There is some confusion in the usage of the Title 'lord'; especially
in the attempts to suggest that the Messiah actually existed in person before he
was EVEN BORN
i.e. he was present in the OT or that YAHWEH & THE MESSIAH
ARE ONE & THE SAME.
The Greek and Hebrew usage of these words tell a
great lesson. The Hebrew language is much 'richer' than the Greek language.
There is ONLY ONE MAIN WORD used for 'lord' in Greek and that is KURIOS
[Strong's 2962]. However, to the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians, the context
would point out which 'lord' is being referred to, whether it be GOD, man or
angel.
The Hebrew language however uses at least 4 main words (actually
one word and 3 derivatives of another word) therefore minimizing the chance
of any confusion. Therefore, the Apostles and other Greek-speaking Jewish
Christians would have understood which Hebrew equivalent to KURIOS was meant!
Could it be that we have, sadly, lost that art?
The English translators
of the Hebrew Masoretic [the Masoretes were the Hebrew scribes of the Old
Testament] text were aware of the following Hebrew words.
YAHWEH
[Strong's 3068,3069] (which was mistakenly translated JEHOVAH i.e. there is no J sounding names in Hebrew - Exo. 6:3, Psa 83:18, etc.) This is the name of the ALMIGHTY GOD and is SOLELY used to denote the ALMIGHTY GOD (Psa 83.18) This is His Name forever - Exo 3:15. It is in our Bibles as 'LORD' - ALL IN CAPITALS.
That is, everywhere you see '[The] LORD' in the KJV it is GOD'S NAME,
YAHWEH! This is the case for 99% of the entire KJV Old
Testament. It appears over 6,800 times in the Old Testament
e.g.
Gen. 4:1,3,4,26; Exo. 6:2, 15.3, 20:7; Lev 18:21; Deut 5:11, 6:13;
Isa 42:8; Jer
33:2; Ezek 39:7, etc.
For example:
(Exo 3:15) And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, YAHWEH, 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, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Rarely, I guess down to plain human error, it is translated 'Lord' e.g. 1 Sam 16:6.
YAHWEH is often used in conjunction with ELOHIM when referring to ALMIGHTY GOD
i.e. YAHWEH-ELOHIM .... LORD God (note the case of the letters) as used in over 800 KJV OT verses
e.g. Gen. 2:4-22; Exo. 3:15-16, 4:5; Neh. 1:5, etc.
Please Note:
2) ADONAIWhen I state that everywhere you see 'LORD' in the KJV OT it is YAHWEH, I do mean the majority of the time, subject to context and human error. For example,
(a) in the Psalms, the poetic version of GOD's Name, YAH
[Psa 68:4 JAH - Strong's 3050] is translated as 'LORD'.
e.g. Psa. 77: 11, 94:7, 12; 102:18, 105:1,3,4, 7,19, 45; 113:9; 115:17-18; 118:14; 150:1, 6;
Psa. 68:18 [LORD God - YAH-ELOHIM]; also Isaiah 38:11 etc. In fact, every place where you see the phrase "Praise the LORD" in the Psalms; it is actually the Hebrew phrase "Hallelu-YAH"!! (except for Psa. 22:26, 117:1, 146:2, 148:7;
[the 2nd 'Praise the LORD' in Psa. 146:1, 148:1]; which all read
"Halal YAHWEH").Again, YAH is exclusively a name for THE ALMIGHTY GOD alone!
(b) 'LORD JEHOVAH' in Isa 12:2, 26:4 is in fact the designation 'YAH-YAHWEH';
again, solely referring to THE ALMIGHTY GOD.
(c) Also ADONAI (see No. 2 below) is sometimes mistakenly translated as all capitals; e.g. Psa. 90:1.
[Strong's 136] This is GOD's title ... note HIS TITLE NOT HIS NAME ... it
is always used to refer to the ALMIGHTY GOD and none other ... hence THE SUPREME
LORD ... it is a derivative of ADON. (see No. 3 below)
It is
translated in the KJV Bible as 'Lord' i.e. capital L, the rest in
lowercase - the majority of the time.
