Who is The
Lord God the Almighty
In Hebrew, Lord God the Almighty is Yahweh Elohim Shadday.
In Greek, it is Kurios, Theos Pantokrator.
Are they one and the same?
Lord
Kurios is the Greek word used for Lord and Yahweh. It is used by the Sept. which is the OT translation
of Hebrew into Greek which was around before the birth of Jesus Christ. It is
also the Greek N.T. representative of the Hebrew word Jehovah (Yahweh) see
Matt. 4 v 7, James 5 v 11. It is also used for the Hebrew word Adonay (Matthew
1 v 22) which is a title of Yahweh, and in 1 Peter 1 v 25 it is used for
Elohim.
Lord (Kurios) was the title for Jesus Christ in the N.T.
The N.T.
says that there is only one Lord (Ephesians 4 v 5) yet it talks about the Lord
God and the
Lord
Jesus Christ.
God is the Lord and if we can
say “Jesus is Lord” we are recognising Jesus is God.
In the N.T. Lord (Kurios) is
continually used when quoting the Name Yahweh in the O.T.
God
In Hebrew, Elohim (plural).
In Greek, Theos.
In the Sept. (Greek O.T.) the Greek word Theos is mostly used to
translate the Hebrew word Elohim.
When the N.T. is quoting the
O.T. word Elohim, it uses the word Theos.
Jesus Himself is quoted using
the Greek Theos for the Hebrew Elohim (Mark 12 v 29, Deut. 6 v 4).
Stephen D. Renn says, concerning
Elohim being plural, “God is not only “One” in an absolute sense, but also
contains “within Himself,” so to speak, a plurality of characteristics and
personhood” (Expository Dictionary of Bible Words). This is a good description
of the Godhead. The New International
Dictionary of New Testament Theology says, “Elohim though plural in form, is
seldom used in the OT to mean ‘gods.’ In
Israel the plural is understood as the plural of fullness”.
So we can understand when the
Bible says, “In Him (Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”
(Colossians 2 v 9). The fullness of
Elohim, all the attributes and characteristics of God, are found in the person
of Jesus Christ.
Some of these attributes are, Almighty,
Love, Holiness, Righteousness, Justice, Merciful, Perfect, Good, Wise,
Immortal, Blessed, Faithful, Truthful,
Personal, Compassionate, Tender, Peace bringer, Wonderful, Father, Son, All
Powerful, Full of Humility, A Sacrificial Lamb, Glorious, Patient, Giver of
Hope, Full of Grace and Truth, Ever Present.
These attributes are revealed
to us through the Father, Son and Spirit relationship of the One God. Without
revealing Himself as a Father and Son, we could never fully know the love God
has for us. We could never know that God in His nature was humble and
submissive. How could we know how much
He cared for us except by the giving of the Son He loved to suffer and die for
us. How can we understand that this God who dwells in unapproachable light also
wants to dwell in us, except by knowing He is a Spirit who is everywhere at
once. This One God has revealed Himself
to us in the offices of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Thomas realised the truth of this when he
cried out to Christ, “My Lord (Kurios) and my God (Theos)” (John 20 v 28). Paul
calls Jesus Christ, “Our great God (Theos) and Saviour Jesus Christ who gave
Himself for us” (Titus 2 v 13-14). Also
the Bible tells us that, “God (Theos) was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3 v
16). Acts 20 v 28 tells us that God shed His blood for us and 1 John 3 v 16
says that God laid down His life for us.
Why do we use the term, “the
Triune God”?
Triune means three in one.
The Father is God, I don’t
think anyone would argue with that. The
Father was there in the beginning before the angels were created and before the
earth and universe were created.
The Apostle John also tells us
that in the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God. To be God, the Word would have to consist of
the fullness of God. Everything that God
the Father is must be also found in the Word (John 1 v 1). John goes on to say that
everything that was made was made by Him (the Word) and without Him nothing was
made that was made. In Fact Psalm 33 v 5-7 tells us that the Word created the
heavens.
John goes on to tell us that
the Word became flesh, the Only Begotten of the Father, and dwelt amongst us. This is of course the Lord Jesus Christ (John
1 v 14).
The Apostle Paul backs this up
by saying that “God was manifested in the flesh”(1Timothy 3 v 16).
