"Is Jesus Yahweh?"
The name Yahweh (or Jehovah) appears nearly 7,000 times in
the Old Testament. Most English translations render the Hebrew name
for God as LORD, while some (like the New Jerusalem Bible and
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible ) use "Yahweh" and others (like the
American Standard Version of 1901 and the New World Translation )
use "Jehovah." But, between Malachi and Matthew the Name suddenly
disappears! There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New
Testament, and not one of them has the Name in either Greek or Hebrew
letters. The Watchtower Society claims that the Name was there in
the original Greek N.T., but that it was later removed. They claim
this with no real evidence, for they are unable to produce even one
manuscript of the Greek New Testament with the Name! Besides, some
of those manuscripts of the N.T. date from within one generation of
the original writings. That leaves very little chance for the
Society's theory of a conspiracy to remove the Name from the N.T.
writings. If we accept the facts the way they are (without trying to
change them to fit a preconceived theory) we are forced to admit the
Name is not in the N.T.
In the New Testament we meet up with another name. The name
that is emphasized in the N.T. is the name of Jesus. (This makes for
an interesting comparison in the New World Translation. While the
Watchtower Society "restores" the name Jehovah 237 times to the N.T.,
their Comprehensive Concordance lists the name Jesus over 900
times!) In the book of Acts we particularly notice the emphasis of
the name of Jesus. If you have an exhaustive concordance look up the
word "name" in the book of Acts. Over and over again you will see
the Name the early Christian church emphasized was the name of Jesus!
At Acts 3:6 Peter healed the lame beggar in the name of Jesus Christ.
In Acts 4:7,10,12,17,18 we read about the first disciples defending
themselves before the Sanhedrin, proclaiming their use of the name of
Jesus. In Chapter 5 they are back before the Jewish high court. For
whose name did they suffer? Acts 5:41 tells us: "These, therefore,
went their way from before the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had
been counted worthy to be dishonored in behalf of his name." They
suffered for the name of Jesus! Space does not permit us to look at
all the relevant verses. Take time to consider these few: Acts
8:12; 9:13-16,27,28; 15:26; 16:18; 19:17; 21:13; 26:9. In Acts the
Name that is emphasized is the name of Jesus Christ!
Why the change of emphasis between the Old Testament Yahweh
and the New Testament Jesus? Are we being introduced to some rival
deity in the New Testament when we encounter so much emphasis on the
name of Jesus? That is the way some nearly react when it is
suggested that the answer lies in the fact that the N.T. identifies
Jesus with Yahweh. Bear in mind that I am not saying Jesus is the
Father! Rather, what I am saying is that Jesus and the Father share
the same Name and are not in some sort of competition.
Charles Taze Russell, the first President of the Watchtower
Society, was firm in his belief that the name Jehovah could not be
applied to Jesus. He is quoted with apparent approval on page 22 of
the Society's official history book Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine
Purpose (published in 1959):
"We confidently assert that the name Jehovah is never
applied in Scripture to any but the Father. It is for those who
claim the reverse to give a text, and show its applicability to Jesus
or anyone else than the Father. Here is a way to prove the matter
conclusively-the New Testament writers quote much from the Old
Testament; do they ever quote a passage in which the word Jehovah
occurs and apply it to Jesus? We claim that they do not." -Quoted
from pages 2,3 of the August 1882 issue of Zion's Watch Tower.
[Note: In recent years the Society has backed down from this
position.]
Contrast what Russell wrote with this statement from a
contemporary of his-J. Gresham Machen, a Professor at Princeton. He
wrote in the book Christianity and Liberalism (1923):
"It is a matter of small consequence whether Paul ever applies to
Jesus the Greek word which is translated `God' in the English Bible;
certainly it is very difficult, in view of Rom. ix. 5, to deny that
he does. However that may be, the term `Lord,' which is Paul's
regular designation of Jesus, is really just as much a designation of
deity as is the term `God.' It was a designation of deity even in
the pagan religions with which Paul's converts were familiar; and
(what is far more important) in the Greek translation of the Old
Testament which was current in Paul's day and was used by the Apostle
himself, the term was used to translate the `Jahwe' of the Hebrew
text. And Paul does not hesitate to apply to Jesus stupendous
passages in the Greek Old Testament where the term Lord thus
designates the God of Israel."-page 97. [Note: for those interested
in whether the term "God" is applied to Jesus in the N.T., see our
information sheets dealing with Titus 2:13/2 Peter 1:1; John 1:1;
and Colossians 2:9.]