[Mistakenly, it was written as 'lord' in Ezra
10:3]. It appears over 400 times in the Old Testament e.g. Gen. 20:4, Exo.
4:13, 5:22; Num. 14:17,
1 Kings 3:10; Psa. 2:4, 22:30, 35:23, 86:8-9, Job 28:28;
Mal 1:14, etc.
For example:
(Exo 4:10) And Moses said unto YAHWEH, O my Adonai, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
(Isa 7:14) Therefore Adonai himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
(Dan 9:19) O Adonai, hear; O Adonai, forgive; O Adonai, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
When the Angel of YAHWEH (i.e. the Angel of HIS PRESENCE - Isa. 63:9) is
speaking as the representative of YAHWEH Himself, the angelic messenger is then
referred to as ADONAI; e.g. Gen. 18:27,30-32; Judg. 6:15; etc.
ADONAI is
often used in conjunction with YAHWEH when referring to ALMIGHTY GOD especially
in the book of Ezekiel i.e. ADONAI-YAHWEH (Lord YAHWEH) where it is
translated as 'Lord GOD' (note the case of the letters) as used in over
250 KJV OT verses
e.g. Gen. 15:2; Isa. 40:10; Ezek. 2:4 etc.
(Isa 61:1)
The spirit of ADONAI-YAHWEH is upon me; because YAHWEH hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound;
In one place (Daniel 9:3) it is used with ELOHIM
i.e.
ADONAI-ELOHIM (Lord ELOHIM),
where it is translated as 'Lord
God' (note the case of the letters)
In the same way no human is
ever referred to as YAHWEH; likewise no human is ever referred to as ADONAI
...this title belongs to the ALMIGHTY GOD alone! The orthodox Jews
stopped using GOD's Name, YAHWEH, and instead spoke of Him using solely His
title, ADONAI even to this day!
However, the Jews WOULD NEVER call the
Messiah (whoever they believed he was to be) ADONAI!!
[Strong's 113] - translated 'lord' (all lowercase),
'master'
[e.g. Gen. 24:9-14, 39:2-3, Psa 123:2, etc.], and once, 'owner'
1
King 16:24. It appears over 300 times in the Old Testament.
This is
what Sarah would call Abraham; e.g. Gen. 18:12, 1 Pet 3:6
The majority of the time
it is written as 'lord' ALL LOWERCASE (rarely 'Lord' ... depending on the
context);
The majority of the time THIS TITLE IS ALWAYS USED TO REFER to men, kings, rulers, judges and masters i.e. MEN IN AUTHORITY ... it was how a Hebrew would say 'Sir!' ... they would say 'Adon!' The plural form [lords/masters] being 'Adonim'.
Angels (i.e. beings with higher authority than men - Psa 8:5, 2 Pet.
2:11) are likewise referred to as 'Adon'; e.g. Gen. 19:2; Josh. 5:14, Judg.
6:13; Zec 4:5,13; 6:4 etc.
Out of over 300 occurrences of this word in
the OT, about 30 times, The ALMIGHTY GOD is referred to as 'ADON' (as opposed to
ADONAI);
e.g. Deut. 10:17, Neh. 8:10, 10:29; Psa. 8:1,9; 135:5, 136:3,
147:5;
also Zec 4:14 ADON of the whole earth; Zec 6:5 Psa 97:5
Micah
4:13 Josh. 3:11,13;
hence showing GOD's Lordship/Ownership of His
Creation.
This would have been the word that Christ would have used in
reference to GOD, his Father, in Matt 11:25 Luke 10:21; see also Acts
17:24.
However the majority of the usage of this word [in over 270 occurrences] is
in regards to MEN IN AUTHORITY especially KINGS; i.e. lord king David ...
ADON KING DAVID 1 Kings 1:43,47 etc. Also Moses is referred to as ADON e.g. Num.
