What Is God's Name?

This is a great question that was raised after my sermon on the Second Commandment, which forbids misusing God's name. But what is God's name?

We can call God "God," which is using a common noun as a proper name, just as you can call your parents "Father" and "Mother" — though most people probably say "Dad" and "Mom." Similarly, I am often called "Pastor" because I'm a pastor, and doctors are often called "Doctor." Such a "name" is sufficient when we know who we're talking about.

In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, the word el means "god" generally, and the plural form is elohim, "gods." Either word can be used of the one true God, the God of Israel; the singular is used most often in compound words (like Bethel or Joel), while the plural is used with same effect as our use of a capital letter.

However, there is also a proper name for the one true God in Hebrew, just as your father and your mother have proper names, as do pastors and doctors. In most English Bibles it is translated as "Lord" (usually "LORD", in all caps or small caps), but the American Standard Bible chose to translate it as "Jehovah," which Jehovah Witnesses insist is God's only true name. Modern scholars will render it as "Yahweh," for which a little explanation is in order.

The name is four Hebrew letters, all consonants. First is yodh, which sounds like an English Y but was often represented in Roman letters as J (which also sounds like English Y when used in Latin or German). Next comes he, which is a straightforward H. Third is waw, sometimes called vav; this letter makes either a W sound or a V sound, depending on who you talk to. The last letter is another he. So you could write the four letters JHVH or YHWH (or JHWH or YHVH, but no one ever does these last two combinations).

When Jewish scholars decided to start putting little dots above and below the consonants of Hebrew to represent the vowels (about one thousand years ago), they did something a little tricky. By this time, pious Jews no longer pronounced YHWH, probably out of reverence and out of fear of misusing the divine name; instead, they said Adonai, which means "Lord." So the scholars put the vowel dots for Adonai on the consonants for YHWH as a sign to the reader to say "Adonai" instead of pronouncing YHWH.

In Hebrew, this combination of consonants and vowels is meaningless, but when you use JHVH along with these vowels (the first "a" can also be represented "e", and the "i" is actually a consonant) it comes out as Jehovah. However, our best guess at reconstructing the original vowels to use with YHWH gives us Yahweh. (A shortened form of this name is found in many Hebrew names as well as in "Hallelujah," where the J is pronounced like Y, and which means "Praise the LORD!")

Some people think that even Yahweh is not God's real name. In Exodus 3:14, God tells Moses, "I am who I am." And He tells Moses to tell the Israelites, "'I am' has sent me to you." The name Yahweh is closely related to the Hebrew word that means, "He is." In other words, God says, "I am," and we say, "He is," but His real name remains unknown.

But God does reveal His name, and it is for our salvation. As Joel 2:32 says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved." This is God's revealed name. Most importantly, God has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, whose name means "the LORD saves" and is the name which is above every name. Not only can we say that "Jesus is Lord" but also Jesus is the LORD, God in human flesh; He is Immanuel, "God with us." We should not misuse God's name, but He has given us His name to use for His divine purposes.

Advanced Note: Jesus is the Greek form of the Aramaic Yeshua, which in turn comes from Hebrew Joshua, which in full form is written Yehoshua. The Yeho- part is the YH of YHWH, and the -shua part means salvation.