Calling on the Name of the Lord in NT - 4

Subject:  "Yahweh" or "Lord"? 

When we read the NT, we notice  a discrepancy between the NT and OT: 

• "Call on the Name of Yahweh" in OT 

Joel 2:32 "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of  Yahweh shall be delivered …"

• "Call on the Name of the Lord" in NT

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved."  Acts 2:21

“Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

Acts 2:21 & Romans 10:13 are quoting from Joel 2:32:

• Why doesn't the NT say to "call on the Name of Yahweh?"

• Why does NT replace "Yahweh" with "Lord"?

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We need to realize that the OT is written in Hebrew while the NT is written in Greek. 

• In the  original Hebrew text, "Yahweh" is there. 

• But in the NT,  the word "Yahweh" is taken out.  "Yahweh"  is replaced with "Lord".   

In the NT times, very few people used the Hebrew Old Testament as Greek became the common language. Around 250 BC, the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek by Jewish scholars.  This translation is called the Septuagint translation known as the LXX (70).  The LXX was used widely among the apostles in the Gentile Grecian world.  In the process of translations, the Jews were afraid to say God's Name, so whenever they saw "Yahweh", they replaced God's Name with "Adonai".   In Greek, "Adonai" was translated as "kurios".   "kurios" is "Lord" in English. 

The Greek translation in the LXX for Joel 2:32 is, "hos an epikalesastai to onoma kuriou" which when translated to English is "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord."

So whenever we see OT quotations in the NT, they are usually quoting from the LXX rather than from the Hebrew text.

This is why in Acts 2:21 and Rom 10:13, it reads "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

• These are quotes taken from the LXX.  
• You see 'Lord' there because it is a translation from the Greek word 'kurios'.

Peter & Paul are quoting from the LXX version of Joel 2:32.

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But when we look at the original Hebrew text of Joel 2:32, this is what we read:

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of  Yahweh shall be delivered …"  

It says specifically to call on the Name of Yahweh.

This is an unfortunate thing that happened in the process of translation.  "Yahweh" is replaced by the word "kurios" in Greek.  "Yahweh" is replaced by a title "Lord". 


Let not the unfortunate "weakness" of translation hinder us from calling on the Name of Yahweh!

"Yahweh" is not written in most of our modern day Bible translations. "Yahweh" is replaced by the word "LORD".  This is one of the reason why God's Name is hardly mentioned in the churches.  

This is so sad because "Yahweh" appears nearly 7000X, the most frequent noun in the Bible, the most important Name in the Bible, yet the distinctive personal Name of God is totally wiped out in our Bibles translations. The most important revelation of "I am Yahweh" from God is gone.

God's Name had turned silent down through the centuries.  

Today, let's arise and focus on calling on the Name of Yahweh that the outpouring of the Spirit will fill His people in these end times for the final deliverance.

:)