Names and titles of God in the New Testament

he New Testament, which was written in Greek, does not contain the Masoretic YHWH nor one of its vocalizations, Jehovah. That the Greek manuscripts do not contain an English word from 1600 years later should not be a surprise. Interestingly, a number of translators of modern Bible versions have inserted variations of YHWH as the name of God in the New Testament. The most controversial and best known of these is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, published by Jehovah's Witnesses. Here is a list of others that do so:

1. The Sacred Name King James Version [1];

2. The Scriptures [2];

3. Moffat’s translation of the Bible in Tswana [the first complete Bible to be printed in Africa, in 1872];

4. The Chinese Union Version, Simplified [3] uses 耶和华 [the chinese equivalent of Jehovah] in Revelation 19.1;

5. The Chinese Union Version, Traditional [ibid.];

6. The Chinese Union Version, GB;

7. The Emphatic Diaglott by Benjamin Wilson, issued in one volume in 1863 [4].

8. The Malagasy Bible, Protestant Version, uses Jehovah in the NT;

9. The Malagasy Bible, Catholic version, uses IAVEH at Matt 4.7 & 10;

10. The Restored Name King James Version [5] uses the Tetragrammaton itself in the text of the NT and uses YAH for the Hebrew parse of the Tetragrammaton rendered JAH by the KJ and ASV;

11. The Christian Greek Scriptures in 12 languages by Elias Hutter, 1599, uses the Tetragrammaton in the Hebrew translation of the NT;

12. The Hebraic Roots Version (NT only)[5] uses YHWH.

Although YHWH does not appear in the original language (Koine Greek) in which the New Testament was written, those translators including it in their work believe it important to include the name, in some form, in their rendering of the NT. Manifestly this is not a view universally held.

In the Lord's Prayer, Christ says: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" (Matthew 6.9). As a Jew with extensive knowledge of the OT, Christ certainly knew the name of God.

The New Testament is one of the best attested of all ancient writings with over 5,000 Greek extant manuscripts of the New Testament; the vast majority of those were written after the fourth century CE and are thus far removed from the original versions. In point of fact no original or holographic manuscript of any of the 27 books of the NT exist, so no one can assert with any degree of veracity what the originals contained. It is an unnassailable and incontrovertible fact that no existing manuscript contains the Tetragrammaton This includes one of the most ancient fragments, the papyrus codex designated Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 2 [P46], dated prior to 200 A.D. and containing nine of the apostle Paul's letters.

Jehovah and the Greek Old Testament

The Greek Old Testament is known as the Septuagint (q.v.). Christ and the Apostles quoted extensively from it.[7] This is no surprise, since the New Testament was itself written in Greek (see above). However, whilst altering the manuscripts of the New Testament to read "Jehovah," it is sometimes justified that this would "restore" usage from the Old Testament.

However, the Septuagint, translated from lost Hebrew texts, does use the Tetragrammaton or, in Hebrew, YHWH. The Septuagint was one version of the OT used by both Christians and Jews. All existing manuscripts of the Septuagint (dated to earlier than the 2nd century AD) use YHWH. Like the New Testament, the Septuagint is written in Greek.

This image is known as Nahal Hever Minor Prophets. It contains fragments of Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and Zechariah found in the Nahal Hever cave, south of Qumran. [6]

Tetragrammaton in the Septuagint - fragment of Job 42

When Jerome, a Roman Catholic classicist made his translation of the Old Testament into Latin, he switched from the Septuagint of the Early Church to the Masoretic.[8]

Furthermore, to reconcile these facts with the belief that Jehovah is the one and only name of God, those using YHWH, or Jehovah, or the like, make various assumptions. Among these is the belief that YHWH was replaced in the Old Testament with Κυριος sometime after the New Testament was written! For example, Origen included the Tetragrammaton in his Hexapla in the 3rd Century AD.

Jesus quoted numerous times from the Old Testament, including his replies to the Tempter: "Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4.7).

External links

• Greek text - Complete Greek text of the Septuagint hyperlinked to Strong's concordance.
• Brenton's - The standard English translation of the Septuagint (hard copy has Greek in column)
• The New Testament and the Septuagint - Instances where the New Testament quotes the LXX against the Masoretic Hebrew
• The New Testament and the Hebrew OT - Instances where the New Testament agrees with the Masoretic Hebrew meaning
• Names in the Septuagint and Masoretic - A table of the older Greek names with the newer Masoretic renditions, in the Old Testament
• The Septuagint Online - Comprehensive site with scholarly discussion and extensive links to texts and translations