Exploring The Name of God part 7

Pastor Spell explores the history of The Name from the early church

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to Know Your Bible Institute classes, where we are all about the study of God's Word. For the more we understand the Bible, the better we are able to follow Christ and to do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Today's session is on the study of God's name, understanding the critical mistakes that took place in history. What if everything you knew about God's name was wrong? Our book available on Amazon teaches you about the shocking medieval mistake that changed Christianity forever. Today we'll discuss the early church and the name from Pentecost to the creeds. First we should understand the name that saves. Fifty days after the resurrection, it's called the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, something unprecedented happened. A group of Jesus' followers gathered in Jerusalem, about a hundred and twenty of them, waiting as Jesus had instructed. Suddenly, a sound like violent wind filled the house. Tongues of fire appeared and separated, resting on each person, and they began speaking in languages they had never learned, proclaiming God's wonders to Jews from every nation who had gathered for the feast. Peter stood to explain what was happening, and his sermon culminated with a declaration that would define the early church's proclamation. In Acts chapter two, verse thirty six, Peter says, Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. Lord Skyrios in Greek. It's the same word the Septuagint used to translate Yod He Volve. You might remember in previous discussions, the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It was written or translated from the Hebrew a few hundred years before Jesus. And when we look in that Greek Old Testament, instead of translating Yod He Vovhe, the Greek translation says curios. Peter is making an extraordinary claim here in Acts chapter two by letting the world know that Jesus who was crucified has been vindicated as curios. Yod He Volve himself in human form. The name that no one dared pronounce has been embodied in a person that everyone knows. That person is Jesus the Christ. When the crowd asks what they should do, Peter's answer was simple and direct. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 2, verse 38. Peter doesn't say, be baptized in the name of Yod He Volve, though that would have made sense in a Jewish context. He doesn't say you should be baptized in the name of God. Though once again, that would have made sense in a Jewish context. No, what Peter says is be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This identifies Jesus' name with divine authority. This identifies Jesus as the one having power to forgive. This identifies Jesus as Yod He Volve He, the God with name with the name unspeakable. This is how the early church understood the relationship between Yod He Valvehe and Jesus, not as two separate entities, not as a replacement of one by the other, but as revelation. Yod He Valve has made himself known in Jesus, and Jesus' name now carries all the power, authority, and presence of the divine name. The apostolic preaching, the name above all names. Throughout the book of Acts, the name becomes the central focus of apostolic preaching and the source of controversy with religious authorities. Healing in the name between Acts chapter three and Acts chapter four. When Peter and John encountered a lame beggar at the temple gate, Peter said something remarkable. This is in Acts chapter three, verse six. He says, Silver and gold have I not, but such as I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. The man was healed instantly. A crowd gathered amazed. Peter explained that the healing wasn't from their own power or godliness, but through faith in Jesus' name. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name, and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him as you can all see. The religious authorities arrested Peter and John and demanded to know by what power or what name did you do this? They understood that invoking a name meant claiming that person's authority. If Peter and John were healing in Jesus' name, they were claiming Jesus had divine power. Peter's response is one of the boldest declarations in Scripture. From Acts chapter four, ten and twelve, Peter says, Then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you heal. Jesus is the stone you builders reject it, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. This is an astonishing claim. In the Old Testament salvation belongs to Yod He Valve alone. From Isaiah chapter forty three and verse eleven, it says, I even I am Yod He Valve, and apart from me there is no Savior. Now Peter declares that salvation is found in Jesus' name and only in Jesus' name. He's not replacing Yod He Valvehe. He's identifying Jesus as the embodiment of Yod He Valvehe's saving power. The name Yod He Valvehe means he is, or he who causes to be. Jesus. His name is Yeshua in Hebrew means Yod Hevalhe saves or salvation. The salvation implicit in the divine name has become explicit in Jesus. There is persecution for the name. We see it in Acts five. The authorities commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. When they continued preaching, they were arrested again and flogged. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. Notice the phrase for the name. Not even for Jesus' name, but simply the name, as if no other name mattered, as if everyone knew which name they meant. The early church adopted the Jewish practice of referring to God as the name Hashim. But now they applied it to Jesus. Again, remember the Jewish people did not have an articulated name for God. They did not refer to God as Jehovah. They did not refer to God as Yahweh. They referred to God as the name. Hashem in Hebrew. They were recognizing that Yod Hevhe had revealed himself in Jesus, that the name they had revered their whole lives now had a face, a history, a human life they could point to. Paul's conversion, encountering the name in Acts chapter nine. When Saul of Tarsus, the zealous Pharisee, persecutor of Christians, when he was traveling to Damascus to arrest more believers, he encountered a light from heaven and a voice. