Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write off the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Showing posts with label God's Names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's Names. Show all posts

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Bart Ehrman - Nope. Jesus is Not Yahweh.




Nope. Jesus is Not Yahweh.

by Bart Ehrman
April 17, 2021

In my last post I pointed out that some conservative evangelical Christians (maybe others? These are the ones I know about) claim that Jesus, in the Bible, is actually to be understood as Yahweh. I think that’s completely wrong, and in this post I want to explain why.

Again, if someone knows better than I do, let me know. But I’ve never even heard the claim (let alone a discussion of it) until very recently. I wonder if there are any early Christian theologians who have this view? Or even later ones, prior to recent times?

It is not the view of traditional Christian theology, at least as I learned it once upon a time. It was certainly not the view of the earliest Christians; and is not a view set forth in the Bible. The Bible, of course, does not have the Trinity, but when Christianity formulated the doctrine of the trinity, the Father was Yahweh, and Christ was his son. At least that’s what Christians who read their Old Testament said.

Of course the name Yahweh is not found in the NT at all, since it is a Hebrew word and the NT is written in Greek. The NT does not give God a personal name.

When Christians wanted to find another divine being in the OT to identify as Christ, they went to passages like Psalm 110: “The LORD said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Based on what I said in my previous post, you can reconstruct who is talking to whom here (notice the first LORD is in caps and the second not): “YHWH said to Adonai….”

In interpreting that passage, Christians asked: who is it that elevated Christ (“our Lord”) to his right hand? Obviously God the Father. And so God the Father is YHWH, and the one elevated to his right hand is “the Lord Jesus.” Christians appealed to this verse in reference to Christ a good deal — it is is one of the most common OT verses found in the NT, quoted six times (see Matt. 22:4) and referred to more indirectly possibly nine (e.g. Eph. 1:20). These Christians were not seeing Jesus as Yahweh but as his son whom he exalted to his right hand.

Christians such as the second century Justin Martyr also found references to the pre-incarnate Christ in Old Testament traditions of the “Angel of the LORD” who was God’s (Yahweh’s) chief representative on earth delivering God’s message with God’s full authority in the stories of the Patriarchs, e.g., in Genesis and Exodus. Who was this mysterious angel? For Christians he was Christ before he was born of the virgin Mary.

I wonder if the confusion among some evangelicals about the Christian understanding of Christ (when they say he is Yahweh) is because the “Angel” of the LORD is so fully representative of YHWH himself that he is sometimes called YHWH after he is clearly identified NOT as YHWH but his angel. Why would he be called YHWH if he was YHWH’s messenger? It would be kind of like if a messenger of the king comes to you and orders you to do something, you tell your neighbors that the “king” has told you to do something. Well, actually, his messenger did, but he was so fully representative of the king that his words were the king’s.

This happens when the Angel of the LORD speaks to Moses from the burning bush in the famous passage of Exodus 3, as you can see. But the early Christians, so far as I know, were clear on the matter: this was Christ, coming in his pre-incarnate state as God’s chief representative, the Angel of the LORD, who was given such authority that he could be considered as having the full status of the LORD even though he was merely his angel – the view that Christians took of Christ.

Some modern Christians may misinterpret the Christ poem in Philippians 2 this way; I talked about the poem at length a month or so ago on the blog (just do a word search for it). When Christ is exalted after his death, God gives him “the name that is above every name” so that all creation will worship and confess him. That is a reference to Isaiah 45 where Yahweh alone has the name above every name so that all worship and confess him alone.

Possibly these modern Christians are thinking that Christ therefore must have been given the name YHWH, and therefore he *is* YHWH. But the passage doesn’t seem to mean that. The ultimate LORD of all, YHWH, is the one who *gives* Jesus the name that is above all others. It’s worth noting that in this very passage, when God gives Jesus his “name,” it does not mean that he’s made a name switch for Jesus. On the contrary, the passage says that the name to which everyone will bow in worship and confess is *Jesus*! (Not YHWH): “That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.” Jesus’ own name is exalted.

Then how did YHWH give him a name above *all* others? Surely that would be YHWH’s own name, right? Well, yes and no. He did give him the name, but not in the literal sense of “now you are YHWH” but in the biblical sense I’ve been describing (“you now have the full authority of YHWH; what you say and do is equal to the authority of YHWH saying and doing it.”). Jesus now, at his exaltation (not before!) is given equal authority as the LORD himself. He now has the highest name/authority, equal with God. But that does not mean he *is* God/YHWH. Being equal is different from being identical.

Another analogy: When someone says to you, “Open up, in the name of the King” or “in the name of the Law” – the “name” means the “authority.” And that must be what it means in Philippians 2, since the literal name is still Jesus, but the authority the name has is now the authority of God Almighty, Yahweh himself.