Let's consider a few quotations from the Old Testament and
see if the New Testament writers had any problem in applying passages
containing the name Yahweh to Jesus. We will use the New World
Translation for these comparisons.
The apostle Paul quoted Psalm 68:18 and applied it to the
Ascension of Jesus Christ. Psalm 68:18 says: "You have ascended on
high; you have carried away captives; you have taken gifts in the
form of men, Yes, even the stubborn ones, to reside among them, O Jah
God." ("Jah" is an abbreviated form of the name Jehovah.) Notice
how Paul applies this passage at Ephesians 4:7-10: "Now to each one
of us undeserved kindness was given according to how the Christ
measured out the free gift. Wherefore he says: `When he ascended on
high he carried away captives; he gave gifts in men.' Now the
expression `he ascended,' what does it mean but that he also
descended into the lower regions, that is, the earth? The very one
that descended is also the one that ascended far above all the
heavens, that he might give fulness to all things."
Hebrews 1:10-12 quotes the Greek Septuagint version of Psalm
102:25-27 and applies it to Christ: "You at the beginning, O Lord,
laid the foundations of the earth itself, and the heavens are the
works of your hands. They themselves will perish, but you yourself
are to remain continually ; and just like an outer garment they will
grow old, and you will wrap them up just as a cloak, as an outer
garment; and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your
years will never run out." Not only do we here see a N.T. writer
apply an O.T. passage about Yahweh to Jesus Christ-notice to what
lengths this N.T. writer will go in his scripture application. He
openly identifies Christ as the Creator of heaven and earth. And he
contrasts the impermanence of creation against its Creator, who is
unchangeable and eternal. Does it make sense to think the writer of
Hebrews felt Christ was only a creature after seeing how he applies
Scripture?
Notice this comparison between 1 Peter 3:14,15 and Isaiah
8:12,13. 1 Peter says: "But even if you should suffer for the sake
of righteousness, you are happy. However, the object of their fear
do not you fear, neither become agitated. But sanctify the Christ
as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before
everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you, but doing
so together with a mild temper and deep respect." Now, Isaiah says:
"`You men must not say, "A conspiracy!" respecting all that of which
this people keep saying, "A conspiracy!" and the object of their fear
you men must not fear, nor must you tremble at it. Jehovah of
armies-he is the One whom you should treat as holy, and he should be
the object of your fear, and he should be the One causing you to
tremble.'" This comparison is even more striking if one compares the
Greek word order of 1 Peter with the Greek Septuagint of Isaiah. The
Hebrew says: "Sanctify Jehovah of hosts" (according to Jay Green's
The Interlinear Hebrew-Greek-English Bible ) but the Greek
Septuagint has "Sanctify ye the Lord himself." (From Brenton's
translation of the Septuagint.) Now, Peter, writing in Greek, would
most naturally quote from the standard Greek translation of the O.T.-
the Septuagint. The Septuagint here says: kurion auton hagiasate
(Greek word order: "Lord himself sanctify"). Peter's quotation in
1 Peter 3:14,15 is practically identical except here he exchanges the
word auton (himself) for who is Christ. Peter writes: kurion de
ton christon hagiasate (Greek word order: "Lord but the Christ
sanctify"-compare the Watchtower Society's Kingdom Interlinear
Translation.) It is as if Peter were adding a parenthetical thought
to his quotation from Isaiah: "The object of their fear do not you
fear, neither become agitated. The Lord (who is Christ ) you should
sanctify." Peter was making sure we knew that the Lord we are to
sanctify is Christ!
Notice this prophecy from Isaiah 40:3-5: "Listen! Someone
is calling out in the wilderness: `Clear up the way of Jehovah, you
people! Make the highway for our God through the desert plain
straight. Let every valley be raised up, and every mountain and hill
be made low. And the knobby ground must become level land, and the
rugged ground a valley plain. And the glory of Jehovah will
certainly be revealed, and all flesh must see it together. '"
Matthew 3:1-3, Mark 1:1-4, Luke 3:2-6 and John 1:23 apply this
passage to John the Baptist's preparatory work before the ministry of
Jesus.