So we can see that Jesus was
the Word of God who existed with the Father in the beginning.
The book of Revelation tells us
that when Jesus returns His Name will be called, “The Word of God” (Revelation
19 v 13).
Jesus tells us that the Father
is in Him and He is in the Father and they are One (John 14 v 10-11, John 10 v
30).
We now have two, so who makes
three?
The Holy Spirit of course, who
is called the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son.
Jesus said to His eleven
disciples that He would always be with them even to the end of the world
(Matthew 28 v 20). How could He be with
all the disciples to the end of the age when He was going back to heaven to be
with the Father, unless, of course, He is one with the Spirit as He is with the
Father.
Even though they are three,
they are also One, and even though they are One they are also three. Three different offices and three different
roles with one objective, that man might be reconciled back to God. Jesus paying the price, humbling Himself,
becoming man, and as the Son of Man being willing to be mocked and scoffed at,
spat upon, beaten and killed, yet still forgiving those who did it. The Holy Spirit, the One who convicts,
comforts, strengthens, guides, teaches, ministers to us through the gifts He
has given us in order that we may be perfect and complete, holy and acceptable
to God.
Almighty
Pantokrator in the Greek
Shadday, Shaddai or Sadday in
the Hebrew (This word is plural).
The original meaning of
Shadday, the Hebrew word for Almighty, is not known. The meaning of the word as
we understand it is derived from the Greek word “Pantokrator” which is used in
the Sept. in place of Shadday.
This Greek word, Pantokrator,
meaning almighty or all powerful is also
used in the Sept. (Jer. 5 v 14, Amos 4 v 13) for the translation of the word
“hosts” in the phrase” Lord God of Hosts”,
So Pantokrator is the Greek
equivalent of the Hebrew words
“Almighty” and “of Hosts”.
The Almighty and Yahweh are the
same person (Exodus 6 v 2-3).
Where “Lord God” is used in the
O.T. it is “Yahweh Elohim”.
Where “Lord God” is used in the
N.T. it is” Kurios Theos”. However the “Lord
God” is quite obviously the same person in the Old and New Testaments,
therefore Kurios Theos is the N.T. equivalent to the O.T. Yahweh Elohim.
God is the same He doesn’t
change. Theos and Elohim of the NT and OT are the same.
In the book of Revelation where
the phrase, “Lord God Almighty” is used (Kurios, Theos, Pantokrater) we know
who it is.
Conclusion
The Almighty is the name of God
(Elohim, plural) that Abraham knew.
Yahweh (Yod Heh Vav Heh in
Hebrew and YHWH in English, the vowels are missing so we cannot be certain of
the pronunciation) is the name that Moses and the Israelites knew God (Elohim) by. The Name possibly means, “I Am”, “I Am He, I
change not, I Am the Same”, “He who is and ever will be”, “Being”, “To
come”. Revelation 1 v 4 says, “Him which is, and which was, and
which is to come”.
To the Christian God is our Heavenly
Father.
The Son is called the Word of
God. He is God in character and always
has been God. He is said to be the “Same” (Hebrews 1 v 12), He never changes,
which is a title of Yahweh Elohim (Deuteronomy 32 v 39, 2 Kings 19 v 15) the
self-existent One who never changes.
Jesus Christ is the Same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrew 13 v 8).
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of God, the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son.
So, are there three Gods, two
Gods or One God?
The Bible says there is One God
and this One God is revealed to us by His Word which became flesh and dwelt
amongst us.
God’s Name is Yahweh and it is
the Son (The Word) who fulfils all that Yahweh is.
God is also our Father. It is the Son who is called the “Everlasting
Father” that reveals the Father to us.
The Father is in Jesus and
Jesus is in the Father. Jesus told
Philip, “He that has seen me has seen the Father”. Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and
man and everything that is God is only seen by looking at Jesus. Only Jesus has
seen the Father because He is in the bosom of the Father. Yahweh of the O.T. is the Lord Jesus of the
N.T. Jesus is the full expression of God
to man. Only God can fully express God
to man.
My conclusion is that the Lord
God of the N.T. is the same Lord God (Yahweh Elohim) of the O.T. and the
Almighty of the N.T. is the same Almighty (plural) of the O.T.
Mark Greenwood 3/10/12