The Name of God
Overview
The name of God in Scripture is not merely a label but a disclosure of divine character and a ground of covenant relationship — to know, call upon, and hallow the name is to stand in right relation to the LORD himself.
Canonical Development
The patriarchs knew God as El Shaddai (“God Almighty”), El Elyon (“God Most High”), and Adonai, but the personal covenant name YHWH — “I AM THAT I AM” (Exod. 3:14) — is formally revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush: “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever” (Exod. 3:15). The Ten Commandments Given at Sinai enclose the name in a prohibition: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain” (Exod. 20:7), establishing that the name is to be guarded, not weaponized. The Fear God and Keep His Commandments ethic and the Shema (“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” — Deut. 6:4) bind all Israelite life to the exclusive claim of the divine name. The Psalms celebrate the name liturgically — “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” (Ps. 8:1) — while Isaiah predicts a day when “unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isa. 45:23). In the New Testament Jesus’s seven “I AM” (Greek ego eimi) statements in John deliberately echo Exodus 3:14, presenting him as the personal embodiment of YHWH’s self-disclosure. Philippians 2:9–11 declares that the Father has given Jesus “a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,” directly fulfilling Isaiah’s oracle and unveiling the trinitarian depth of the divine name.
Key Anchors
- Burning Bush - YHWH reveals the divine name “I AM THAT I AM” to Moses
- Ten Commandments Given - the Third Commandment guards the name against vain use
- Fear God and Keep His Commandments - the ethical corollary of knowing the LORD’s name
- The Shema - Israel’s foundational confession of the one LORD who alone bears the covenant name
- Departure from Sinai - Israel departs bearing the name of the LORD as their identity and protection
Key Books
Notes
The reverence surrounding the divine name in Jewish tradition — substituting Adonai for YHWH in reading — reflects the biblical instinct that the name is holy, not merely conventional. The NT claim that Jesus bears “the name above every name” does not displace the OT but fulfills it, revealing that YHWH’s self-disclosure is ultimately personal and incarnate.