And so I simply don’t think it’s right that Christian theology understands Jesus as Yahweh. Well, I guess some Christians do, since that appears to be what they think! I wonder when they started thinking it….


Monday, August 15, 2011

The Names of God in Scripture








(Click to Expand)



R e v e l a t i o n
Compiled by R.E. Slater


Old Testament  Genesis  Exodus  Leviticus  Numbers  Deuteronomy  Joshua  Judges  Ruth  1 Samuel  2 Samuel  1 Kings  2 Kings  1 Chronicles  2 Chronicles  Ezra  Nehemiah  Esther  Job  Psalm  Proverbs  Ecclesiastes  Song of Solomon  Isaiah  Jeremiah  Lamentations  Ezekiel  Daniel  Hosea  Joel  Amos  Obadiah  Jonah  Micah  Nahum  Habakkuk  Zephaniah  Haggai  Zechariah  Malachi


New Testament  Matthew  Mark  Luke  John  Acts  Romans  1 Corinthians  2 Corinthians  Galatians  Ephesians  Philippians  Colossians  1 Thessalonians  2 Thessalonians  1 Timothy  2 Timothy  Titus  Philemon  Hebrews  James  1 Peter  2 Peter  1 John  2 John  3 John  Jude  Revelation

 







YHWH = Tetragrammaton = The Hebrew name for God


Abhir The Mighty One
Father of Spirits (NT)
Attiq Yomin Ancient of Days
Father of heavenly lights (NT)
El Berith Covenanting God
Son of Righteousness
El Elyon Lord Most High
Stone Made without Hand
El Gibhor Mighty God
Tsaddiq Righteous One
El Olam Everlasting God
Tsemach Branch
El Mighty God
Wonderful Counselor
El Ro’I All-Seeing God
Yah My God
El Shadai God Almighty
Yahweh I AM
Eloah God
Yahweh Covenanting God
Elohim Mighty Creator
Yahweh Eloheenu
Everlasting Father
Lord God
First & Last Gaol Redeemer God
Eyaluth my Strength
Yahweh Elohim Lord God
God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob
Yahweh Elohim Israel Lord of Israel
Yahweh Hossenu
God of our Fathers
Lord our Maker
Kadosh The Holy One
Yahweh Jireh my Provider
Kanna Jealous God
(Click to Expand)
Yahweh M’Kaddesh my Sanctifier
Magen God my Shield
Yahweh Nissi my Banner
Melekh The King
Yahweh Ro’I my Shepherd
Palet Deliverering God
Yahweh Ropheka who Heals
Prince of Peace
Yahweh Sabbaoth of Hosts
Shaphat The Judge
Yahweh Shalom my Peace
Yahweh Tsidkenu our Righteousness
The Angel of Lord
Yahweh Shammah who is There
Yeshua Savior God
Zur God our Rock
Holy Father




God’s Names in Scripture
Compiled by R.E. Slater


God the Father
Abhir The Mighty One
Attiq Yomin Ancient of Days
El Berith Covenanting God
El Elyon Lord Most High
God's Names written in OT Hebrew
(read from right to left)
El Gibhor Mighty God
El Olam Everlasting God
El Mighty God
El Ro’I All-Seeing God
El Shadai God Almighty
Eloah God
Elohim Mighty Creator God
Everlasting Father
Eyaluth God my Strength
Gaol Redeemer God
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
God of our Fathers
Kadosh The Holy One
Kanna Jealous God
Magen God my Shield
Melekh The King
Palet Deliverering God
Prince of Peace
Shaphat The Judge
The Angel of the Lord
The Father
The First and Last
The Father of Spirits (NT)
The Father of heavenly lights (NT)
The Son of Righteousness
The Stone
Tsaddiq The Righteous One
Tsemach The Branch
Wonderful Counselor
Yah My God
Yahweh (YHWH) I AM
Yahweh (YHWH) Covenanting God
Yahweh Eloheenu Lord God
Yahweh Elohim Lord God
Yahweh Elohim Israel The Lord of Israel
Yahweh Hossenu The Lord our Maker
Yahweh Jireh The Lord my Provider
Yahweh M’Kaddesh The Lord my Sanctifier
Yahweh Nissi The Lord my Banner
Yahweh Ro’I The Lord my Shepherd
Yahweh Ropheka The Lord who Heals
Yahweh Sabbaoth The Lord of Hosts
Yahweh Shalom The Lord my Peace
Yahweh Shammah The Lord who is There
Yahweh Tsidkenu The Lord our Righteousness
Yeshua Savior God
Zur God our Rock


