That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. (Psalm 83:18, KJV)
When we study religions, we find that most gods have names. The chief Greek god was Zeus, and in Rome he was Jupiter. Muslims worship Allah, and Hindus have Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. But if you asked most Christians, they would probably say simply that they worship "God."
There is nothing wrong with calling God "God." There is ample biblical precedent for using the common Hebrew and Greek words for deity ('el and theos) for our Lord. But the one true and living God has a name, a name He revealed to Moses and which appears some 5,578 times in the Old Testament. That name appears like this:
These Hebrew letters (read from right to left) are yodh, he, waw (or vav), and he. The yodh is pronounced like the consonant Y, but is often translated as a J when it begins names such as Jacob, Joseph, and Joshua. The he is a light H sound. The third letter is pronounced by some as a w and by some as a v. Scholars debate how it was pronounced in biblical times. Vowels did not appear in the Hebrew text, but the shortened name Yah that appears 45 times in the Old Testament reveals that the first vowel is a long A sound. Since A sounds are often attached to short E sounds, the likely Hebrew pronunciation was Yahweh or Yahveh. English-speaking scholars often use the shortened form YHWH to indicate the name.
Scholars debate what the name means, but Exodus 3 seems to connect it to the self-existence of God. God is self-sufficient and does not depend on us for anything. He is in control of all things and does not need our service or our company. He alone determines His plans and purposes. But even the fact that we know His name suggests this independent God's desire for a relationship with us. God's love, power, and eternity are all in view when we use the name Yahweh.
We know that in the Old Testament, God's people often addressed Him or spoke of Him by this name. A large percentage of occurrences of YHWH are in spoken dialogue (e.g., Josh. 1:17; Neh. 8:9-10). From the time of Moses, the community of Israel did not regard speaking the name as a violation of the fourth commandment.
The fourth commandment warns against using God's name lightly (Exod. 20:7). This goes beyond the taking of oaths and implies that God should always be spoken of with reverence. Jews after the time of the Old Testament took this command legalistically and forbid the pronouncing of YHWH. Many would not even write the name out in full. Instead, they substituted the name 'Adonai, which means "Lord." When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the scribes continued this practice, using the Greek word for Lord, kyrios, for YHWH. This practice continues in the New Testament.
When later scribes added vowels to preserve the pronunciation of the Old Testament text, they placed the vowels of 'Adonai amid the consonants of YHWH to indicate that the reader should pronounce 'Adonai instead. (This is an example of a practice called Kethib/Qere.) When Martin Luther and other early Protestant translators encountered the resulting name, they therefore transliterated it as Jahovah or Jehovah. Before long, however, English translators chose to preserve the Jewish custom by rendering the divine name as LORD–in all capitals to distinguish it from other Hebrew words for Lord.
Readers of the King James Version will notice that the KJV uses LORD or GOD to translate YHWH most of the time. But on seven occasions (Gen. 22:14; Exod. 6:3; 17:15; Judg. 6:24; Psa. 83:18; Isa. 12:2; 26:4), the KJV translators chose to retain the name Jehovah. More recent translations use LORD consistently. KJV-only advocates are quick to criticize new versions that have LORD for Jehovah at Exodus 6:3 and other places, charging them with "removing the divine name." However, they seem to have no problem with the KJV doing the same thing in nearly 6,000 other places.
A few translations, such as the Amplified Bible, the Living Bible, and the NCV, don't bother placing Lord in all caps, but the majority follow the KJV's lead: the Revised Version, the American Translation, Lamsa, the RSV, NRSV, and ESV, the NEB and REB, the NKJV and KJ21, NAB, and NASB, the Good News Translation, and the NLT, NIV, and NIrV.
A few English Bible versions use the divine name itself throughout the Old Testament. The American Standard Version, Darby's New Translation, Young's and Green's Literal Translations, and the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation all use Jehovah. The Catholics' Jerusalem and New Jerusalem Bibles are the only ones that use Yahweh.
The Jewish reticence concerning the divine name still continues, to the point that many will not write out the English word God. (They write "G-d.") Even many Christian readers grow uncomfortable reading a Bible passage that uses Jehovah or Yahweh over and over. But is this really a taboo we should hold onto, or is it a human tradition we should free ourselves from?
The fact that godly men in the Old Testament felt free to speak God's name aloud thousands of times is a strong indication that there is nothing wrong with it. Nowhere does the Bible forbid speaking His name. Nor is it a magic word with some mystical power of its own. How we treat the name reflects our attitudes toward God. We can say that we worship Yahweh, and we can praise Him by name and use His name when we teach others about Him. I applaud the use of Yahweh in our Bible translations. But I believe we should reserve God's self-given names and titles seriously and never with disrespect.
The implications of reverence for God's name are many. Obviously profanity based on God's names is out of the question. Christians are becoming increasingly lax about this in their speech. We should not "swear to God" when we are only kidding, and we should be extremely cautious about jokes that involve God or Jesus. Christians should be highly offended at the way phrases such as "God loves you" or "Jesus saves" are appearing on bouncing balls, keychains, toy cars, and every imaginable piece of kitch that is sold in Christian bookstores. Manufacturers are slapping the name of God on product in order to sell it to Christians as a "witnessing tool." And ending one's sentences with, "Praise God," in order to appear spiritual is also problematic. I would even be careful about casually throwing out clichéd sayings such as "Thank God it's Friday" and "Lord only knows."
I'm not trying to be legalistic here; my intent is to free up the name of God for its appropriate and intended use in worship, praise, instruction, and reverence. But if God's name is to be feared among the nations (Mal. 1:14) and God punishes all who misuse it (Exod. 20:7), we ought to be a bit more careful what passes through our lips.
For a concise statement of my beliefs about God, see my Declaration of Faith.