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asks. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. The title Saul used, curios, Lord, could be just a respectful address. But the voice identifies himself as Jesus, and suddenly everything Saul thought he knew about God, about the Messiah, about the name, is turned upside down. The one Saul had been persecuting as a blasphemer, as someone who claimed divine prerogatives is actually the manifestation of the divine name. The one whose followers Saul had been imprisoning is actually Kyrios, Yodhav in human form. Later, when Annias is sent to Saul, God tells him, Go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Paul would spend the rest of his life proclaiming the name, teaching that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, curios to the glory of God the Father. That's from Philippians chapter 2, verse 10 and 11. This passage deliberately echoes Isaiah 45 and 23, where Yodevalve says before me, every knee will bow by me, every tongue will swear. Paul applies this Yod He Volve text to Jesus showing that he understood Jesus as the embodiment of Yod He Volve's presence and authority. The epistles developing name theology. As the apostles wrote letters to the growing churches, they developed a rich theology of Jesus' relationship to the divine name. Paul's Christology, the name given. In Philippians two, Paul includes what scholars believe is an early Christian hymn about Jesus. In Philippians two, six through nine, Paul writes, Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. The name that is above every name, what name is that? The context makes clear Kyrgios, Lord, the name of Yodhav, Jesus, through his incarnation, death, and resurrection, receives the name, not as something he didn't have before, since he was in very nature God, but as public vindication and recognition of who he always was. The hymn continues that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord. Philippians 2, 10 through eleven. Universal worship with recognition due to Yod He Valve alone is now directed to Jesus. Paul isn't teaching two gods. The name that was too holy to pronounce has become pronounceable in Jesus. The glory that was hidden is now revealed. The transcendent has become eminent. In Colossians, the fullness of the name. Colossians one fifteen and then nineteen. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. All his fullness. Nothing of God's nature is absent from Jesus. Whatever Yod Hev is, Jesus is. Whatever divine attributes characterize the name, they characterize Jesus. He's not a partial revelation or diminished version. He's the exact representation, the radiance of God's glory. Paul warns the Colossians against false teachers and concludes for in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. The Greek word Theotes deity or Godhead appears only here in the New Testament, refers not just to divine attributes, but to the very essence of God. Paul is saying that the complete essence of Yod He Volve dwells bodily in Jesus. Hebrews, the name inherited. The letter to the Hebrews opens with a magnificent statement about Jesus' identity. Hebrews chapter one verses one through four. In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he is spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven, so he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. Jesus inherited a name superior to angels. What name? The writer immediately quotes Psalm two. You are my son. Today I have become your father. But the larger context makes clear that the name in view is the divine name itself, the name of Yod Hevalve now embodied in the Son. Later the writer explains that Jesus is the ultimate high priest who has entered the heavenly holy of holies, not once a year, but once for all. The high priest who once pronounced the name in the earthly holy of holies is superseded by Jesus, who embodies the name and brings us into God's presence permanently. In Peter and John the name proclaimed, Peter in his first letter emphasizes that believers are people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. This is first Peter two and nine. The church is defined by its relationship to the name, called by it, belonging to it, proclaiming it. John in his first epistle writes, I'm writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. That's first John two and twelve. Later, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. That's first John five, eleven and twelve. So the equation is complete. Yod He Valve is life itself, the source of being. Jesus is that life made accessible. To have Jesus is to have Yod He Valve. To lack Jesus is to lack life itself. The challenge of translation Kyrios and Yodhe Valve. As Christianity spread beyond Palestine into the Greek speaking world, a crucial question emerged. How do you translate the Hebrew scriptures, particularly the divine name into Greek? The Septuagint had already made the decision. Translate Yod Hevolve as Kurios. This worked for Greek speaking Jews who understood the convention. When they read Kurios in their Bibles, they knew it represented the sacred tetragrammaton. But now the early Christians were reading those same scriptures and applying curios text to Jesus. When Ball quoted everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, he was applying a Yod He Volve text to Jesus. When he wrote, If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, that's Romans 10 9. He was using the same Greek word that represented Yod He Valvehe. This created a seamless transition for Gentile converts. They didn't need to learn Hebrew or understand the complexities of the tetragrammaton. They simply needed to confess Jesus is curios. And in doing so, they were acknowledging Jesus as the embodiment of Yod He Valvehe. But this also created potential confusion. Were there two lords, two objects of worship? The apostles insisted, no, there is one God, one Lord. 1 Corinthians 8 and 6, but that one Lord has revealed himself in Jesus. The Apostolic Fathers, a continuity and development. As the first generations of Christians died and the second generation took their place, how did they understand the relationship between Yod Hevolve and Jesus. First we look at Ignatius of Antioch, circa thirty five to one hundred eight