KEN MURRAY·FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016
 

Hello fellow brethren in Sri Lanka and India and elsewhere around the world,   
As I write this email newsletter this week, our senior pastor for Central Asia, Mr Dave Schreiber and his lovely wife Jolinda, are in far north-eastern India, in the State of Mizoram, visiting with scores of our United Church of God brethren and Beyond Today readers.    

I hope as the sun sets this Friday, and you enter God’s special blessing of the Sabbath, that you will also be able to share in loving and respectful fellowship with fellow brethren in your area, too.   

It has always been a pleasure for my wife Ruth and me to enjoy the Friday night company of our brethren in Sri Lanka and India, whenever we travel to be with our family of brethren in our Church areas, there.   

Recently I was reflecting upon a very worthwhile 2014 visiting tour that my wife and I did with 2 of our much loved ministers in Mizoram, which is between Bangladesh and Myanmar.   

After a long winding mountainous road journey, we shared a very stimulating Friday night Sabbath Bible study with one Church group in Langlei and then another very enjoyable Sabbath Church Service with another very interesting group of brethren in that same southern city of Mizoram.   

At the daytime Sabbath meeting one of the elderly men in the congregation asked: “Should we only use the Hebrew sacred names of Yahweh and Yahshua, rather than the names God and Jesus?”

   Should a Christian only use the Hebrew Sacred Names of the Old Testament?   

As I explained to this man and our brethren gathered there that day, there are many opinions about this subject and 3 main branches of Messianic religion have developed in recent years over this question. 

Opinions are one thing, but what does God say about this subject of “sacred names”, in the Bible? Because of foolish opinions, “sacred Hebrew names” for God, has become a false doctrine that has caused bitter division and has plagued many churches of God. 

The belief is that Christians are to only use the Hebrew names of God found in the Old Testament. 
Hence, they reject all New Testament names of God, including "Jesus Christ."  Some even reject using our English word “God”.  

New Testament was written in koine Greek not Hebrew 

Many go so far as to deny the fact that God inspired the New Testament to be written in koine Greek. 
By the way, koine Greek, was the common man’s type of Greek, spoken in Christ’s day, when He was living His physical life on this Earth. 
It was not the erudite learned scholarly level of Greek language, but was the level of common Greek language, spoken by the man or woman in the street. 

People also commonly spoke Aramaic as well.   
So, that is one of the reasons why the New Testament was written in common Greek (koine Greek), so everyone reading it, would be able to understand the message. 

The other very common language that Jesus also spoke at that time was Aramaic, which was the language that the Jews spoke, when they had been in captivity in Babylon during the Babylonian empire and then during the Medo-Persian Empire and Greek Empire, when they then began to learn to speak the common man’s koine Greek, because Hebrew was banned as a language by the Greek rulers.   

So, the two most common languages that were spoken and written in Christ’s day, were Aramaic and Greek.  
Hebrew was not commonly spoken or written, since even the vowel sounds of how to pronounce Hebrew words had been lost over the centuries, prior to Christ’s birth.  

 Jesus did not use “sacred Hebrew names” for God 

As we look at these false claims that we should only use “sacred Hebrew names”, we will see the names used for God in the old covenant Old Testament period, are not the same names for God that Jesus and Christians used in the new covenant period, as written in the New Testament. 

You can read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and you will find no instance at all, where Jesus gave instruction to only use “sacred Hebrew names”, nor did His disciples, nor did they ever write any command about using sacred names.   

Wouldn’t you think that even in the last dying words of Jesus, on the stake, that He would have used the so called “sacred Hebrew names” for God? 
But did He? 
No He didn’t did He? 
Jesus cried out what name for God?:   

Mark 15:34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?   

The language Jesus used was ARAMAIC and NOT Hebrew.    

Jesus DID NOT SPEAK THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE HEBREW TETRAGRAMMATON, did He?  
No He did not.   

The Aramaic name for God is written in English as “Eloi” in this verse in Mark 15:34 or “Eli” where the same record is of Jesus last words are recorded also in Matthew  27:46. Jesus did not use YHVH or YHWH, did He? No He didn’t.   

