Interesting Questions-17

"On the name of the Almighty God"

Letter to the Editor:
PASUGO, October 1996, p.2-3

AS I UNDERSTAND, the Bible does not have conflicting teachings. Accepting that Jehovah is the real name of God, please clarify the following:

1)   Whoever shall   worship Jehovah, call on the name of Jehovah, and be called by the name Jehovah, as in Jehovah's Witnesses, will be saved .

2) Whoever shall believe in one God, the Father, and in Jesus Christ, the Mediator and Savior, as the Iglesia ni Cristo does, will be saved. :

Margarita Villanueva
Mandaluyong City, Philippines

Editor's reply:

The Holy Scriptures introduce various names of the one true God. God addressed Himself to Moses as "I AM WHO I AM" (cf, Ex. 3:14). He also called Himself the "Lord   (cf. Is. 42:5,8), and likewise used the name "Jealous"  (cf. Ex. 34:14)  He was also named "God of host"(cf. Amos 5:27; 4:13) and "Holy"  (cf. Is. 57:15).

The Jehovah's Witnesses,. as a religious group, strictly uses the name "Jehovah" in reference to God. However, Bible scholars have traced an error with regard to the use of this name in reference to God:

''What are the facts? And   first as to age. 'The pronunciation Jehovah was UNKNOWN UNTIL 1520, when it was introduced by Galatinus; but was contested by Le Mercier, J, Drusius, and L.  Capellus, as against grammatical and historical propriety.' Next, as to formation. 'ERRONEOUSLY  WRITTEN AND  PRONOUNCED  Jehovah, which is merely a combination of the sacred Tetragrammaton and the vowels in the Hebrew word for Lord, substituted by the Jews for JHVH, because they shrank from pronouncing The Name'." (Rotherham Emphasized Bible, pp. 24-25) [emphasis ours]

It is clear then that the name " Jehovah" came to exist only in 1520 or in the 16th century AD, and its use is even erroneous. Scholars who scrutinized the name "Jehovah" expounded on the cause of this error:

"JEHOVAH, je-ho'va: An ERRONEOUS FORM of the divine name of the covenant God of Israel which appears first about 1520 A.D. The error arose from, the fact that the utterance of the divine name in original quadrilateral form (the tetragrammaton) YHWH, became unlawful in Jewish usage as EARLY AS THE THIRD CHRISTIAN CENTURY and probably much earlier, at least outside the sacred precincts..." (The New Schaff-Herzog" Encyclopedia of Religions Knowledge, Vol. Vl) [emphasis ours]

Further explanation on the occurrence of the erroneous form of God's name the Bible is stated in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. II:

"The form Jehovah arose out of a misunderstanding which in turn arose out of the reluctance of pious }ews to pronounce the divine name (c. 300 B.C.). Instead they uttered the word adonay, my Lord. In the MT [Masoretic Text] the divine name was written with the consonants of YHWH and vowels of adonay as a reminder to say the latter whenever the word was read. The divine name appears as yehowah in the MT. The LXX [Septuagint] reflects the Jewish reluctance to pronounce the divine name and puts the word kyrios, Lord, in its place. The RSV and other Eng. versions also reflect  the practice by giving the  Lord in capital letters whenever the name YHWH stands in the text. The Lat. likewise gave the word Dominus, Lord, for YHWH. The form Jehovah is thus a malformation giving what is virtually a transliteration of the word which is found in the text of the Heb. OT, but which was never actually used as a word." (pp.- 69-70)

Another cause of this error is explained by researchers:

"The hybrid word 'Jehovah' is a combination of the vowels of "Adonai" with the consonants of the tetragrammaton; its appearance in the KJV was the result of of the translators' ignorance of the Hebrew language and customs."  (Harper Bible Dictionary, p.1036)

Hence, "Jehovah," as the supposed name, of God and which some believe as His only true name, is an erroneous form of the divine name of the Creator. To insist on using this term in reference to God is to propagate an error.

How then must God be addressed by those who worship Him? The Lord Jesus Christ teaches, thus:

" In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name" (Mt. 6:9, New King James Version)

"So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and  said: 'Lord, Yon are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them .  (Acts 4:24, Ibid)

Worshipping the only true God, the Father, is by hallowing or honoring His name, as taught by Christ:

""This is how you should' pray: 'Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name'." (Mt. 6:9, New International Version)

One's failure to call God by His own name is itself a failure of recognition, i.e., invoking the wrong name of the "Father in heaven proves that one has not really recognized Him.

It is true that those who recognize the Father as the only true God and Jesus Christ as the One whom God' has sent, are assured of eternal life:

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Sort may glorify yon. 

" Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (Jn. 17: 1 & 3, Ibid.)   

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