AD. Ignatius, who may have known the apostle John personally, wrote letters to various churches while being transported to Rome for martyrndom. His letters consistently identify Jesus with God in the highest terms. There is one physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit, both made and not made, God existing in flesh, true life in death, both of Mary and of God, first passable and then impassable, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Ignatius doesn't use the term Yodevalfi, he's writing in Greek, but he clearly teaches Jesus' full divinity. He also emphasizes the unity of God. There is one God who has manifested himself by Jesus Christ his Son. Then we learn from the Didic, the Didic circa fifty to a hundred and twenty AD. The early Christian manual of instruction includes prayer that show us how the first Christian spoke to and about God. We thank thee, holy Father, for thy holy name which you did as cause to tabernacle in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which you made as known to us through Jesus, thy servant. The phrase thy holy name, tabernacle in our hearts, echoes John 114, the word tabernacling among us. The Didic sees Jesus as the means by which God's name dwells within believers. Later Justin Martyr, circa one hundred to one hundred sixty five AD. Justin Martyr, a philosopher who converted to Christianity, wrote extensive defenses of the faith to Roman authorities. He struggled with how to explain Jesus' divinity to those steeped in Greek philosophy. He wrote in that Christ being Lord and God the Son of God, and appearing formerly in power as man and angel, and in the glory of fire as at the bush, so also is manifested at the judgment executed on Sodom. Justin identifies Jesus as the one who appeared in Old Testament Theophanes at the burning bush, at Sodom, suggesting that whenever Yod He Valve appeared visibly in the Old Testament, it was the preincarnate Jesus. Now the development of Trinitarian theology. As the church moved into the second and third centuries, theological controversies forced more precise definitions of how Jesus relates to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and by extension, how Jesus relates to the divine name. First, there was the Maudalus controversy. Some teachers trying to preserve monotheism suggested that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were just modes or masks that the one God wore at different times, the same divine person as Father in creation, as Son in redemption, and as Spirit in sanctification. The church rejected this view called modalism or Sabellianism as inadequate to scripture. You see, Jesus prayed to the Father. Was he praying to himself? The Father spoke from heaven at Jesus' baptism. Was that ventriloquism? The biblical witness requires real distinctions between Father, Son, and Spirit, even as it insists on one God. Then there was the Aryan controversy. Arius, a presbyter in Alexandria, taught that Jesus was the first and greatest of God's creation, divine, yes, but not fully God in the same sense as the Father. There was a time when the Son was not, this is what Arius claimed. The church gathered at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD to address this teaching. The resulting Nicene Creed affirmed that Jesus is true God from true God, begotten, not made of one substance, a homoousius with the Father. The Greek word homoousius became crucial. Jesus isn't just similar to the Father, but of the same substance, the same essence, the same being. Whatever the Father is, the Son is. The divine name characterizes both equally. The Cappadocian solution. The Cappadocian fathers, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianus, Gregory of Nisa, developed a formula that would become orthodox Christianity's standard answer. One essence, one substance, three persons or three substances. God is one being, one essence. There's only one God, one divine nature, one name. But within that one being exists three distinct persons who relate to each other eternally. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, yet they are not three gods, but one God. Applied to the question of the name of the name, Yodevalfe doesn't refer to the Father alone, nor to one person of the Trinity. Yod He Valfe is the name of the one God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we encounter Jesus, we encounter Yod He Valfe. Not a part of Yodhe Valfe, not a representative of Yod He Valfe, but Yodevalfe himself, the second person of the Trinity. Worship practices, the name and liturgy. How did early Christians worship and how did they use the divine name? Well, you have the baptismal formula. Jesus commanded his disciples go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It's Matthew 28, 19. In the name is singular, not names. One name shared by three persons. The early church took this seriously, understanding that baptism brought people into relationship with the one God revealed as Trinity. Some texts in Acts in Acts mention baptizing in the name of Jesus. Rather than contradicting Matthew twenty eight, these likely refer to baptism in Jesus' authority, distinguishing Christian baptism from Jewish ritual washings. The full Trinitarian formula was standard by the early second century, as the Didic attests. Then there is the Lord's Prayer. Jesus taught his disciples to pray our Father, Abba in Aramic. This intimate address to God was revolutionary. Jews did not typically address God as Father in prayer. It seemed too familiar, too informal for the holy name. But Jesus invites exactly this familiarity, not disrespectful casualness, but the confidence of children approaching a loving father. Through Jesus, believers have access to the Father. The name that was too holy to pronounce can now be called Father. The prayer continues, Hallowed be your name. Even as we approach intimately, we do remember that God's name is holy, set apart worthy of reverence. Intimacy and reverence aren't opposite but partners. In our doxologies and hymns early Christians worship included hymns and doxologies that praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be world without in. Amen. This is a classic doxology that reflects Trinitarian theology. Glory belongs to all three persons equally and eternally. It also