11:28; Also Elijah 1 Kings 18:7.
So it goes without saying that the
MESSIAH is the ADON who would be the human ADON over all other ADONIM (plural),
both human and angelic! [Hebs 1:4,6; 1 Pet 3:22]
Because GOD HAS
HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, and made him both
ADON & MESSIAH [Acts
2:36]. Christ is called ADON, just like the kings & prophets before him; the
difference being that Jesus of Nazareth is
THE LORD CHRIST ... ADON
MESSIAH ... THE SON OF GOD.
Therefore, the Messiah, is always referred to
as ADON ... NEVER ADONAI
Sadly, like I originally stated , this word
is NOT consistently translated all in lowercase in the KJV OT ... sometimes it
is given a capital 'L' in the wrong context, whereby the reader may think that
ADONAI is being used; e.g. Malachi 3:1. The text is actually "The ADON whom
you seek" NOT "ADONAI whom you seek"
... practically identical to No. 3 ; i.e. the same Hebrew word with a
different vowel pointing; hence, it means 'my lord'. It appears over 160
times in the Hebrew OT.
So, in fact, some of the examples used in No. 3
are in fact 'ADONI'
e.g. Gen. 18:12; 1 Kings 18:7; Num. 11:28 - same Hebrew
word ... different vowel pointing. [Vowel points were added to the Hebrew
text by the Masoretes - the Hebrew scribes.] Since this word is used to
refer to human lords (99% of the time) it is translated 'lord';
'lord'
written in all lowercase hence "my lord".
David the king is referred
to many times as ADONI
e.g. 1 Sam. 25:24-31; 1 Kings 1:31,36,37 etc. All kings
were referred to in this way, as a form of address
e.g. Saul 1 Sam 24:8, 10;
Solomon ... 1 Kings 2:38; 3:17,26 etc.
PLEASE NOTE:
THROUGHOUT THE HEBREW OT, THE ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF IS NEVER REFERRED TO AS 'ADONI' THIS WORD IS SOLELY USED IN REFERENCE TO MEN (and sometimes angels e.g. Josh. 5:14; Judg 6:13; Zec. 4:5 etc.). This Hebrew word with this vowel pointing, is used over 160 times in the Hebrew OT and its usage is consistent. That is, THE ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF ... DEITY IF YOU PLEASE ... IS NEVER REFERRED TO AS 'ADONI' ... this is significant; since it shows a distinction between GOD and the beings which He created [i.e. human beings and angelic beings].
The One GOD is distinguished as ADONAI (over 449 times) from Adoni, a human lord, (195 times). This gives you over 644 opportunities to see the difference between GOD and man, based on the word "lord."The Messiah, Son of GOD, is designated as Adoni, not Adonai.
The usage of 'ADONI' would have been how the NT speakers would have spoke of their superiors (Luke 16:3,5; Acts 25:26). So the NT believers would always referred to Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, the Son of GOD (2 Sam. 7:14, Psa 2:7) as ADONI e.g. Luke 1:43; John 20:13; Phil 3:8 etc.
JESUS CHRIST WOULD NEVER BE REFERRED TO AS 'ADONAI'
Sadly, like I
originally stated, this word is NOT consistently translated all in lowercase in
the KJV OT ... sometimes it is given a capital 'L' whereby the reader may think
that
ADONAI is being used. I will give you a classic example of this
...
The main Scriptural proof text as used by the Apostles and Christ
himself is PSALMS 110:1 -- It is used and alluded to by Christ & the
Apostles, 23 times in the NT. It is the very proof text, to declare who
Jesus truly is ...THE MESSIAH OF GOD, THE CHRIST OF GOD, YAHWEH'S ANOINTED,
THE SON OF GOD.
The importance of this verse is shown by the fact that no other verses come
near to that number of allusions/quotations in the NT. Many verses are cited
once or twice in the NT. But this verse, Psalms 110:1 is mentioned 23
times!
