Specially for our brothers and sisters who seek and love God, who joined the organization of "Jehovah's Witnesses" - for your return to the fullness of Truth and salvation".
What is a name?
On the differences between titles and names. God's personal name.
Did Jesus use the name of Jehovah? What does it mean to consecrate a name?
Surely each of you has ever heard this question or asked it. What does it mean to know the name of God and how can this knowledge help us? First let's define what is a name? A name is a set of sounds or symbols that we use to address an individual. And the person who perceives these sounds and symbols understands that they are addressed to him/her. Names have different origins. Names like Vera, Nadezhda, Liubov (Faith, Hope, Love) remind us of the main Christian virtues. Others have come from the names of pagan deities - these are Dionysius, Artemis, Taisia (Thais), but at present when we pronounce them we do not recall either Isis, or Artemis, or Dionysus. Some personal names later became titles. Thus, after the death of the Roman emperors Augustus and Caesar, subsequent emperors began to add these names to their titles. But we also know the reverse examples, when titles became personal names.
For example, the title «maximus» (the greatest) became the personal name Maxim. And the title «Ἀρίσταρχος» (the ruler of the best) became the personal name of Aristarchus. And even everyone's favourite name Alexander was once the title of «Αλέξανδρος» (defender of the people). All these facts point to another fact that the division into names and titles is conditional and any title can become a personal name, moreover, any word and even some combinations of words can become personal names. But in the eyes of God, name means much more than we think. The name that God gives expresses the inner essence of man or his purpose.
God says to one man that he will be the «father of many nations», and this title-phrase becomes the personal name of this man, and in ancient Hebrew it sounds like Abraham. The Forerunner of Christ the Savior is given the name "Grace of God" by God through an angel, and this combination of words becomes a personal name that we know as John. Finally, the fisherman Simon is given the name-title Stone by Jesus, which we know as Peter. There are a lot of examples like this in the Bible.
But is there, or can be, a personal name for God? God is infinite and indescribable, and no name can fully comprehend the essence of God or fully reflect his purposes. The names with which God has revealed Himself to us tell us about His relationship with us. Let's take an example of this principle. Imagine that you have come to the reception with the president of your country. You know that when he was born his parents gave him the name of Volodya or Petya, but you will not be able to address him like this, and if you try, it will be considered as rudeness. But at the same time there are people who can address the president using this personal name - his parents and wife. And there are people who can call him "dad" - these are his children. And the children will never call their father Sasha or Petya, or Vladimir Vladimirovich or Mr President. This is a clear example of how the degree of closeness affects how we call each other. After the Fall, humanity has fallen into a humiliated state. Man became the slave of sin and could address God only as a slave. God is called Lord, Master, Pantocrator, Almighty, Creator, etc. The most commonly used name in the Old Testament is "I AM WHO I AM " (YAHWEH in Hebrew). It is used more than 7,000 times.
Over time, the Jews began to perceive the third commandment literally - that it is forbidden to speak the name of God in vain. And when they saw the name " I AM WHO I AM " in the Holy Scriptures, instead of it they used the names "Lord" or "God". It is also important to note that all the Holy Scriptures were written in consonant letters only. Some centuries after the Christ was born, the Jews decided to vocalize the text of the Old Testament, having finished all the necessary vowel letters. But by this time they had forgotten how to pronounce that name, and it was left with only 4 consonants of YHWH. Then the Jews took vowels from another word that sounds in Hebrew as Adonai (Lord) and these vowels were inserted into the surviving consonants of YHWH.
And the name of Jehovah came to be. To understand what happened, imagine that we have only consonants in the name of Vladimir: VLDMR, and these consonants need to be completed by inserting vowels from the word "chelovek" (“a man” in Russian) - EOE. As you understand, we have a lot of possible combinations, this is both EVLODEMR and VLEODMER and others. You can try to combine these letters yourself. But we can see clearly that the name variants we have received are not at all similar to the original name. Therefore, as much as EVLODEMR stands far from the original name Vladimir, so much as Jehovah stands far from the original name. The name of Jehovah was borrowed from the Jews by the Catholics, and in XIX century by our translators of the synodical text of the Bible. To summarize, we have found that the name of Jehovah is synthetic and does not reflect reality. Won`t we ever know how did the name YHWH sound correctly? The fact is that many ancient authors testified how the Jews read this name. They agree that it sounded like YAHWEH. In addition, the Church has always kept the correct translation of this name - " I AM WHO I AM " or Slavic "Syi". This name indicates that only God really exists and has life in Himself, the other pagan deities are non-existent.
