In God’s Name
What does it exactly mean when someone says they will do something “in God’s Name?” Is this some sort of Christian magic word: if we use God’s name everything we say and do will be successful? David used God’s name when he stood up against Goliath:
1 Sam. 17:45 (ESV) Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
Did David mean He not only could use God’s holy name to be successful but also must mention His name? I don’t think so. He was warning Goliath he had the power and authority of the God of the universe behind him.
As in English, the word “name” has several meanings in both Hebrew and Greek. In Hebrew, it can mean reputation as when Nimrod and his followers decided to build the Tower of Babel:
Gen. 11:4 (ESV) Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
These guys wanted to become famous, to make a name for themselves. So name can just mean fame or reputation in Hebrew.
The same is true of Greek. The word name can mean power and authority as when we hear “in the name of the law.”
Acts 4:7 (ESV) And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?
I want to pause here for a moment and make it clear that, of course, name in the Bible usually means just what we use it for most often, to identify a person, place, or thing:
Gen. 3:20 (ESV) The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
The problem is when some folks believe a word must have only one meaning, one definition. When we pray, we rightfully usually end with “In the name of Jesus” because Jesus told us to in John 14:14:
If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Even here, asking in Jesus name is simply asking using the authority and power of Christ in our prayers. It’s not some lucky token to assure our prayers. We are praying to Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit asking for their power and authority to act on our behalf, so in effect, we are praying in the name of the Lord.
In the New Testament, God’s personal name, Yahweh, doesn’t appear in any of the more than 5,500 Greek manuscripts we’ve found. God’s personal name wasn’t important for the early church, just His power and authority in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to pray to the Father or to Himself (Matt. 6:9; John 14:14). So, those who believe we must pray in the actual personal name of “Jehovah” don’t have a leg to stand on.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, being one of these groups for instance, have inserted the name “Jehovah” 237 times into the New Testament in order to uphold their claim they speak for Jehovah God. Even though Jehovah’s Witnesses have done this arbitrarily, their New World Translation has Jesus mentioning “Jehovah” only 22 times. 20 of these are Old Testament quotes which contain God’s name and 2 times in Mark but never in prayer. Even when Jesus taught us to pray, as mentioned earlier, He told us to pray using “Father” to address God the Father (Matt. 6:9).
Why is this important?
Knowing God’s name is not as necessary as knowing God. If we understand doing things in the name of Jesus Christ or the name of the Lord, we are just asking God to give His power and authority to us to accomplish the task He has given us to do.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were great men of God yet never knew God’s personal name, and they seemed to get along just fine:
Exodus 6:2-3 (ESV) God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.
There’s no magic in the name. In fact, the name “Jehovah,” for instance, isn’t really God’s name. It was invented by a Catholic monk named Martini in the 13th century. God’s personal name is four Hebrew Letters, all consonants and no vowels: YHVH or YHWH are as close as we get to it in English. The commonly used “Yaweh” is these four consonants with the vowels added to make pronunciation easier.
God’s name was considered too holy to be pronounced by the Old Testament Jews and by many Jews today, so it was never pronounced, only written. The correct pronunciation was lost over the years. Some think it was lost when the Roman general, Titus, destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem in 70 a.d.
So, we know to Whom we should pray: the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, or just use the general term “God.” We can use the name Yahweh or Jehovah if we like. The point is God wants to hear from us and wants to include us in His work. Joining with Him to minister to others is to work in the name of the Lord.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 