Name Above All Names--Getting It Right

By Bill Wilson, Daily Jot News Service

WASH–Feb 8–DJNS–The Wycliffe controversy over the name of God and Jesus Christ has been a real eye opener. Many attempted to explain why allah would be used instead of God. Many attempted to justify using a different name of God in a different language. Through the scores of emails I received from “experts” on the subject, I realize that names have meaning. There is only one true God and one true Jesus Christ, no matter what man tries to make of them, no matter how many traditions have developed over the millennia, irrespective of what the “scholars” think and argue. Speaking of Jesus Christ, Philippians 2:9 says, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”

From the common sense perspective of this farm boy, if there is only one of something, it has a unique name that really needs no translation into a different language. For example, a Rembrandt is a Rembrandt in every language. The name should remain the same across all of the languages and an explanation should be given about what or who the name is. If you are a translator, you are most likely cringing at this suggestion. If you are a lover of a certain translation of the Bible, for example, King James, you think it is good enough. If you forward the Jot to others, you may think that using Hebrew names for God and Jesus Christ is confusing, but quite frankly, there is only them, and perhaps it’s a long time coming, but we all ought to know their names.

In the Hebrew, God is YHVH. His name is so sacred that the ancient Jews would not pronounce it. If they spoke the name of God, they would say simply Ha Shem, meaning “The Name.” When reading the Tanakh, YHVH is referred to as Adonai, meaning “My Lord.”  In Exodus 15:2, Moses and the children of Israel in the earliest known song, sang: “Yah is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.” King David used Yah as the name of God in some 17 Psalms. Psalm 150:6, “Let every thing that has breath praise Yah! Praise Yah!”  Isaiah 38:17 originally says, “I won’t see Yah, Yah in the land of the living…” Most translations, including King James, replaced “Yah” with “LORD.” Confused yet?

The Hebrew name for Jesus Christ is Yeshua Mashiach (some use Ha in between, meaning “the”). If man had not been so invested in changing the names into other languages for the sake of understanding, the names of Yah and Yeshua Mashiach could have been used throughout the world in all translations as the standard. Everyone would then know that when we are speaking of the one true God, his name is Yah; and the only Christ is Yeshua Mashiach. But due to this “logical” and “scholarly” twist, we have many names for Yah and Yeshua Mashiach, and many interpretations of who they are from the social gospel to Black Liberation Theology to New Apostolic Reformation to Mormonism to Free Masonry to Islam to–well you get the point.

Every journalistic organization has a stylebook that standardizes how certain words will be used in certain contexts. Generally, The Daily Jot follows the AP Stylebook best it can. Knowing the truth about the name of God and his son Jesus Christ, The Daily Jot would be remiss if it did not use the correct name for the name above all names. To that end, The Daily Jot will standardize on Yah for the one true God and Yeshua, Yeshua Mashiach or Yeshua Ha Mashiach (depending on the context) for the one true Jesus Christ. When you forward the Jot use it as a teaching moment if someone asks.