It was this name that was important for the fight against the polytheism of ancient people. This name is often depicted in the cross nimbus of Jesus Christ.
The Savior` coming to the world and His atoning sacrifice has given us an opportunity to change our relationship with God. Through faith in Jesus Christ and spiritual birth in baptism we are adopted by God. We are no longer slaves, but children (Rom. 8:15). And children are entitled to use the name "Father" (Mat. 6:9). While only a few prophets in the Old Testament had courage to address God as the Father (Is. 63:16), then Christ commands to address God by that very name. And He Himself calls Him by that name (Luke 11:2). Therefore, He separates this name from other names: "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven." (Mat. 23:9).
In no manuscript or papyrus of the books of the New Testament is the name YAHWEH (Jehovah) ever used. The modern heretical organization "Jehovah's Witnesses" in its distorted translation of the Bible put this name where it seemed necessary.
For example, the title «maximus» (the greatest) became the personal name Maxim. And the title «Ἀρίσταρχος» (the ruler of the best) became the personal name of Aristarchus. And even everyone's favourite name Alexander was once the title of «Αλέξανδρος» (defender of the people). All these facts point to another fact that the division into names and titles is conditional and any title can become a personal name, moreover, any word and even some combinations of words can become personal names. But in the eyes of God, name means much more than we think. The name that God gives expresses the inner essence of man or his purpose.
God says to one man that he will be the «father of many nations», and this title-phrase becomes the personal name of this man, and in ancient Hebrew it sounds like Abraham. The Forerunner of Christ the Savior is given the name "Grace of God" by God through an angel, and this combination of words becomes a personal name that we know as John. Finally, the fisherman Simon is given the name-title Stone by Jesus, which we know as Peter. There are a lot of examples like this in the Bible.
But is there, or can be, a personal name for God? God is infinite and indescribable, and no name can fully comprehend the essence of God or fully reflect his purposes. The names with which God has revealed Himself to us tell us about His relationship with us. Let's take an example of this principle. Imagine that you have come to the reception with the president of your country. You know that when he was born his parents gave him the name of Volodya or Petya, but you will not be able to address him like this, and if you try, it will be considered as rudeness. But at the same time there are people who can address the president using this personal name - his parents and wife. And there are people who can call him "dad" - these are his children. And the children will never call their father Sasha or Petya, or Vladimir Vladimirovich or Mr President. This is a clear example of how the degree of closeness affects how we call each other. After the Fall, humanity has fallen into a humiliated state. Man became the slave of sin and could address God only as a slave. God is called Lord, Master, Pantocrator, Almighty, Creator, etc. The most commonly used name in the Old Testament is "I AM WHO I AM " (YAHWEH in Hebrew). It is used more than 7,000 times.
Over time, the Jews began to perceive the third commandment literally - that it is forbidden to speak the name of God in vain. And when they saw the name " I AM WHO I AM " in the Holy Scriptures, instead of it they used the names "Lord" or "God". It is also important to note that all the Holy Scriptures were written in consonant letters only. Some centuries after the Christ was born, the Jews decided to vocalize the text of the Old Testament, having finished all the necessary vowel letters. But by this time they had forgotten how to pronounce that name, and it was left with only 4 consonants of YHWH. Then the Jews took vowels from another word that sounds in Hebrew as Adonai (Lord) and these vowels were inserted into the surviving consonants of YHWH.