Why was Jesus heard in His prayers to God our Father?
 Was it because He used the tetragrammaton name? 
No.
 It was because He loved God and loved to live by God’s laws and Way of life  …and He had a deep reverent respect for the mighty power of God.   

Hebrews 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared (deeply respected God);   

Hebrew Names for God describe God’s character and His nature 

Today, in spite of the vast numbers of Bibles in the world and the amount of information written about the Word of God, most people have little knowledge of the names of God. 

A small percentage of Bible believers claim that the “sacred Hebrew names” of God in the Old Testament must be used in prayers, religious observances, and in Bible reading.   

They further dupe people into believing that unless you will use the sacred Hebrew names, you will not receive salvation.  
They play upon people’s ignorance and gullibility to naively believe such things. 
Quite a number of them claim this special esoteric insider knowledge about the use of so called “sacred Hebrew names” so as to win converts to their style of messianic religion and to make money from them. 

However, if we closely examine the scriptures we see the evidence that even in the Old Testament, these so called "sacred" names are not at all God's personal names, but are titles describing various great character attributes and great qualities of the nature of God.   

When God called Moses to send him into Egypt to bring the children of Israel out of slavery, Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they shall say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" (Exodus 3:13).   

Notice God's answer: "And God said to Moses, 'I AM THAT I AM.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you." ' And God said to Moses again, 'You shall say this to the children of Israel, "The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My title from generation to generation" ' " (verses 14-15).   

So, we see here that the closest the Old Testament comes to a personal name of God is the declaration, "I AM." 
When we analyse what God told Moses, we find that God said His name was "I AM," which means the Self-existing One. 

Technically, this is not a personal name.   
Likewise, the term "LORD God," which is His title, comes from two Hebrew words: 

1) LORD comes from the word YHVH or YHWH, pronounced different ways varying from Yahweh to Jehovah, which means the "Eternal One" or "Ever-living One." While this term is used as a name, it is actually a descriptive noun noting one of God's key attributes, which is His eternal nature. 

2) "God" comes from the Hebrew word Elohim, which means God and is, in fact, a plural noun. Its root meaning indicates "mighty one."   

No one on Earth knows how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton YHWH or YHVH 

No one on Earth knows how to properly spell or even to pronounce the Tetragrammaton YHVH or YHWH, because the vowel sounds have long been lost to the Jewish people, hundreds of years before Jesus came in the physical form to this Earth. 

Even the Jews to this day, do not even try to attempt to pronounce the Tetragrammaton YHWH or YHVH, because they know they are not sure about the correct vowel sounds.   

You will even see in Jewish writings how they will not even write the word God in full, because of their awareness of the fact that they do not know how to pronounce His name in Hebrew. 

Therefore even in the English language they hyphenate the English word God, to G-d.   
The Jews do not have the proper pronunciation of the Hebrew names of God, even though they have the Hebrew text. 

Robert Alter, in his English translation of The Five Books of Moses, explained why he did not transliterate the Hebrew name YHVH/YHWH, but instead followed the King James Version (KJV) use of "LORD" and "Lord." 

Robert Alter writes: "The God of Israel is referred to through a variety of names in these texts, and it is by no means self-evident how to render the names in English. 
The most difficult of them is the Tetragrammaton, YHWH. Modern Bible scholarship has agreed to render this as 'Yahweh,' but there are problems with using that form in translation. The original Hebrew texts of the Bible were entirely consonantal, [with the] vowel-points having been added well over a millennium after the original composition of the texts. Because by then the Tetragrammaton was deemed ineffable [incapable of pronunciation] by Jewish tradition, it was re-vocalized to be pronounced as though it read 'Adonai,' meaning Lord. 
The confidence of biblical scholarship that the original pronunciation was in fact 'Yahweh' may not be entirely warranted…. 
In any case, 'Yahweh' would have given the English Version a certain academic-archaeological coloration that I preferred to avoid, and it would have introduced a certain discomfort at least to some Jewish readers of the translation. I rejected the option of using 'YHWH' because it cannot be pronounced, whereas the dimension of the sound seemed to me vital to translate. 
I have therefore followed the precedent of the King James Version in representing YHWH as the LORD, in small uppercase letters…. Admittedly, any of the choices I have described may be debatable, but in all of them my aim has been to name the deity in English in ways that would be in keeping with the overall concert of literary effects that the translation strives to create."   

