. . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God.
Phil 2:11
The seven names before us as suggested by the commentators as the options for “The Name Above Every Name”
KuriosThe Lord Jesus Christ- Adonai ✔
Ha Shem- YHWH ✔
- LORD <–
- The Name for both God and Jesus
By now I am sure you are aware of where we are heading, our end point. God has told us YHWH is His name forever to all generations. Now you are so much more aware of what lies behind the Name יהוה YHWH, I AM WHO I AM, I AM, YAWEH, ADONAI, LORD. Has Paul’s structure of these amazing two Greek sentences clicked into place for you now?
The desire to know the name of God. We all want to know someone’s name. Not just the family name or surname, but their Christian name or first name.
- “What is your name?”
- “I am Mr Vail.”
- “No, what’s your first name? Your more intimate name. The name close friends call you.”
It is interesting that culturally we call that name, your ‘Christian’ name. Your personal name. Well, God gave Moses His name. As you learned in the last Gem if you didn’t know it before, you utter God’s name every time you breathe. How ironic that we are not to take God’s name in vain. Yet God made us in such a way that we utter His name every time we take a breath. Not only should we not take God’s name in vain, maybe we also shouldn’t live life in vain.
LORD or Lord? Capitalised or Not? – That is the Question
I must confess to being mystified about something. Why none of the versions capitalise LORD in verse 11, when the convention in those same Bibles is to capitalise the word LORD whenever it refers to YHWH in the Old Testament. Why would you not then capitalise LORD in this verse in Philippians 2 ? It makes no sense and is certainly not consistent.
Notice these translations now that you know the full significance behind YHWH, YAHWEH, Adonai, LORD.
- (CJB) and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai—to the glory of God the Father.
- (ISV) Then every tongue in one accord, will say that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, while God the Father praising.
- (JUB) and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord in the glory of God the Father.
- (TLV) and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord—to the glory of God the Father.
- (TPT) And every tongue will proclaim in every language: “Jesus Christ is Lord Yahweh,” bringing glory and honour to God, his Father!
- (TS2009) and every tongue should confess that יהושע Messiah is Master, to the esteem of Elohim the Father.
They all come as close as they can to the point of coming right out and saying that Jesus is LORD, with all the significance of what the CAPITALISED form of LORD means. It is the standard way of referring to יהוה when it appears in the Old Testament. Why would we not use it here for this New Testament reference? The simple truth of this confession in The Majestic Passage is that every knee of every creature in all of creation will bow and every tongue of every creature in all of creation will confess that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is LORD, YHWH, YAHWEH, Adonai, to the Glory of God the Father.
To draw this long convoluted process to a close we need to acknowledge that yes LORD is also accepted as one of our remaining finalists for the Name that is above every name.
Our Remaining Finalists
- YHWH ✔
- ADONAI ✔
- LORD ✔
I am sure you have been a step ahead of me all along in realising that I would leave all three standing at the end as valid expressions of just who Jesus Christ is. You are right in thinking also that Kurios will make a comeback in the mouths of Greek speakers. I just didn’t include it in the short list above because it is not in the same category as the other three Names. If the term used in your language is one which recognises JESUS as being YHWH, ADONAI and LORD then your expression will likely be uttered in heaven too by all those who speak your language at that MAJESTIC moment when you and all others on the planet confess just WHO JESUS IS. The other option is that if those who claim Hebrew is the language of heaven are right, then we will all speak Hebrew in heaven. But if that is the case I will be disappointed. Why? Because I don’t like Hebrew? No! Because I am looking forward to hearing all the languages of earth spoken in the new heaven and earth and we will all understand each other just like at Pentecost.
There is one more thing I have to explain in order to bring this series on That Majestic Passage to an end. That one thing I will do in the next Gem. I did tell you at the beginning of this Gem series that we were in for some surprises, some deeper revelations of God. I will attempt in my feeble way to draw all of this together. But in closing let me remind you of what my Greek Professor would say over and over again. “There is always more . . . don’t think you have come to point of knowing everything about God. That my friends is impossible.” I don’t ever want to get to the point where I think I have God explained. I don’t! As I once told a Muslim friend when realising my explanation to him of the Trinity was not satisfying him. “I am pleased I can’t explain everything about God. If I could I wouldn’t be satisfied. I want God to be far greater and larger and more than my puny human mind can comprehend.” I don’t want a god whom I can explain. I want God to be the One who blows my mind. Well friends, that’s the kind of God we have!
We love our explanations of God more than we actually love Him with all of our heart, soul and strength.
Richard Rohr
Don’t be so proud as to think that you have God in a box and can explain everything, most things or even many things about Him.
Ian Vail
Don’t take the name of the LORD in vain takes on new meaning now, doesn’t it?
Ian Vail
We should check ourselves out to see if we are taking every breath in vain, or even living life in vain.
Ian Vail