And the name of Jehovah came to be. To understand what happened, imagine that we have only consonants in the name of Vladimir: VLDMR, and these consonants need to be completed by inserting vowels from the word "chelovek" (“a man” in Russian) - EOE. As you understand, we have a lot of possible combinations, this is both EVLODEMR and VLEODMER and others. You can try to combine these letters yourself. But we can see clearly that the name variants we have received are not at all similar to the original name. Therefore, as much as EVLODEMR stands far from the original name Vladimir, so much as Jehovah stands far from the original name. The name of Jehovah was borrowed from the Jews by the Catholics, and in XIX century by our translators of the synodical text of the Bible. To summarize, we have found that the name of Jehovah is synthetic and does not reflect reality. Won`t we ever know how did the name YHWH sound correctly? The fact is that many ancient authors testified how the Jews read this name. They agree that it sounded like YAHWEH. In addition, the Church has always kept the correct translation of this name - " I AM WHO I AM " or Slavic "Syi". This name indicates that only God really exists and has life in Himself, the other pagan deities are non-existent.
It was this name that was important for the fight against the polytheism of ancient people. This name is often depicted in the cross nimbus of Jesus Christ.
The Savior` coming to the world and His atoning sacrifice has given us an opportunity to change our relationship with God. Through faith in Jesus Christ and spiritual birth in baptism we are adopted by God. We are no longer slaves, but children (Rom. 8:15). And children are entitled to use the name "Father" (Mat. 6:9). While only a few prophets in the Old Testament had courage to address God as the Father (Is. 63:16), then Christ commands to address God by that very name. And He Himself calls Him by that name (Luke 11:2). Therefore, He separates this name from other names: "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven." (Mat. 23:9).
In no manuscript or papyrus of the books of the New Testament is the name YAHWEH (Jehovah) ever used. The modern heretical organization "Jehovah's Witnesses" in its distorted translation of the Bible put this name where it seemed necessary.
Did Jesus use the name YAHWEH in His public service?
The Scriptures don`t reveal it. But by the indirect signs we can conclude that Jesus Christ did not use it. It is historically known that after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, this name was forbidden to be pronounced by ordinary people, and if Christ had started using it, He would have in any case been blamed for it. In the same way when He has been accused for many reasons such as: breaking the sabbath, His intention to destroy the temple, making Himself equal to God. But He has never been accused of using that name.
In the prayer “Our Father”, the Lord commands us to pray so that the name of God is consecrated: "hallowed be Thy name" - what does it mean?
The name of God is holy, as well as God Himself is holy regardless of us. No matter how many times we say the name of God, we will not consecrate It. We consecrate the name of God when we live according to His will. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Mat. 5:16). This is the essence of the consecration of the name of God. Continuing to reveal Himself to the people, the Savior says: "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26). It turns out that besides the revealed name "Father" Jesus promises to reveal more fully the name of God. And this name reveals the love with which God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. This is the name with which the Savior commanded to baptize all men, it is the name of the One God of The Holy Trinity: the Father and the Sn and the Holy Spirit.
Dear friends! It is our fault that you were first visited by the "Jehovah's Witnesses," not by the Church of Christ, and you became one of them. Together with the Apostle Paul we say to you: "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:8-9). Think about your questions and give an honest answer: can you accept the obvious contradictions of this teaching with The Holy Scripture, or should they be resolved?
In the prayer “Our Father”, the Lord commands us to pray so that the name of God is consecrated: "hallowed be Thy name" - what does it mean?
The name of God is holy, as well as God Himself is holy regardless of us. No matter how many times we say the name of God, we will not consecrate It. We consecrate the name of God when we live according to His will. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Mat. 5:16). This is the essence of the consecration of the name of God. Continuing to reveal Himself to the people, the Savior says: "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26). It turns out that besides the revealed name "Father" Jesus promises to reveal more fully the name of God. And this name reveals the love with which God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. This is the name with which the Savior commanded to baptize all men, it is the name of the One God of The Holy Trinity: the Father and the Sn and the Holy Spirit.
Dear friends! It is our fault that you were first visited by the "Jehovah's Witnesses," not by the Church of Christ, and you became one of them. Together with the Apostle Paul we say to you: "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:8-9). Think about your questions and give an honest answer: can you accept the obvious contradictions of this teaching with The Holy Scripture, or should they be resolved?