It becomes undeniable that New Testament writers applied Old
Testament passages about Yahweh to Jesus. Can we be sure they were
thereby identifying Jesus with Yahweh? Consider this example:
Isaiah 6:1-10: "In the year that King Uzziah died I,
however, got to see Jehovah, sitting on a throne lofty and lifted up,
and his skirts were filling the temple. Seraphs were standing above
him. . .And this one called to that one and said: `Holy, holy, holy
is Jehovah of armies. The fulness of all the earth is his glory'. .
And I proceeded to say: `Woe to me! . . .for my eyes have seen the
King, Jehovah of armies, himself!'. . .And I began to hear the voice
of Jehovah saying: `Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And
I proceeded to say: `Here I am! Send me.' And he went on to say:
`Go, and you must say to this people, "Hear again and again, O men,
but do not understand; and see again and again, but do not get any
knowledge." Make the heart of this people unreceptive, and make
their very ears unresponsive, and paste their very eyes together,
that they may not see with their eyes and with their ears they may
not hear, and that their own heart may not understand and that they
may not actually turn back and get healing for themselves.'"
Compare this with John 12:36b,37,39-41: "Jesus spoke these
things and went off and hid from them. But although he had performed
so many signs before them, they were not putting faith in him. . .The
reason why they were not able to believe is that Isaiah said: `He has
blinded their eyes and he has made their hearts hard, that they
should not see with their eyes and get the thought with their hearts
and turn around and I should heal them.' Isaiah said these things
because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him." If the Apostle
John had no problem saying that Isaiah's vision of Jehovah in His
temple was a vision of Christ's glory, why should we? Even the New
World Translation Reference Bible cross-references Isaiah 6:1 to
John 12:41!
We are told at Isaiah 45:22-24: "Turn to me and be saved,
all you at the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no one
else. By my own self I have sworn-out of my own mouth in
righteousness the word has gone forth, so that it will not return-
that to me every knee will bend down, every tongue will swear,
saying, `Surely in Jehovah there are full righteousness and
strength.'" Notice how Paul makes a direct allusion to this passage
at Philippians 2:9-11 (NIV): "Therefore God exalted him to the
highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth
and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." At Isaiah 45:23 we were told
that every knee would bend in worship and every tongue swear to
Jehovah. Paul alludes to this and says this would happen "at the
name of Jesus." Why? Because Paul adds that God has shared with
Christ "the name that is above every name "-the Divine Name. So,
when every knee bows before Jesus and every tongue confesses Jesus
Christ as LORD, does this detract from the Father? Not at all!
Rather, Paul said this would glorify God the Father!-compare John
5:23. (Interestingly, early editions of the N.T. part of the New
World Translation had a cross-reference at Philippians 2:10 pointing
to Isaiah 45:23. Their 1984 Reference Bible edition has removed
that cross-reference.)
Consider these points: What was the most sacred Name to the
Jews? Didn't the people of Israel have an intense awe for the Divine
Name? So, how could Paul and Peter and John (who were from a Jewish
background) so freely apply passages about Yahweh to Jesus Christ?
Why did they have no hesitation in identifying Christ with Jehovah?
When they called Jesus LORD, weren't they making a mind-boggling
claim? The risen Savior was identified with Yahweh of the O.T.! Is
that perhaps one reason why we are told at 1 Corinthians 12:3: "No
one can say: `Jesus is LORD,' except by the Holy Spirit."
Space does not permit us to continue considering the evidence
showing that the N.T. identifies Christ with Yahweh. For those
wanting to do an in-depth study I would recommend the book How To
Answer A Jehovah's Witness , by Robert Morey. Part 3 of his book is
entitled "Is Jesus Christ YHWH?" and has an excellent workbook to
work through on the subject. Also, our tract Hiding The Divine Name
gives some further evidence, along with some insights into the
Watchtower Society's scholastic integrity. (See our materials list
for information on ordering. A suggestion for the Christian
evangelist-even though JWs are told not to accept the religious
literature of others, we have been able to get a few to take this
tract. Have some on hand to share with your JW friend, or even with
the Witness who calls at your door.)
(Above written by Mr. Dave Brown; originally appeared as an article
in "The Dividing Line", the newsletter of Alpha and Omega Ministries.
Printed copies available.)
James>>>
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