SATURDAY CONTROVERSIES: ARE WE CALLING ON GOD AND JESUS PROPERLY? (PART 2)

Jesus and the Children; artist unknown (at Rutland Chapel at Ridgecrest).

Last week, I looked at the doctrine of the Trinity and whether it was a first tier (i.e. salvation) issue. I'm staying with the doctrine of God, but I'm dealing with an issue that most Christians aren't concerned with but those that are make a big deal about it: God' and Jesus' names.

Let's start with looking at how God is addressed. He has several names but most add one of these four names: 

1. God (Hebrew El or Elohim; Greek Theos) - the word for God, whether the one true God or false gods (idols).
2. Lord (Hebrew Adonai; Greek Kurios) - the word for Lord, whether the heavenly Lord of all or the earthly Lords and kings (sometimes Kurios is translated "sir").
3. Father - this is primarily  used of God the Father in the New Testament. There are a few OT references to God as the Father.
4. Yahweh/Yah - The name of God. (Erroneously written as Jehovah.) In the OT, it's translated as LORD or GOD (all caps in both situations). 

Now, should we call Him by His name? Some make a big thing about His name, but I see that more as something to boast over others about. Israelites felt they weren't worthy to say His name, so they substituted "Adonai" (Lord) for Yahweh. Originally, Hebrew didn't have vowels and later added vowel points; when they got to Yahweh, they put in the vowel points for Adonai, which is where they got Jehovah (more on the letter "j" later). 

My dad had a good answer for a Jehovah's Witness on why we don't use God's name. He pointed out he never called his earthly father by his name out of respect. Same reason the Jews wouldn't say "Yahweh," why the New Testament writers used "Kurios" instead of transliterating Yahweh into Greek, why most English translations use LORD/GOD. If you want to use His name, go for it, but it's not a salvation issue.

Then, we come to Jesus. Some point out that when He was on earth, He was called by his Hebrew/Aramaic name Yeshua (the vowels may vary, because of what I mentioned before). I know a person who's offended when He's called by Jesus instead. Allow me to point out three facts:

1. Yes, He was called Yeshua during the incarnation. But Yeshua was not a unique name - it was also the Hebrew name of Joshua Son of Nun or Joshua the priest in the return to Judah. The importance is on the meaning - Yahweh saves - than on the letters and sounds.
2. He was the savior, not just of Israel but of the whole worlds. He also told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. He didn't tell them to teach the world Hebrew so they could understand the Gospel. At that time, most of the known world spoke Greek, so that made it easier to spread the good news. Was that an accident? Nope. So it would be expected to be preaching the Messiah in Greek to the Greek speaking world.
3. Unfortunately, not all alphabets have every sound. Spanish has no "j" sound (nor does Hebrew or Greek) and English does not have Spanish's trilling double "r." Greek lacked a single letter making a "y" sound, and lacked an "sh" sound. They did get the "y" sound by putting an iota ("i") before another vowel. This problem was dealt with a couple of hundred years before Jesus' birth - Jesus (or Joshua) became Iesous. So as the Gospel spread, the Messiah was known as Iesous instead of Yeshua. Did this take God by surprise? Seriously? No, not at all. 

Add these together, and I don't doubt that it was a big deal to God or Jesus that in different languages His name fit the language.

By the way, one argument I hear is that "j" is a new letter. Ah, but what sound does "j" make? In Spanish, "j" makes an "h" sound; In Serbo-Croation, "j" makes a "y" sound (the "j" sound is spelled "dz"). My hunch is originally it made the "y" sound, because the "j" replaced the "i" in names starting with a "y" sound.

The reality is God and Jesus knows who is being addressed whether by Yeshua or Jesus. The Devil and the world hates us equally whichever name we use.