When this one true god spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:14), he told Moses his name was YHWH. The Hebrew text of Exodus uses only capital letters and does not have any vowels. Traditionally, when this Hebrew name, "YHWH," is written in English, the vowels "a" and "e" are added to give us "Yahweh."
Around 250 BC, scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, translated Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. This translation is called the Septuagint. Whenever translators of the Septuagint needed to translate "YHWH" from Hebrew into Greek, they always substituted the word "Lord." Modern English versions follow their example by almost always translating "YHWH" as “LORD.”
When referring to what we Christians now call the Old Testament, all New Testament writers referred to the Greek Septuagint. When, in his letters, the apostle Paul, for example, quotes from the Old Testament, he always quotes the Septuagint and not the original Hebrew text. Consequently, New Testament writers use "Lord" as another name for the one true god.
New Testament writers also refer to the one true god by name as God.
As a result, we may rightly refer to the one true god by name as Yahweh, Lord, and God.
The one true god is Trinitarian in nature. Traditionally, the church has referred to Yahweh's three distinct ways of being god as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
At the same time, Jesus taught us to refer to God the Father by name as Abba (the Aramaic word for "Daddy").
"Jesus," of course, is the name of God the Son.
Oddly enough, the Bible does not provide us with a name for Yahweh's third way of being god or God the Holy Spirit. This is unfortunate. Without a proper name, this third way of being god seems much more impersonal than is true or helpful for us.
The Greek word for “spirit” is “pneuma.” When we say that word, it sounds like “numa.” I propose we call on Yahweh’s third way of being god by the name of Numa. The word simple means “spirit” but "numa" sounds much more personal and so invokes Yahweh’s third way of being god in a much more meaningful way.
As a result, we may rightly refer to God the Father by name as Abba, to God the Son by name as Jesus, and perhaps to God the Holy Spirit by name as Numa.
A word now on how we might refer to God, and to God’s three distinct ways of being god, using pronouns.
When referring to Yahweh, Lord, or God, "he" seems best.
Abba has no gender but, as "Abba" means "Daddy," Abba may most sensibly be referred to using the masculine pronoun “he.”
Jesus is male and so can only be referred to as “he.”
Numa, the Holy Spirit, has no gender. Perhaps we might best refer to Numa as “she.”
Copyright © 2012 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
