fAtonement was the only occasion onw h i c h t h e H o l y N a m e w as p r o -nvuticrd (Pxwdopigraphu,p. 5 10).

Jewish history, as related in the Tdl-

mud, shows that Sim on the high priest(300 t

good news 1972 (vol xxi no 07) nov-dec

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