Proverbs 30:4
The
third Commandment given at Sinai was “You shall not take the
name of the LORD (YHVH) your God in vain.”
Exodus 20:6
While
I believe in the reverent and proper use of the Sacred Names, I will attempt to
bring balance to the fanaticism of superstition that is more often than
not demonstrated in the Sacred Name Only movement. Satan’s goal is to distract us from the truth
by his sophistry (Sophistry is the
use of seemingly plausible yet erroneous concepts). There are many examples of people who thought
they were doing the right thing, yet were deceived.
We
can use the Sacred Names to further the Good News in these final days. Words carry associations with them, and this
is simultaneously true for both the speaker and the hearer. The common name used for Messiah especially
illustrates this truth. Typical
associations with the name “Jesus” might be that of the good Shepherd with a
little lamb slung over his neck; unfortunately, that name also begs a picture
of a fair-skinned, blue-eyed Messiah who “did away with the old covenant law of
the Jews.” Worse yet, for Jewish people,
it conjures up thoughts of past anti-Semitic persecution carried out in the
name of Jesus.
The
gentle and thoughtful use of Messiah’s given Hebrew/Aramaic name, Yeshua, causes the hearer to question exactly
who we are talking about. Further, in
Messianic Israel, Yeshua is taught to be One who
upheld the eternal truths of Torah, and his followers are perceived as
pro-Israel and having a love for the Jewish people.
Why Continue the Misunderstandings?
In
encouraging people to call our Messiah Yeshua, we are
not saying it is necessarily “wrong” to call him Jesus. God knows the thoughts and intent of our
hearts (I Samuel 16:7). Even if we use
the “wrong” name, he knows who it is that we wanted to hear us. When a small child calls out to a crowd of
men, “Daddy!” many fathers turn and look, but only the child’s father answers
the call. And it is the duty of the
child’s father to protect the child from kidnap by a malintentioned
usurper.
Honest
and thorough study of scholarly rather than emotionally driven teachings will
demonstrate that the name “Jesus” is not rooted in paganism, as some
teach. Linguistic superstition is
demonstrated by the Sacred Name Only groups teach that we must always use the Sacred
Names, and never use titles (more on this topic later).
Yet we
encourage the use of Messiah’s given name, Yeshua. Not only is appropriate use of the Sacred
Names proper, but in some cases the lack of concern for what we call the Father
and Son demonstrates a flawed relationship.
If someone just met me and they mispronounce my name, I would not hold
it against them; but if someone has known me for 15 years, and they continue to
call me other than by my name, I would wonder how important our relationship
was. If we come to understand that
someone’s name is actually “Joseph” and we have been calling him “Jonathan,”
wouldn’t it be reasonable for us to call the person by their actual given
name? Beyond a desire to be sensitive to
those who have not yet understood the misunderstanding, is there any good
reason for those who do understand to continue the error?
Mystical Magical Name
Paul
warned Timothy about teachers who are continually “doting
about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings…”
I Timothy 6:4
Although
we advocate the use of the Names, the linguistic superstition demonstrated by
Sacred Name Only groups not only discredits proper use of the Sacred Names, it
gives Christians and Jews an excuse to reject everything else that is being
restored through the Messianic movement—the Sabbath, the Feasts, and other
statutes of the Lord.
Linguistic
superstition is the belief that saying certain words produce negative results
and saying certain words in just the right way will produce positive results, based on the arbitrariness of God, or
inherent power in the syllables themselves.
This sort of belief system is most apparent in occult magic. Practitioners of the occult believe that
certain words have inherent power or force within them which can be harnessed
and utilized when the words are pronounced in a precise, prescribed
manner. The seven sons of Sceva believed this.
When they saw Paul doing miracles in the name of Yeshua,
they tried to cast out a demon by saying, “We adjure you by Yeshua whom Paul preacheth.” The
demon in the man replied, “Yeshua
I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
Then, the man leaped on them and gave them a good beating (Acts
This
ancient superstition is actually partially responsible for the veiling of the
Holy Name by the Rabbis. It was believed
in paganism that one could use the names of foreign gods to conduct magic
spells, especially if one could discover the “secret” name of that God. Part of the evidence for Yahweh being the correct enunciation is that they have found many
instances in the Magical Papyri where
pagan enemies of
Hardcore
Sacred Name Only proponents are afraid to utter the words “God” or “Lord” when
referring to the Creator. They insist
that he must be addressed by his Hebrew name.
Most Sacred Name Only literature gives the reader the impression that
knowing the correct pronunciation of God’s Hebrew name is more important than
knowing God himself. This is making a
fetish out of the Name.