echoes the eternal nature of Yod Hav. I am who I am, past, present, and future, united in one eternal now. Implications for today the name in Christian worship. Well, what can contemporary Christians learn from how the early church understood and used the divine name? Well, number one, Jesus is the lens for understanding Yod He Valfe. The early church didn't abandon the Old Testament or reject the revelation of Yod He Valfe. They understood Jesus as the full revelation of who Yod He Valfe is. Whatever we know about Yod He Valfe from the Old Testament is now seen most clearly in Jesus. This means we don't need to pronounce the tetragrammaton or use Jehovah to honor God properly. We honor the name by knowing Jesus, following Jesus, worshiping Jesus as the image of the invisible God. Number two, one God fully revealed. The doctrine of the Trinity isn't a departure from Jewish monotheism, but its fulfillment. Here, O Israel, Yod Hevalve our God, Yod Hav is one. This is Deuteronomy six and four. Well the church affirms this there is one God, one divine essence, one name, but that one God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This preserves both the transcendence and eminence of God. The Father remains in heaven. The Father remains beyond our sight. The Son took flesh and dwelt among us. The Spirit indwells believers, yet all three are one God, one Yod He Valfe. three worship unites reverence and intimacy. The early church maintained both awe and access, both reverence and relationship. They called God Father while also recognizing him as the holy God of Sinai. They approached him with confidence, while also with reverence and awe. And this balance is crucial. Some modern worship trends toward casual familiarity and loses reverence. Others emphasize transcendence so much that intimacy is lost. The early church, following Jesus, held both together. And lastly, the name saves. The consistent the consistent apostolic proclamation was simple. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Not Yodev as an abstract concept, not correct pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, not adherence to Jehovah as a term, but Jesus, the name above all names, the name that means Yodev saves, the name in which salvation is found. Jesus is that name that we can call on. In conclusion, from Sinai to the nations, the journey of the name from Sinai to the early church shows remarkable continuity and development. The God who revealed Himself to Moses as I am who I am, who dwelt in the tabernacle, who spoke through prophets, this same God has now revealed himself fully in Jesus Christ. The early Christians didn't create a new religion or worship a different God. They recognized that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had done what he promised. He came to save his people, he came in person, and his name is Jesus. From Jerusalem to Rome, from Jews to Gentiles, from a small group of disciples to churches throughout the empire, the message was consistent. Jesus is Lord. Curios, the embodiment of Yodivalve, the name made flesh, the salvation implicit in the divine name now explicit and available to all. The creeds crystallize this understanding. Jesus is God from God, light from light, true God from true God, not a lesser deity, not a created being, not a mold or mask, but fully God, the second person of the Trinity, equal in essence and glory with the Father and the Spirit. This is why the medieval invention of Jehovah is so problematic. It ignores the entire New Testament revelation, the apostolic teaching, the early church's understanding. It tries to go back to pronunciation debates rather than forward to the incarnation. It misses the point that God has given us his name, not as a word to pronounce, but as a person to know. We don't need to say Jehovah. We have Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, the name above all names, the one in whom the fullness of the deity dwells bodily, the express image of Yodavis glory, the I am in flesh and blood. Amen. And so that will conclude our session on today, studying through the name coming all the way from the early church, the Pentecost to the Creeds. If there be any questions or comments on today's session, understanding why Jesus, his name is the only name that we should call on and say.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

All participants are unmuted.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

All right, beloved, your lines are unmuted. Those of you joining in live for our session today, any questions on what we have read in your textbook? This is we've read today pages 136 all the way to 152. Any questions or any comments?

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Jesus, God. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit is with us right now. But then one God. So I just want to thank you for you for giving us God's word again. Because in this way, we can't say we didn't receive the word. Because when you get into it, when you get into reading God's word, he gives it to you. And you become too fellow knows exactly who he is.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Amen. Thank you so much, Reverend Smith. Well, brothers and sisters, we're going to go ahead and conclude our session on today. If you have questions, comments, concerns, of course, you know we would be more than happy to answer those for you. Let us pray. Eternal God, our Father, we just thank you again for the privilege of prayer. Coming before your holy throne room, God, we just humble ourselves with gratitude. Thanksgiving is in our hearts that you saved our souls and you allow us such fellowship, such closeness with you. Bless all these, my dear sisters and brothers who gathered for this time of study and devotion. All those who will hear for days and years to come, let them be blessed as well, that your spirit might excite within them, igniting them to greater levels of service and devotion. Have your way with us, for you indeed are our Lord, our Kyrios, the one God who we submit and surrender to. We love you, Father. We thank you. And we ask these in all blessings in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

As an individual children, we thank you.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Amen. Amen, beloved.