Sadly, for some strange reason (I hope it was solely human
error done in ignorance, bearing in mind that the KJV translators were
trinitarians); the English translators decided to translate the Hebrew word
'ADONI' in
Psa 110:1 as 'Lord' giving the reader the impression that this
verse is saying 'YAHWEH said unto my ADONAI'; hence trinitarians have
used this verse as a proof text to state that GOD THE FATHER is speaking to
the 2nd Person of the Godhead, GOD THE SON.
NO!!!!
(Psa
110:1) A Psalm of David. YAHWEH said unto Adoni, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Hence it should have
been written
"The LORD said unto my lord" !!!
The
2nd 'lord' in Psalms 110:1 IS NOT ADONAI ... it is ADONI (1 letter [vowel point]
MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE) ...
the human Messiah, our Lord and David's
Lord
Jesus Christ's is David's ADON by the very fact that he is the SON
OF GOD
(2 Sam 7:14; Psa 2:7)
Although Jesus is both totally Human, and
descended from David; he nevertheless OUTRANKS him by right of birth.
As
"Son of David," Jesus has inherited David's throne (Luke 1:32-33).
But
as "Son of GOD," Jesus has also been "highly exalted to receive the name
which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9-11).
In accordance with the
Scriptures, Jesus is forever both man and Messiah.
His throne is for ever.
His name is above David's name for ever. He is David's King for ever! THAT is
why David calls him "lord"!
Therefore, in that day, when EVERY KNEE
SHALL BOW, David himself (as well as everyone else) will confess that
"Christ is LORD ... 'ADON' to the Glory of GOD THE FATHER"
(Phil 2:11).
The people of Christ's time, knew full well, that the
Messiah would be David's 'lord' ... David's ADON ... they had NO CONCEPT that
the Messiah was to be David's ADONAI ...that title belongs solely to GOD,
because HE IS GOD & GOD ALONE!
The Messiah and the Messiah alone was
to be David's Lord and Lord of All - Acts 10:36.
[it is EVIDENT by
definition, that 'all' does not include GOD ALMIGHTY -
1 Cor. 15:27]
This
is why the Jewish leaders would call Christ, SON OF DAVID, but would not answer
Christ in reference to the true context of this scripture
[Psa. 110:1]; because
they knew that the correct answer is that Christ is also 'SON OF GOD' ...hence
David's ADON(I) ...
this they refused to confess [Matt 22:41-46; Luke
20:41-44]. However, the 'common people' who believed that Jesus of
Nazareth, was indeed the Messiah, the Son of GOD, HEARD HIM GLADLY [Mark
12:35-37] ...
Oh may I remain common!!
Psalm 110:1 is quoted in the NT as
follows:
CONCLUSIONJesus: Matt. 22:44; Matt. 26:64; Mark 12:36; Mark 14:62;
Mark 16:19; Luke 20:42, 43; Luke 22:69.Peter: (Luke) Acts 2:33; Acts 2:34, 35 (in this verse Peter introduces Christianity to the crowd at Pentecost and tells us that Jesus has been made "Lord" on the basis of Psa 110:1); Acts 5:31; Acts 7:55-56;
Paul: Rom 8:34; I Cor. 15:25; Eph 1:20; Eph 2:6 Col 3:1;
Heb 1:3; Heb 1:13 Heb 8:1; Heb. 10:12-13; Heb. 12:2Peter: I Pet. 3:22;
Jesus: (John) Rev 3:21.
This typeface information used in the KJV OT was 'once common knowledge' for it was stated at the front of our KJV Bibles during the 17-19th centuries ... this information has since then been removed! Hence, many readers, sadly in ignorance, commonly, equate OT usage of 'lord' with 'NT' usage of 'lord' without any regard to the context; that is, they do not seek to find out which 'lord' is being referred to, whether it be GOD, man or angel.
I hope this information will help minimize this in future.