God the Son
Advocate (Paraclete)
Almighty (Pantokrator)
Alpha & Omega
Ancient of Days
Anointed One, Christ (Meshiach)
Bishop and Guardian of our Souls
Branch
Bridegroom
Comforter
Daystar
Deliverer
Beloved
Blessed and only Sovereign
Chief Cornerstone
Cornerstone
Emmanuel
Father
Father, Son & Holy Spirit
First Born
Firstborn of all creation
God (Theos)
Godhead (Theotes)
Good Shepherd
Great High Priest
Head of the Body
Head of the Church
Highest (Hupsistos)
Holy One
I Am
Image of God
Immanuel
Jesus (Y’shua)
Jesus Is Salvation (Y’hoshua)
Judge of the living and the dead King of the Jews
King of Kings
Lamb of God
Lamb Slain before the foundation of the world
Last (Second) Adam
Lord God (Adonai, Kurios)
Lord God Almighty
Lord Master (Despotes)
Lord of Lords
Mediator between God and man
Messiah
Only Begotten
Physician
Potentate
Prophet
Rabbi (Teacher)
Rock
Root of Jesse
Ruler of the earth (Adon, Adonim)
Savior (Soter)
Shepherd
Shepherd and Guardian of our souls
Shepherd of Israel
Shepherd of the Sheep
Son of Abraham
Son of God
Son of David
Son of Man
Son of Mary
Spiritual Rock
Suffering Servant
The Amen, the Faithful & True Witness
The Author and Finisher of our Faith
The Bright Morning Star
The Chief Apostle
The Lamb who is Slain
The Lion of the tribe of Judah
The Passover Lamb of God
The Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith
The Root & Descendant of David
The Stone whom the builders cut
The Word (Logos)


God the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit Advocate
Baptizer
Breath or Wind
Counselor
Comforter
Dove
Fire
Light
Oil
Sanctifier
Seven-Fold Spirit
Spirit of Christ
Spirit of God
Spirit of Grace
Spirit of Holiness
Spirit of Life
Spirit of Mercy
Spirit of Truth Strengthener
Water




EARLY CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS
Compiled by R.E. Slater




The "lamb (arnion) standing as if it had been slain" is also prominent in the Book of Revelation (5:6, and 30 times total).



Christians later used the Chi-Rho symbol (first two letters of "Christ" in Greek) as a monogram for Jesus.


The inscription place on the cross above Jesus' head said "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" (John 19:19; cf. Mark 15:2-26; Matt 27:11-37; Luke 3-38), from which is derived the common abbreviation INRI (from the Latin "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum").


The ancient symbol at the right contains abbreviations for the name "Jesus" and "Christ" (the first and last letters of each word in Greek), along with the verb "NIKA", meaning "to conquer, win, be victorious"; thus the phrase means "Jesus Christ is victorious".

But the best-known image is obviously the FISH.  The most common Greek word for "fish" is ICQUS ("Ichthus"), which the early Christians connected with the first letters of the words in the Greek phrase IhsouV CristoV Qeou UioV Swthr ("Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior).



~  Symbols of the Trinity  ~
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
















God’s Name in Textual Phrases
From A to Z
Compiled by R.E. Slater

Ancient of Days
Accepted in the Beloved
Abba Father
Praise to the God who holds the Key of Life
Almighty
Author and Finisher
Advocate
Bread of Life
Bridegroom
Bright and Morning Star
Captain of our Salvation
Counselor
Creator
Christ
Cornerstone
Dayspring from on High
Deliverer
Door of the Sheep
Everlasting Father
Eternal One
Father of Mercies
Friend closer than a Brother
Friend of Sinners
God of all patience and consolation
Gracious
Head of the man is Christ
High Priest
I AM
(Click to Expand)
Immanuel
Image of the Invisible God
Jesus
Jesus Christ
Judge
Just One
King of Kings
Keeper
Lamb of God
Lover of our Soul
Lord
Light of the World
Man of Sorrows and aquainted with grief
Merciful High Priest
Master
Mighty God
Nigh unto all who call upon You in truth
Only Wise God
One in Whom we live and move and have our being
Physician
Prince of Peace
Precious
Promise / Covenant Keeper
Quickening Spirit
Resurrection and the Life
Redeemer
Reconciler
Ruler
Righteous Judge
(Click to Expand)
Rock
Savior
Spirit
Shepherd
Son of Righteousness
Truth
Thou God Seest Me
Touched with the feelings (pain) of our infirmity
Teacher
True Vine
Underneath are the Everlasting Arms
Understanding is limitless
Visit us
Very Present Help in time of trouble
Vengeance is Mine, I will repay
Victor
Word
Water of Life
Worthy to be Praised
Wisdom
eXceeding Greatness of
eXcellent Majesty
Yearn Over Us
Your Power Zealous to guard our bodies


For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever.

We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Amen.



Jesus, Name above all Names