These
teachings are dangerously close to the occult thinking that existed in
first-century Gnosticism. The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity
states on page 27, “Heretical Gnostic systems combined magic and astrology with
the Bible. The Hebrew name of God, IAO [the
Greek transliteration of YHVH]
fascinated sorcerers by its vowels, always crucial in ancient magic.”
Noted
Hebrew scholar David Blivin, in an article titled
“The Fallacy of Sacred Name Bibles,” writes, “The use of correct formulas and
correct pronunciations is very important in magic rites, but not in one’s
relationship with the God of Israel.”
(Jerusalem Perspective, Nov.-Dec. 1991, pg. 12)
What Are the True Sacred Names?
Although
even Hebrew experts and scholars disagree as to the exact pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, as much as we can ascertain from study, Yahveh and Yeshua seem to be
the most correct transliterations of the Sacred Names (see the paper, The LORD God by S.O.T. Ministries for
evidence for Yahveh; see the appendix 1
for Yeshua), although at least 38 different
spellings exist among the various Sacred Name Only groups, and over 55 variant
spellings for Messiah’s name! It is
evident that they cannot all be correct.
Even if they did have the “correct” Sacred Name, it does not mean that
they will all be saved. Thus there must
be more to the “Name” than mere syllables.
If the exact pronunciation of
God’s name were important to him, there would be no problem finding out what it
is. Yet the disagreement of the
various Sacred Name groups demonstrates that this matter, vital to salvation in
their eyes, is not truly the issue with God.
Very
poor scholarship is demonstrated by many Sacred Namers. Just because a word in English sounds
like a word in another language does not mean that they are
related. The assertions that the word God comes from the Babylonian deity Gad (fortune) or Jesus comes from the Greek Zeus
is extremely poor etymology (see appendix 2
for more details).
Sacred
Name Only supporters imagine a linguistic connection between the English God and Hebrew Gad (“luck, fortune”).
Because the pronunciations of these two words are very similar, they
claim that “God” is the Babylonian deity of good luck. However, the fact that two words in two
different languages sound the same is not proof that the two words are
cognates. On the contrary, such is
usually not the case. For example,
Spanish con (“with”) has no
connection to English cone; German nein (“no”) has no connection whatsoever
to English nine; Hebrew ki (“because”)
has absolutely no connection to English key;
Yiddish teller (“plate”) has
nothing to do with English teller; Russian
tut
(“here”) is not associated with English toot,
etcetera ad infinitum.
If
the Hebrew word Gad were so terrible
per se, there would be no tribe of
Sacred
Name Only believers avoid using even the Hebrew adonai
merely because of its similarity to the Greek God Adonis! Some refuse to
transliterate Adonai,
even though Scripture uses this word over 200 times to refer to the
Creator. Some Sacred Name Bibles will
even translate Adonai
as “Yahweh.” This is not honest
translation; it is deliberately misrepresenting what the Hebrew Scripture said,
the very crime they accuse mainstream Bible translations of!
If They Borrow It, We Can’t Use It
Anymore?
It
is linguistic superstition to avoid a word that the Hebrew text uses
freely. Yes, it is possible that the Greeks borrowed the Hebrew word and used it to
refer to their god Adonis. So what? The fact that pagans use some of the same
nouns for their idols is no reason for us to stop using these words. If the pagans were to say that their gods are
“good” and “strong,” would Sacred Name Only adherents feel a need to avoid
these two adjectives and use different synonymous adjectives such as
“beneficent” and “powerful”?
Most
Sacred Name Only literature substitutes Mighty
One and Master for God and Lord. However, these terms
are every bit as generic as god and lord.
This is evident even in Sacred Name Only literature, which refers to
false gods as “mighty ones,” the only difference being capitalized
letters.
The Brit HaDashah
The
New Testament is glaringly silent on the “name” issue, consistently referring
to God by the generic Greek titles Theos and Kurios, words which can also refer to pagan gods and human
lords; they consistently refer to Messiah by the Greek form of his name, Iesous Xristos. There is no solid evidence that the New
Testament writers used Hebrew terms or characters in their documents.
Even
when they are directly quoting Old Testament Scripture, the New Testament
writers used the generic Greek titles as substitutes for the Sacred
name! Many Old Testament verses which
contain the Sacred Name are quoted in the New Testament, yet the Sacred Name
itself never once appears in the New
Testament. A generic title is
substituted every time.