Therefore,
in future, when comparing KJV NT verses with OT verses determine what meaning of
KURIOS is being used ... YAHWEH, ADONAI or ADON(I);since, for example, ADONI
is in no way equivalent to ADONAI or YAHWEH.
Keep in mind the
following facts:
1) 'ADONAI/YAHWEH' is always used in reference to
THE ONE GOD.2) whilst ADONI is always used in reference to humans (and a few times, angels).
3) The same goes for 'ADON' unless the context determines that it is referring to THE ADON OF HEAVEN & EARTH, YAHWEH GOD ALMIGHTY.
So, you can't just compare a OT verse and a NT verse together and assume it
is talking about the same 'lord' ... look at the
context!
Examples:
1) KURIOS in verses such as Matt 1:20, 4:7 [Deut. 6:16],
Matt 4:10 [Deut. 6:16, 10:20]; Matt 5:33; 21:9,
23:39 [Psa. 118:26]; Matt 22:37 [Deut. 6:5];
Mark 12:29-30 [Deut. 6:4], Luke 1:32, 68 [YAHWEH-ELOHIM],
Luke 2:23; Acts 2:21 [Joel 2:32], Acts 3:22 [Deut. 18:15],
Acts 4:24 [1 Chr. 17:26], 4:26 [Psa. 2:2]; Rom 11:34,
1 Cor. 2:16 [both Isaiah 40:13] ; Rev 1:8, 4:8, 11:17, etc.... is used for 'YAHWEH'
'Angel of the Lord' would be 'Angel of YAHWEH', etc.
Many of the NT references to 'the Lord' are actually references to YAHWEH - check the context!
2) KURIOS in verses such as Rev. 15:4 [Psa 86:9]
... is used for 'ADONAI'
Some of the NT phrases of 'Lord God' could well equate to ADONAI-YAHWEH as well as YAHWEH-ELOHIM (which has the more common OT usage);
3) KURIOS in verses such as Matt 18:27, 20:8, 21:40, 25:19,
28:6; Mark 6:21, 16:19; Luke 2:11, 5:8, 12, 6:5,46; 7:6,
9:54, 57,59,61; John 11:27; Acts 2:36, 10:36, 11:17, 16:31;
Rom 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:5,6; 1 Tim 6:15; 1 Pet 5:3; Rev 17:14; etc.
... is used for 'ADON' (the plural 'lords' being ADONIM)THE ALMIGHTY GOD IS CALLED 'ADON' in
Matt 11:25, Luke 10:21, Acts 17:24;
however the majority of the time it is Jesus of Nazareth who is referred to as 'Lord' - 'ADON';
i.e. LORD JESUS CHRIST ... ADON YESHUA MESSIAH.
Saul (Paul) cried
"Who art thou, ADON?" ... And the ADON said
"I am Jesus (Yeshua) ..." - Acts 9:5 22:8 26:15
4) KURIOS in verses such as Matt 22:44, 24:48, 12:36;
Luke 1:43, 12:45, 16:3,5; 20:42; Acts 2:34, ETC .... within the phrase 'my lord' is ADONI ... hence always in reference to human lords
Therefore, although the NT writers solely used KURIOS in their writings;
their audience as well as themselves; would know the correct OT context and
usage of the word 'lord'.
Remember, although they wrote in Greek, their
conversation was still Hebrew.
Likewise, their interpretation of the
Scriptures remained Hebrew and not Grecian ... the NT Jewish saints would solely
speak of...
THE LORD GOD & THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ...
YAHWEH-ELOHIM & THE ADON YESHUA MESSIAH
I Hope This Helps And Encourages Someone To Search The Scriptures & To
Study To Show Yourself Approved Unto GOD, A Workman Need Not To Be Ashamed.
Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth.
YOURS IN MESSIAH,
Adam Pastor
Special acknowledgments to Anthony Buzzard; reference articles at:
http://focusonthekingdom.org/articles/adonai.htm
;
http://focusonthekingdom.org/articles/BD86.htm
