Calling on the Name of the Lord in NT - 1

Subject: Calling on the Name of the Lord at Baptism

When we come to the NT, in the 1st Century Church, Christians were taught to call on the Name of the Lord when they got baptized, right at the beginning of their spiritual life. This was Paul's experience when he began his Christian life.

Ananias played a significant role in mentoring Paul at Paul's conversion. His instruction to Paul was: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, CALLING on the Name of the Lord." Acts 22:16

I've read this passage so many times but somehow these words "Calling on the Name of the Lord" escaped my eyes.  I always knew that Ananias instructed Paul to get up and be baptized to have his sins washed away.  But what about "Calling on the Name of the Lord?"  I never took too much notice of these words.

Obviously 'Calling on the Name of the Lord' was something Ananias and the early disciples did often, thus Ananias exhorted Paul to do likewise.  Notice Paul was exhorted to call on the Name of the Lord at the beginning of his spiritual life, not at a later stage.  The First Century Christian leaders indeed laid a very firm foundation in the prayer life of the newly baptized believers.  We also need to do the same.

Here at baptism, Paul called on the Name of the Lord to have his sins washed away. Clearly calling on the Name of the Lord has to do with salvation, for the remission of our sins. 

The calling is not a mere verbal calling but it is a new beginning to express our faith in obedience to the Gospel. 

The word "Calling" in the participle form describes an action that is ongoing.  This means that "calling" is a progressive continuous action. You keep on calling His Name.  So Paul did not just call on the Name of the Lord at baptism and stopped there, but that he continued calling on the Name of the Lord throughout his Christian life. It doesn't mean that everytime Paul called on the Name of the Lord, he had to get rebaptized again and again. Obviously there is much deeper content involved in this action of calling that threads through Paul's prayer life. This calling on the Lord results in continual rich blessings from God (Rom 10:12-13).  Imagine this!  This is going to be something we will learn together as we move on in these articles.

The application for us today is that we too, must first call on the Name of the Lord to have our sins forgiven at baptism.  

There must be a beginning to call on the Name of the Lord.  

Did you call on Name of the Lord when you were baptized?

We need to get back to this "forgotten basics".   This teaching of calling on the Name of the Lord is not just for the mystics or the mature Christians as we might think.   

Let us exhort newly baptized Christians to call on the Name of the Lord.


In the coming articles, I will go into more detail to explain on this phrase "Calling on the Name of the Lord". This term contains very deep meanings in both OT and NT. 

:)

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 24

Subject: To God be the Glory FOREVER! Amen

In the last 2 articles in Romans, we have looked at 2 doxology passages where "God is blessed forever, Amen."

There are 4 doxology passages in Romans where praise and glory is given to Yahweh God.



The 3rd doxology is found in Romans 11:36."For from him and through him and for him are all things. 
To him be the glory forever! Amen."


Who is the "him" referring to here?

We need to look at the context of the passage. 

3 verses earlier Paul speaks about God in Romans 11:33, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

Yahweh God is the subject matter. 

• In fact, right at the beginning of the chapter, Paul mentions Elijah and how he appeals to God against Israel. 
• In reply, it was Yahweh God who said to Elijah, "“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 

Throughout the entire chapter of Romans 11 where God is mentioned, Paul is referring to Yahweh God. 

• Paul is so filled with praises to Yahweh God because of His kindness of grafting in the Gentiles to salvation. 
• In the end, all Israel will be saved leading Paul to end the passage with a doxology glorifying Yahweh God, for from Him, and through Him and to Him are all things. To Yahweh God be glory for ever, Amen! 

In the next article, we will look at the 4th doxology passage in Romans. Can you guess where it is?

See you again tomorrow! 

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 23

Subject: God who is over all be "Blessed Forever" Amen.

This article is going to be a bit long. I put this into 12 sequential points for easier reading. So take your time to slowly read this one through. 

In our last article, we looked at the first occurrence where Paul uses "Blessed Forever" in Romans. 

Today, we will look at the second occurrence – Romans 9:4-5.

"They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen."


1. This doxology in Romans 9:5 is found in the middle of Paul's lament and anguish for his kinsmen. 

He is expressing his heart's desire for his people to come to saving faith in Christ, yet they refused to do so inspite of all that God has blessed them with. As Paul lists out the privileges in Rom 9:4-5, out came his outburst of praise to God who is blessed forever for making all these promises possible.