The
only argument Sacred Name Only proponents can use to try to refute these facts
is to accuse “wicked scribes” of changing the New Testament manuscripts. It is common teaching among these groups that
the entire New Testament was originally written in Hebrew. Not only do we have absolutely no evidence
for this belief, but evident in the very
text is proof that it was written in Greek, for in specific places where
the Hebrew is significant, the New Testament transliterates the Hebrew words or gives a translation (see Matthew
1:23; Mark 5:41, 15:22, 15:34; John 1:38, 1:41, 5:2, 19:13, 19:17; Acts 4:36,
21:40, 22:2; Revelation 9:11, 16:16). We
would have to either assume that God inspired those who translated the New
Testament into Greek in these instances (but not in regards to the Sacred
Name!), or that God couldn’t protect the integrity of his word as he promised.
When
one considers the fact that the epistles were addressed to congregations
composed primarily of Greek speaking believers who knew little if any Hebrew,
the idea seems ludicrous. To accuse
wicked scribes of tampering with the text is circular reasoning, and has no
basis. (There is an underlying Hebraic thought pattern found in the Greek
texts, and Hebrew idioms are used, but this simply demonstrates that the
writers thought in Hebrew, and conveyed these Hebrew thoughts into the
vernacular.)
Titles
and Tittles
For
many years, Jehovah’s Witnesses have propagated the false notion that “Jehovah”
is God’s personal name, and that it is a grave matter to substitute “LORD” in place
of Jehovah.
While
Jehovah has been clearly shown to be
a gross mistranslation and gross error (The Hebrew word hovah means ruin, calamity,
iniquity, mischief, naughty, perverse, and wickedness!), there are various groups that still propose that if we
do not use the correct Sacred Names, we are sinning. Accusation is made that if we use titles
like “Lord” or “God,” we are in violation of the third commandment. Christians who do not use the Hebrew names
are often regarded as lost at best and as devil worshippers at worst.
A
Christian reader hearing about this for the first time might well be asking,
“These people think that I’m actually giving homage to Satan when I pray to
‘God’ or ‘the Lord’? All the worship
I’ve given to God all these years has really gone to the Devil, simply because
I didn’t address God by his Hebrew name?”
There
seems to be an undue familiarity conveyed by the flippant use of the Names by
many Sacred Name Only adherents. While it is clear that “Lord” and “God” are
titles rather than names, at times, it is due respect to use titles. We say, “Yes, Sir” to people we respect; most
people even as adults continue to call their parents “mom” and “dad” rather
than their proper names as a sign of respect.
If we were to meet the President, The Queen of England, or even a
courtroom Judge, we would not disrespectfully address them by their given
names, but as “Mr. President,” “Your Majesty,” and “Your Honour”
appropriately. How much more proper
would it be to call upon the King of the Universe using reverent titles.
Yeshua
told us to address God by the “title” our
Father. Paul says that it is through
the Spirit we can say, Abba, Daddy.
While there is no doubt that various
words used in speaking of God have a pagan origin, if we were to discontinue
using all words of pagan origin, we wouldn’t be able to speak at all! Our mission is to tell the world about God;
should we shun all things of pagan origin, we would lose credibility with the world,
for along with Christmas trees and Easter baskets would go the names of the
week, the names of the months, and the way we compute time. If you were to tell a business associate, “I
will meet you on the eleventh hour of the fourth day of the week” instead of,
“I’ll meet you at
Does God care whether we say Church, Ekklesia,
Congregation or Assembly? Does he take offense if we say Christ rather than Messiah? (Messiah is not really
correct, either; the correct term would be Mashiach or Annointed One.)
Picture a worshipper agonizing in
prayer. The Father is touched by the
words. He is about to send an angel to
grant the petition of the suffering believer, when the prayer ends, “I ask you
this in the name of Jesus.” Suddenly, the Father halts the angel,
saying, “Too bad. I was going to help
him, but he used the wrong name.” What
does this type of scenario say about God?
Yeshua
himself spoke of those who say, “Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
have cast out devils? And in thy name
done many wonderful works?” (Matthew 7:22) yet end up lost. These “workers of iniquity” more than likely
used the name “Jesus,” yet he does not say, “Go away—you used the wrong name!”
but rather, “I never knew you.”
This leads us toward an understanding of
the Biblical term name. To “know”
someone in the Bible does not mean to know their name or who they are; Yeshua knows everyone’s name and even how many hairs are on
their heads. To know in the Bible means to have a personal relationship, even an
intimacy, with that person. When Adam
“knew” Chavah (Eve) his wife, they didn’t just shake
hands; they had a baby! This is why the
aforementioned are lost; Yeshua never “knew”
them—they were never his friends. “And this
is life eternal: that they might know
thee, the only true God, and Yeshua HaMashiach, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3
Sacred Name Only
believers reject the English words God
and Lord because these are words
which, when not capitalized, can refer to pagan gods and to human lords. They think it is disrespectful, or worse,
Satan worship, to refer to the Creator by these “generic” titles.
