The Chief Name of God in Scripture Is Yahweh

Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 2

Lordship

The chief name of God in Scripture is Yahweh, which English translators render as Lord around 7000
times. God’s lordship includes his control over all things, his authority over all the universe, and his
presence in every part of creation. God’s work of creation underscores his lordship in all three of
these respects.

Creation establishes God’s ownership of all things in heaven and earth (Exod. 20:11; Neh. 9:6; Ps.
146:5; Acts 14:15; 17:24; Col. 1:16; Rev. 4:11; 10:6; 14:7). Because all things are his, there is no
limitation to his controlling power.

It also establishes his authority, his right to tell all creatures what to do. In Genesis 1, the very method
of creation is his word: he commands and things obediently come into being (see also Ps. 33:6, 9;
John 1:3; Col. 1:15–16). Jesus shows that he himself is the creator, as his commands still the waves
(Mark 4:35–41) and bring healing (Luke 7:1–10).

Creation is also the basis of God’s presence in all places of the universe. Contrary to some false views
of transcendence, God is not far removed from any of us, for we exist by the direct touch of his
creative power. Contrary to some false views of immanence, we are not God, for we are his creatures.
Since God has created all things out of nothing, he has touched everything in his creation directly.
There is no “chain of being,” no continuum between God and the world, but a duality of divine and
created being in which God creates and governs us by his direct touch.

Worship
God’s creation, therefore, is a universal revelation of his lordship. Confronted by that lordship, by his
control, authority and presence, our obligatory response is worship. Often in Scripture, consideration
of creation motivates worship (Neh. 9:6; Ps. 8:3–9; 33:6–9; 95:3–7; 146:5–6; Rev. 14:7). Paul tells the
Gentiles at Lystra and Athens that the Lord has created all things, and that therefore they should not
worship men or idols (Acts 14:15; 17:24-25). How absurd it is that men “worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Rom. 1:25)! God has made the world for his
own glory; therefore, when we consider creation, we should bring him praise (Rom. 11:36).

Redemption
Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). Since creation is a vivid revelation of God’s lordship, we should
expect significant parallels between creation and our redemption from sin. In Genesis, the story of
creation anticipates God’s deliverance of Israel from bondage and their establishment as his own
special people, his new creation (see Ps. 89; Isa. 43:1–7, 14–15; Jer. 33:20–25). In the New Testament,
our salvation in Christ is a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). As God
originally brought the universe out of nothing, so he brings to us in Christ new life out of the death of
sin. The faith of Abraham, the great model of Christian faith, was a faith in God “who gives life to the
dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Rom. 4:17).

Disputed Questions
The Six Days
Genesis 1 presents what we have called subsequent creation as occurring in six days, culminating in a
day of divine rest. According to Exodus 20:8–11, this pattern provides a model for the human work
week and Sabbath rest. That the Sabbath is also a day of worship reinforces what I said earlier about
creation as a motivation for human worship. Theologians have disputed the length of these days.
Some have argued that they are “literal” or “ordinary” days; others have said that they each represent
long geologic ages. Still others hold to what is called the “framework hypothesis,” namely that the
whole narrative is a literary device and makes no chronological claims.

The Age of the Earth


The genealogies in Genesis of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and others suggest a “young earth” view, that
the world is somewhere in the vicinity of 10,000 years old. But many theologians have said that in
such questions we should defer to the present scientific consensus, that the earth is something like
4.5 billion years old and the origin of homo sapiens (modern man) was about 200,000 years ago. This
is called the “old earth” view. Some have also held mediating positions, observing places in the
Genesis narratives where there may be gaps in the apparent chronology, allowing for a longer period
of time than the young earth view supposes, or suggesting problems with the usual ways of
measuring geologic time.

Evolution
A third area of dispute concerns whether the creatures mentioned in Genesis 1 (especially Adam and
Eve) were directly created by God or whether each kind of life (including mankind) developed from
previous kinds by a process similar to that described in the theory of evolution. Whatever one
concludes about questions #1 and #2 above, it is very difficult to argue from Genesis that Adam and
Eve are anything other than special creations, since (1) according to Genesis 2:7, God made Adam
from earth and brought him to life by a special inbreathing. In verses 21–22, the creation of woman
(from the rib of Adam) is even more obviously a supernatural event. (2) The frequent repetition in
Genesis 1 of “according to their kinds” indicate at least that there are divinely imposed limits on what
can result from reproduction. It is difficult to reconcile any such limits with the theory of evolution. (3)
The theory of evolution appears to be a generalization of the principle that species change according
to their inherent genetic possibilities in response to change in environments. That principle is called
“microevolution,” and it seems to be well-established scientifically. But whether that principle can be
universally generalized to explain all differences in life forms, even beyond existing genetic
possibilities (“macroevolution”) is dubious (see John Frame, Systematic Theology, 195–203, 803-06).

FURTHER READI

You might also like