Selected Reading, September 26, 2020

 

Three suggestions for your weekend reading.

Good News

Rightly Regarding Our Sin
It seems nobody wants to use any of the “s” words anymore. In this short post, Burk Parsons explains why we should.

Christian History

Was the Divinity of Jesus a Late Invention of the Council of Nicea?
The answer, of course, is no. In this piece, Michael Kruger looks at two examples from Paul’s writings that show that the highest of Christologies was present in our earliest Christian sources. Paul viewed Jesus as “the one God of Israel, the pre-existent creator of the universe.” And “what is particularly noteworthy about both of these passages is that scholars have argued that each of them reflect even earlier Christian tradition that significantly predates Paul’s own letters.”

Bible Study

Why We Should Be More Familiar with OT Sacrifices
As we work through the New Testament book of Hebrews in the Bible study I’m attending, I’ve realized how important it is to understand the Old Testament sacrificial system. It all makes me want to study Leviticus.

Theological Term of the Week: Tetragrammaton

tetragrammaton
The technical term for the four-lettered Hebrew name of God (יהוה). In English the letters are equivalent to YHWH, which is frequently rendered as Yahweh or Jehovah. In many English translations of the Bible, the all-capped LORD is used to represent the tetragrammaton.

• In scripture:

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD [this translates the tetragrammaton], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. (Exodus 3:13-15 ESV)

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof:

  It is especially in the name Yahweh, which gradually supplanted earlier names, that God reveals Himself as the God of grace. It has always been regarded as the most sacred and the most distinctive name of God, the incommunicable name. The Jews had a superstitious dread of using it, since they read Lev. 24:16 as follows: “He that nameth the name of Yahweh shall surely be put to death.” And therefore in reading the Scriptures they substituted for it either ’Adonai or ’Elohim; and the Massoretes, while leaving the consonants intact, attached to them the vowels of one of these names, usually those of ’Adonai. The real derivation of the name and its original pronunciation and meaning are more or less lost in obscurity. The Pentateuch connects the name with the Hebrew verb hayah, to be, Ex. 3:13,14. On the strength of that passage we may assume that the name is in all probability derived from an archaic form of that verb, namely, hawah. As far as the form is concerned, it may be regarded as a third person imperfect qal or hiphil. Most likely, however, it is the former. The meaning is explained in Ex. 3:14, which is rendered “I am that I am,” or “I shall be what I shall be.” Thus interpreted, the name points to the unchangeableness of God. Yet it is not so much the unchangeableness of His essential Being that is in view, as the unchangeableness of His relation to His people. The name contains the assurance that God will be for the people of Moses’ day what He was for their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It stresses the covenant faithfulness of God, is His proper name par excellence, Ex. 15:3; Ps. 83:19; Hos. 12:6; Isa. 42:8, and is therefore used of no one but Israel’s God.

Learn more:

1. Compelling Truth: What is the tetragrammaton? What does YHWH mean?
2. Blue Letter Bible: Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah) 
3. Theopedia: Yahweh 
4. John Piper: “I Am Who I Am” 
5. Michael Marlowe: The Translation of the Tetragrammaton

Related terms: 

• Adonai
• Elohim
• names of God

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

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Sunday's Hymn: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downward by thy flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

—Isaac Watts

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• How Firm a Foundation at The Happy Wonderer