Regarding Jesus using the divine name, David Chord writes:
Unless you apply simple minded thinking and suspend obvious reality, it’s impossible to prove that Jesus ever spoke out God’s Holy name.
Let’s review… for thousands of years the Jews, out of fear, refused to speak or write God’s name. In all that time, God sent prophet after prophet, to correct the Jews attitudes, beliefs and actions but not once did any of those prophets tell the Jews to use and write His name…. (Ooops silly God). Irrespective, what JWs would have us believe is that suddenly one day, Jesus turns up and starts using God’s name! …but that’s not the most incredible thing. Despite using God’s name that the Jews have fearfully avoided for centuries, the Jews aren’t even mildly shocked and make not a single objection! The reality is that they would have been extremely angry and reacted strongly had Christ used God’s name!
Understanding this means looking at the very scriptures that JWs and other simple minded folk from a different realistic and truthfilled perspective….
“I have made your name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.” Jo 17:26
MADE YOUR NAME KNOWN.. is the key phrase that the simple minded latch onto ignoring the obvious problems like Jewish history, culture and reactions. They seem to ignore the previous verse…”Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you, but I know you, and these have come to know that you sent me.”
Hmm so in response to the world not knowing the Father (v25), Jesus simply makes the Father’s name known (v26)? That doesn’t even make sense!
The truth is that the term “name” or “onoma” does not always refer to the label a thing is known by and it’s pretty obvious if we study the bible. In these examples the word “name” does NOT mean the label of something but rather the authority or character… but don’t take my word for it, look at these four examples of the word in biblical usage…
Luke 13:35 “Behold your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” We’re not waiting for someone to come inside a label but rather someone to come with the authority of the Lord.
Luke 9:49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” We don’t cast out demons with the label of the Lord but rather the authority of the Lord.
Luke 10:17 “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Demons aren’t subject to a label but rather to the authority of the Lord.
Luke 9:48 “and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me” Whoever receives a child in the label of the Lord receives God? Nope, we must receive a child in the authority or character of the Lord!
So when we consider the Jews, their fear of using the name of the Lord and their reaction when Jesus made God’s NAME known to them, we have to conclude that the bible isn’t actually saying that Jesus used God’s name at all. In context Jo 17:25 makes it clear Jesus wasn’t making God’s name known but was making God’s character and authority known.
THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE
(note that this also applies to the Lord’s prayer… Hallowed be thy name. It’s not the label of God that is to be hallowed but rather His character and His authority, that His name represents)
