More on the Divine Name in the NT

 

Kazeland

Whether or not one will conclude that the divine name was included in the original New Testament writings really comes down to four fundamental questions:

1. Is the New Testament inspired by the same God who inspired the Old Testament?

2. Which is true: (a) God preserved his word while humans failed to in one important respect or (b) humans preserved God’s word but God failed to in one important respect?

3. Is God capricious?

4. Should our commitment be (a) to the manuscript copies that have been preserved, most of which are late and unquestionably reveal modifications and tampering, or (b) to the God who inspired the originals?

Anyone who answers “Yes” to 1, “a” to 2, “No” to 3, and “b” to 4, should join JWs in our commitment to the restoration of the divine name to the New Testament.

A Few Points about the Divine Name in the New Testament

1. From an historical/text-critical standpoint:

a. All pre-Christian LXX manuscripts that have been discovered have a form of the Divine Name used instead of a surrogate like “Lord.” It’s worth pointing out that it is the pre-Christian LXX documents that the New Testament writers would have quoted from, not the later Christian documents with the Divine Name removed.

b. Yet the Divine Name is not found in any Christian copy of the LXX. There is therefore no question that the Divine Name was replaced with surrogates by professed Christians when it comes to the LXX. This is not a “conspiracy theory”; it’s part of the historical record.

c. In light of #b, it is quite plausible to infer that had the Divine Name appeared in the original New Testament writings, then the post-Apostolic Christians may very well have removed it from those documents, just as they did with the LXX.

d. We know that the Divine Name was included in Christian writings, because the Jewish Encyclopedia online tells us that fanatics would destroy such writings and even sometimes cut out the Divine Names before destroying them, so sacred was the name to the Jews. The fact that they stipulated cutting out the Divine Name from Christian writings tells us that the Divine Name was included in such writings, otherwise there would be no point to the stipulation.

To quote the referenced encyclopedia under GILYONIM ( = Gospels):

“The ‘Gilyon[im]’ and the [Biblical] books of the Judæo-Christians [‘Minim’] are not saved [on the Sabbath] from fire; but one lets them burn together with the names of God written upon them.’ R. Jose the Galilean says: ‘On week-days the names of God are cut out and hidden while the rest is burned.’ R. Tarphon says: ‘I swear by the life of my children that if they fall into my hands I shall burn them together with the names of God upon them.’ R. Ishmael says: ‘If God has said, ‘My name that has been written in holiness [i.e., in the ‘jealousy roll’ mentioned in Num. v. 21 et seq.] shall be wiped out by water, in order to make peace between husband and wife,’ then all the more should the books of the Judæo-Christians, that cause enmity, jealousy, and contention between Israel and its heavenly Father. . . . As they are not saved from fire, so they are not saved when they are in danger of decaying, or when they have fallen into water, or when any other mishap has befallen them”

It’s worth noting that Rabbi Tarfon lived from 70 CE to 135 CE, which places him right in the middle of the window period during which the divine name would likely have been removed if it was in fact included in the original New Testament writings, as I believe it was. I find this more than a little suggestive, and it informs my own hypothesis about how the divine name came to be removed.

2. From a faith standpoint:

a. It is unlikely that God would emphasize the importance of his name to the extent that he does in the Hebrew Bible, and then turn around and decide, “Never mind, I’ve decided that my name just doesn’t matter after all.”

b. In light of #a, if the we grant that the Christian God does exist and that the Bible is his word, then it is probable that Jesus and the Apostles gave his name the honor it deserves, as can be clearly understood from the Hebrew Bible.

c. Jesus explicitly stated that he made God’s name known.

Kazeland