So, even from that point of view, it is ridiculous to say that we must use the so called “sacred Hebrew names” for God, when no one knows how to even spell the consonants of YHWH or YHVH nor how to even pronounce this Hebrew Tetragrammaton, because no one knows the correct vowel sounds to place between the consonants. 

Not even the Jews will try to speak God’s name in Hebrew. 

Yet, we have many presumptuous messianic preachers who claim that they have the inside esoteric knowledge of how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton.   

Does God have only one name or many names? 

YHVH or YHWH is not the only name or title that God uses. Notice what God later told Moses: "And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, 'I am the LORD [YHVH]. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty. But I was not known to them by My name JEHOVAH [YHVH]' " (Ex. 6:2-3). 

The name "God Almighty" comes from the Hebrew El Shaddai.   

Think about this.   

If it were true, as some "Sacred Namers" claim, that no one can be saved unless they use the name Yahweh, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will not be in the Kingdom of God, because God did not reveal Himself to them by this name!   

But we know they will be in the kingdom because Jesus said so! (Luke 13:28).   

So, the claim that only those who use "sacred Hebrew names", such as Yahweh or Yahveh or Jehovah, will enter into the Kingdom of God is false.   

In addition to Elohim and YHVH (Yahweh or Jehovah), there are other words and terms used to designate God in the Old Testament.   

However, these terms are not personal names of God.   They are descriptive nouns revealing various attributes of God. 
For example: 
•           El Shaddai means God Almighty, or Almighty God 
•           El Elyon means Most High God, or God Most High 
•           Adnoai means the Lord 
•           El Olam means Everlasting God   

It is evident that while these titles all refer to God, these terms are not personal names of God. 

We also see that there is not just one title or name for God.   

The true personal names for God are described in the New Testament 

Factually the personal names of God are only revealed in the New Testament.   

Some people out of ignorance ask the following question: “How then should we understand the Third Commandment, ‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain’ (Exodus 20:7). 

The answer is that this verse means more than just swearing and cursing by using God's name with profanity.   

The Hebrew word “nasa” is incorrectly translated as “take”, when a better English word would be “carry”   

The 3rd Commandment has a much bigger meaning, that no one is to CARRY the name of God vainly by falsely living a way of life that is contrary to God’s laws and way of life. 

For example no preacher or person claiming to be a Christian , should claim authority for doing what is contrary to any part of the Bible.   

Here are some modern day examples of people falsely claiming to be Christian, when in actual fact they are breaking the Third Commandment and are not CARRYING God’s name with proper reverent respect and honour, but are carrying God’s name in vain: 
•           Sanctioning Sunday and the holidays of this world rather than God’s Sabbath and
             Holy Days. 
•           Sanctioning or blessing anything that God designates as sin, evil or an abomination,
             such as adultery, fornication, pornography and homosexuality (such as same-sex 
             relationships and marriages) 
•           Sanctioning or blessing false agreements between individuals, claiming it is God's will •           Claiming that the sins you are committing are ok, because they are God's will 
•           Claiming that God's Word means something it does not mean   

Sacred Names of God revealed in the New Testament 

Are Christians today required to use the Hebrew names of God found in the Old Testament? 

This question is plainly answered by Jesus Himself.   Indeed, one of Christ's primary missions was to reveal the Father, because the Father was not plainly revealed in the Old Testament.   

In fact, Jesus who was the Logos or Spokesman for the Godhead, was the Lord God of the Old Testament before He became God manifested in the flesh, the Saviour of mankind and the Son of God our Father. (1 Corinthians 10:4) 

The truth is, no one can know the Father unless Jesus reveals Him to that person:   "At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, for it was well pleasing in Your sight to do this. All things were delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son personally chooses to reveal Him' " (Matthew 11:25-27).   