2. The above text (Rom 9:4-5) is taken from the Revised Standard Version.  

   
    I chose this version because this translation is more clear and accurate. 


3. I am also including a picture of the Greek manuscript Codex Sinaiticus from AD 350 on Rom 9:5 so that you can see why there is a lot of confusion regarding the understanding of this text.





4. As you can see from the ancient manuscript, there is no punctuation marks in Romans 9:5. 

So the phrase that is in question is towards the end of Romans 9:5 – ὁ Χριστὸς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα ὁ ὢν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸς εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.

5. If you put a comma between "κατὰ σάρκα" and "ὁ ὢν", the translation will be: 

"Christ according to the flesh who is over all, God blessed forever. 

Christ and God here are in the same sentence.

6. If you put a period between "κατὰ σάρκα" and "ὁ ὢν", the translation will be: 

Christ according to the flesh. God who is over all be blessed forever.

Christ and God here are separated to two different sentences.

7. Many people are confused about Romans 9:5, because a superficial reading of using the comma version gives the impression that Christ who is God be blessed forever.


8. Paul never equates Χριστὸς (Christ) with θεὸς (God).


9. In this series of 22 articles on "Blessing God's Name Forever", we have already seen the explicit truth that "blessed be" is always used with reference to Yahweh God in OT and NT. Yahweh God is always our sole object of praise and blessed forever, not Jesus.


10. We have also seen that Paul emphasizes that it is God who is 'blessed forever' in 2 other places in his writings: Rom 1:25 and 2 Cor 11:31.


11. In Romans 9:5, Yahweh God is again the object of praise. Jesus Christ is the cause of the praise but not the object. We must not mix the two together.


12. In the context of Romans 9, Paul is expressing his anguish that his fellow kinsmen do not even realize the great privileges the Israelites have from God. They have the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, the fathers and even Christ coming from among them — Wow… all these cause Paul to praise Yahweh God forevermore for the privileges given to the covenant people. It is Yahweh God who makes all this possible in Christ. 

Yahweh God, who is over all, be blessed forever. Amen!

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 20

Subject: Blessed be the "God" and Father of our "Lord" Jesus Christ

"BLESSED be the "God" and Father of our "Lord" Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. " Ephesians 1:3 

• The focus of worship and praise is always Yahweh Father God in both the Old Testament and New Testament. 

• Here, it is Yahweh Father who is blessed and in turn, Yahweh God blesses us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. 

• The subject is Yahweh God.

We can take note of the following:

1. Yahweh is "God" and Father.
2. Jesus Christ is "Lord".


In the past, when I read the New Testament, I often intermixed the terms "God" and "Lord". Whenever I read, "Lord", I thought "Lord" is "God", and that "God" is "Lord".


We need to distinguish these terms "God" and "Lord". 
Do not intermix them to avoid confusion.

1.  Jesus was not born with this title "Lord". 

2.  Jesus was given the title "Lord" by Yahweh God. 

In Acts 2:36, "God has made him both "Lord" and "Christ", this Jesus whom you crucified.” 

Jesus fulfilled God's mission to be the Messiah, and that's why Yahweh God raised him up to become "Lord" (Philippians 2:9-11), to sit on His right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:20).


Paul constantly makes this distinction: 
One God, the Father and one Lord, Jesus Christ.

In 1 Cor 8:6, it says: "there is but "one God", the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but "one Lord", Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live."

We worship and bless the one Yahweh God.

BLESSED be the Shem of Yahweh FOREVER – 18

Subject: Paul blesses God

BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. 2 Cor 1:3


Paul begins his letter to the Corinthians by blessing Yahweh God. 

Who is the focus of attention in 2 Cor 1:3? 

• It is God, the Father of our Lord Jesus. 
• Notice the focus of worship is not on our Lord Jesus Christ. 
• The worship of praise is directed towards Yahweh God. 
• Yahweh God is the Father of mercies and comfort. 

Paul is drawing on an OT image of YAHWEH as FATHER expressed in Psalm 103:13-14, “As a FATHER has compassion on his children, so יהוה YAHWEH has compassion on those who fear Him."

Let us praise Father Yahweh who comforts us & strengthens us in all our troubles as we take part in the sufferings of Christ.