However, the Hebrew equivalents of these
two words, elohim
and adonai, are also generic words that often
refer to false pagan gods and to human lords.
Yet the Creator refers to himself as elohim and adonai hundreds of times in the Hebrew
Scriptures. If he is not offended by the
equivalent generic titles in Hebrew, why should he be offended by the
equivalent generic titles in English?
English even has the added advantage of capitalizing the G- or the L- to distinguish the true Creator from the false pagan gods and
human lords. If the Creator is offended
by generic titles, wouldn’t he be more offended by the uncapitalizable
elohim and adonai
than he would by an capitalized God
and Lord?
The subject of the name of God is spoken of many, many times in Scripture. There are verses that indicate that in the
last name, God’s name plays a major role in last day events.
However, unless we begin to take the
Scriptures in the context of a Hebraic world view and Hebrew syntax, we will
not only fail to understand the true meaning of the text, but can actually end
up like the “obedient” people of
Using texts like Exodus 23:13 to attack
someone who uses Jesus rather than Yeshua is not seeing the original intention of the text. One can get into a lot of trouble by not
asking for the meaning of the text
rather than the apparent message. Ecclesiastes 9:8 instructs us, “Let thy
garments be always white;” some have taken this literally and wear
only white clothing. Leviticus 21:5, “They
shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the
corner of their beard” is used by some to teach that it is a
violation of God’s instruction to shave (when it is speaking of the customs of
wizards of having pointed beards or the Egyptian priests who shaved their
heads). Modern
day Rabbinical Jewish Kosher laws based on Exodus 34:26, “You shall
not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk” teach
that meat and dairy cannot be consumed at the same meal, which was speaking of
the pagan fertility rites (although we do not recommend the consumption of meat
and dairy, especially together). And
while these and many other examples exist of people taking texts and
misunderstanding the original intent of the speaker, I’ve yet to meet anyone
who takes literally Christ’s instruction to cut off the offending body part
used to sin!
It is in
study of Hebrew thought that we find the answer. One must take into account the
meaning of the words, in the languages of the authors at the time when they
were written, and not necessarily the English translation and definition of
them today.
There is a much broader meaning of the
Hebrew word shem (usually translated as “name”) that a person’s
appellation. When Sacred Name Only
advocates read a verse that says something about “the Name of Yahweh,” they think
mainly in terms of nomenclature, the word that is used to address someone. However, shem means
much more than just “name” in this narrow sense of nomenclature. Shem also
means the reputation, honour,
or character of a person. Not only
will any good lexicon confirm this, we still use it in this sense today. When we say, “Stop in the name of the law!”
what do we mean?
There is a plethora of evidence to this
fact throughout the Bible. The Hebrew
names of Bible characters always matched their characters; and when a
change in character was made, a corresponding new name was given that
person. (See Appendix 3
for more details.)
Even in English we use the word name in this broader sense. When we say, “You’ve ruined the family name!”
we do not mean that the person has altered the pronunciation of his surname or
changed it to a generic name like “John Doe.”
It simply means that he has brought shame and reproach on the family by
his behaviour.
The Scriptures say many things about the
name of Yahweh. There are verses that
speak about misusing, blaspheming, or shaming his name. There are verses about knowing, glorifying,
praising, trusting in, and speaking of the name of Yahweh. In his eloquent prayer in
Sacred Name Only writers discredit
themselves in the eyes of intelligent, thinking people by their sloppy scholarship. Some of it is so pathetic that calling it
“sloppy scholarship is actually a compliment!
We have encountered those who assert that the Saxons were dispersed
Israelites because they were “Isaac’s sons”; the word “evil” comes from the
instrument used in the fall of man, “Eve-ill”!
(This example is particularly ridiculous since her name was actually Chavah.) They
go on and on at length, elaborating on the “Hebrew meaning,” and end up proving
nothing to people who know Hebrew. All
they end up doing is advertising in the most embarrassing manner possible their
ignorance of linguistics and the Hebrew language.
There are scholars in
If we want to be taken seriously as a
people, if we truly want to have the glory of Yahweh’s Holy Name restored, our
scholarship must be able to pass the test.
Most importantly, we must be a people whose actions truly represent the
“Name—” the reputation, honour, and character of the One whom we claim to represent. May it be so for all who truly love his name.
(An article by Dr. Daniel Botkin was used extensively in the text of this article)
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Index
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Appendix 1 Go to
Appendix 2 Go to
Appendix 3