The word "reveal" in the Greek means "to reveal through teaching, accompanied by a revelation that comes through the deed and act of learning."   

The Gospel of John, reveals the name of God the Father is "The Father," or "Our Father".   
It is no mystery.   
It is not complicated.   
It does not require you to learn a foreign language, or use a foreign pronunciation of His name, that now one knows how to spell or how to pronounce.   

In the New Testament, God's name was never written in Hebrew; it was written in koine Greek as ο πατηρ or, in English, as simply "the Father."   

In the Gospel of John alone, the name of God "the Father" is found 117 times.   
We find in Jesus' prayer of John 17 that He used the name of the Father 6 times.   
In John 17, Jesus fully reveals the sacred name of God the Father as simply "the Father."   

That is the name Jesus revealed to His apostles, and hence to His Church: "And now, Father, glorify Me with Your own self, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed. 

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. 

They were Yours, and You have given them to Me, and they have kept Your Word" (John 17:5-6).   

In the Greek, "manifested" means "to reveal or to make known." Again, in verses 25-26, Jesus said, "Righteous Father, the world has not known You; but I have known You, and these have known that You did send Me. And I have made known Your NAME to them, and will make it known; so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them." 

The Greek "made known" means "to reveal and make known" mentally and spiritually.   

The sacred name of God is “Father”, “The Father” or “Our Father” 

When Jesus gave instruction about who to pray to in Matthew 6:6-15, who did He say we should pray to?   
Yes, Jesus told us to pray to “our Father”, didn’t He?   
He didn’t say for us to pray to YHWH or YHVH did He?   

God does not require that we use so called Hebrew sacred names, which were never written by the apostles in the New Testament.   

They fully knew the names of God in the Old Testament and how to write them in Hebrew or Aramaic, yet they never did.   

The writers of the New Testament never made an issue of salvation, requiring the use of sacred names for God.   

Although Paul could fluently speak and write Hebrew, he never wrote any name of God in the Hebrew language in his epistles.   

This clearly reveals that New Covenant Christians do not have to use the Old Testament names of God.   

True, in Romans 8:15, Paul did use the Aramaic word for "father," which is “abba”. 

But notice that Paul did not stress that sacred names are required for salvation.   
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Now you have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship, whereby we call out, 'Abba, Father'” (Rom. 8:14-15). 

Abba is a personal, intimate form of the word father, meaning daddy, as a child would call his or her own father or as an infant would say dada or papa.   

Paul’s use of the Aramaic word “abba” shows that if sacred names were required for salvation, as some insist today, God would have inspired the Hebrew names of God to be written into the New Testament.   

Since the apostles, and hence the New Testament church down through time, were commanded by Christ to go into all the world, it is proper to use the translated names of God the Father and Jesus Christ in whatever language one speaks, writes and reads.   

Thus, as the Bible has been translated into nearly every major language of the world, it has used the translated names of God the Father and Jesus Christ.   

The truth is, salvation comes through faith by grace from God the Father, through the calling of Christ and the Father, not by a so-called "correct" pronunciation of sacred names.   

The road to salvation that God has called us to, involves repentance from our sins, baptism, and receival of God’s own holy spirit that He is composed of as our Father, by the laying on of hands of Christ’s ministry. 

We are then to continue on the road to conversion, by using the power of God’s holy spirit within us to resist temptation and sin and to develop Christ’s mind and character within us. 

When we fall short and sin, we are to repent and change and continue to seek to be converted with the mind of God, in all our thinking, speaking and conduct of our lives. (Acts 2:38-39, Acts 3:19)   

It is therefore ridiculous to teach or to believe that somehow by pronouncing the name of God in Hebrew, which no one knows how to spell or pronounce properly, is somehow going to switch the rail points from leading to eternal death to the salvation of eternal life.   

Jesus command to call God “Father” 

Now we can understand why Jesus gave this command in Matthew 23:8-9: "But you are not to be called Rabbi; for one is your Master, the Christ, and all of you are brethren. 

Also, do not call anyone on the earth your Father (obviously in a religious sense, such as the Catholic Church does wrongly regarding their priests); for one is your Father, Who is in heaven."   
This clearly defines in the New Testament, the sacred name of God as "The Father."   

Also, we know that Jesus, the Christ, is the name of the Son. 
When we pray, Jesus tells us to use the personal words, "Our Father (His sacred name), Who is in heaven."   

Two New Testament sacred names 
Jesus revealed to us that we are to have a personal loving and respectful relationship with God our Father and Jesus Christ, because we have God's own fatherly holy spirit within us and are the begotten children of God, to be born again and are to be transformed into full holy spirit sons and daughters of God our Father, to enter the Family of God at the first resurrection.   

Most importantly, we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, as Jesus says: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in this manner. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24).   

We are not to worship God through the hocus pocus of esoteric use of Hebrew names, and physical gimmicks such as prayer shawls, tassels, head veils, special hats, untrimmed beards, or prayer phylacteries, which are vain physical practices of men.   

The angel Gabriel did not command to call His name YHVH 

This is confirmed by what the angel Gabriel told Mary when the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in her womb: "You shall call his name Jesus." 

The text has it in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic.  

 Nowhere in the New Testament do we find the insertion of Hebrew-lettered names. 

This verifies that the name Jesus is to be written and pronounced in other languages; likewise for God's name, the Father.   

Matthew 11:27 states that Jesus came to reveal the Father, and the word there in the Greek is ο πατηρ, which means "the Father”.   

Likewise, Jesus' name in the Greek reads ο ιησους. 

The English word Christ is translated from the Greek χπιστος.   

Again, salvation comes through belief, faith, repentance, water baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit, living by every word of God, and being faithful to the end. 

It does not come through verbally pronouncing a Greek or Hebrew word. (Acts 2:38-39, Acts 3:19)   

Different languages means different pronunciations for the name of God 

Do you recall how in Acts chapter 2, that each person from different parts of the Roman empire heard Peter speak about God in their own mother tongue or language in which they were raised? 

So, clearly, it is quite acceptable for people of different languages to refer to God our Father and God His Son Jesus Christ in the manner of their own particular language.     

Did the man in Langlei change his wrong concept about sacred names?   

After going through many scriptures in the Bible, showing how it was unnecessary for salvation to have to use so called “sacred Hebrew names” for God, it was interesting for me to hear the response from the man in Langlei, Mizoram, who asked the question about the use of sacred names.   

He turned to the crowd gathered around me and said: “But, there is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved.”   

I realised he was paraphrasing what Peter said in Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”   

By this comment he seemed to imply that we should all use the so called “sacred Hebrew names” for God. But, does this verse actually say that?   
No it doesn’t, does it? 

This verse doesn’t mention anything about using “sacred Hebrew names” for God.   

In actual fact, when we look at the context and the previous verses of Peter’s statements to Annas the High Priest, and his cohorts, Peter referred to “Jesus Christ” as that name. (Acts 4:10), NOT the Tetragrammaton.   

Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. Acts 4:12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” 

John 3:18  “He that believes on Him (Jesus Christ) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”   

The original text of Peter’s speech in the book of Acts is written by Luke in Greek and not Hebrew.   

Peter spoke to the High Priest in the common koine Greek language of his day referring to Jesus Christ.   

Also, even the High Priest, later, in Acts 4:18: “commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”    He didn’t say anything at all about the Tetragrammaton Hebrew name for God.

Again, the Greek language was used by the High Priest and was recorded by Luke, in Acts 4:18.   
We should see clearly that it is not necessary to use so called “sacred Hebrew names” for God.   

The important thing that God looks to is a Christian person who is growing in grace and knowledge, in conversion with the holy spirit of God within them, expressing the mind and character of God.

As Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 66:2:   “For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.”   

Act 3:19  Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;   

For further understanding and wisdom contained in the Bible, please check out our FREE Bible Study Course, at:   

Bible Study Course: 
http://www.ucg.org/bible-study-course/     

Keep in touch!   

Warm regards,     

Ken Murray     
Minister of Jesus Christ