In between disasters and duties, I’ve been spending a bit more time looking at the new 2nd edition HCSB this week. Perhaps the most significant change from the first version is the greatly increased tendency to transliterate the Tetragrammaton (Yahweh), instead of following the standard practice among English translations of rendering it as LORD in small caps. Among major English translations, only the ASV (“Jehovah”) and the JB/NJB (“Yahweh”) have used a transliteration more than occasionally.
Curiously, the HCSB does not transliterate consistently, as the other translations had done (for reference, the other translations used the transliteration close to 7,000 times; the HCSB used the transliteration 78 times in the first edition, and uses it 495 times in the 2nd edition, if my search results can be trusted). The HCSB instead takes a more interpretive approach, transliterating whenever the usage suggests an emphasis on the word specifically as God’s name.
I have some misgivings about this approach – and I must admit that I am not crazy either about the ASV/JB-type approach of consistently transliterating, which I wouldn’t be very comfortable reading to a congregation. However, I’d like to think about it a little more before opining on the matter.
Nonetheless, this movement further in the direction of transliteration of the Tetragrammaton is clearly a significant part of the thinking behind the HCSB update, so I’d like to put it out there for anyone who might be interested in investigating exactly what they’ve done. There are 451 verses in the HCSB 2nd Edition that contain the word “Yahweh,” and that is too many for me to post here, so I will narrow the comparison down to the five books of the Torah.
The 2nd edition has 131 occurrences in 114 verses, whereas the 1st edition had just 13 occurrences in 12 verses. The table below is output from WORDsearch search results in the 2nd edition, and I have highlighted in yellow those 12 verse numbers where the 1st edition also transliterated:
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HCSB 2nd Edition – Search results for: Yahweh – (see yellow for verses that had “Yahweh” in 1st Edition) |
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|
Book |
Description |
Context |
|---|---|---|
|
HCSB |
Ge 4:26 |
26 A son was born to Seth also, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of •Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Ge 12:8 |
8 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to •Yahweh there, and he called on the name of Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Ge 13:4 |
4 to the site where he had built the altar. And Abram called on the name of •Yahweh there. |
|
HCSB |
Ge 14:22 |
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand in an oath to •Yahweh, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, |
|
HCSB |
Ge 21:33 |
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of •Yahweh, the Everlasting God. |
|
HCSB |
Ge 26:25 |
25 So he built an altar there, called on the name of •Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s slaves also dug a well there. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 3:15 |
15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: •Yahweh, 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; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 3:16 |
16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 3:18 |
18 They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 4:5 |
5 “This will take place,” He continued, “so they will believe that •Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 4:22 |
22 Then you will say to Pharaoh: This is what Yahweh says: Israel is My firstborn son. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 5:1 |
1 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what •Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival for Me in the wilderness.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 5:2 |
2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is Yahweh that I should obey Him by letting Israel go? I do not know ?anything about? Yahweh, and besides, I will not let Israel go.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 5:3 |
3 Then they answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or else He may strike us with plague or sword.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 6:2 |
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am •Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 6:3 |
3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as •God Almighty, but I did not reveal My name Yahweh to them. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 6:6 |
6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am Yahweh, and I will deliver you from the forced labor of the Egyptians and free you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 6:7 |
7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Yahweh your God, who delivered you from the forced labor of the Egyptians. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 6:8 |
8 I will bring you to the land that I swore, to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am Yahweh.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 6:29 |
29 He said to him, “I am Yahweh; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 7:5 |
5 The Egyptians will know that I am •Yahweh when I stretch out My hand against Egypt, and bring out the Israelites from among them.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 7:16 |
16 Tell him: Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 7:17 |
17 This is what Yahweh says: Here is how you will know that I am Yahweh. Watch. I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 8:1 |
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him: This is what •Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 8:8 |
8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Ask Yahweh to remove the frogs from me and my people. Then I will let the people go and they can sacrifice to Yahweh.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 8:10 |
10 “Tomorrow,” he answered. Moses replied, “As you have said, so you may know there is no one like Yahweh our God, |
|
HCSB |
Ex 8:20 |
20 The Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh when you see him going out to the water. Tell him: This is what Yahweh says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 8:22 |
22 But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, Yahweh, am in the land. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 9:1 |
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him: This is what •Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 9:13 |
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews says: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 9:27 |
27 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “Yahweh is the Righteous One, and I and my people are the •guilty ones. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 9:28 |
28 Make an appeal to Yahweh. There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t need to stay any longer.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 9:29 |
29 Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will extend my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earth belongs to Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 9:30 |
30 But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear Yahweh ?our? God.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:2 |
2 and so that you may tell your son and grandson how severely I dealt with the Egyptians and performed miraculous signs among them, and you will know that I am •Yahweh.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:3 |
3 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may worship Me. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:7 |
7 Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:8 |
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship Yahweh your God,” Pharaoh said. “But exactly who will be going?” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:9 |
9 Moses replied, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds because we must hold Yahweh’s festival.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:10 |
10 He said to them, “May Yahweh be with you if I ?ever? let you and your families go! Look out—you are planning evil. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:11 |
11 No, only the men may go and worship Yahweh, for that is what you have been asking for.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:16 |
16 Pharaoh urgently sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:17 |
17 Please forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to Yahweh your God, so that He will take this death away from me.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:24 |
24 Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship Yahweh. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:25 |
25 Moses responded, “You must also let us have sacrifices and •burnt offerings to prepare for Yahweh our God. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 10:26 |
26 Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind because we will take some of them to worship Yahweh our God. We will not know what we will use to worship Yahweh until we get there.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 11:4 |
4 So Moses said, “This is what •Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, |
|
HCSB |
Ex 11:7 |
7 But against all the Israelites, whether man or beast, not ?even? a dog will snarl, so that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 12:12 |
12 “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn ?male? in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am •Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 12:31 |
31 He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship Yahweh as you have asked. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 14:4 |
4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am •Yahweh.” So the Israelites did this. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 14:18 |
18 The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 14:25 |
25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because Yahweh is fighting for them against Egypt!” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 15:3 |
3 The Lord is a warrior; •Yahweh is His name. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 15:26 |
26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 16:12 |
12 “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am •Yahweh your God.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 18:11 |
11 Now I know that •Yahweh is greater than all gods, because ?He did wonders? when the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel.”, |
|
HCSB |
Ex 20:2 |
2 I am •Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 20:5 |
5 You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth ?generations? of those who hate Me, |
|
HCSB |
Ex 20:7 |
7 Do not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, because Yahweh will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 20:10 |
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 20:11 |
11 For Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 20:12 |
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 29:46 |
46 And they will know that I am •Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I am Yahweh their God. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 31:13 |
13 “Tell the Israelites: You must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am •Yahweh who sets you apart. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 33:19 |
19 He said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name •Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” |
|
HCSB |
Ex 34:5 |
5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed ?His? name •Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Ex 34:6 |
6 Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, |
|
HCSB |
Ex 34:14 |
14 You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous by nature, is a jealous God. |
|
HCSB |
Lev 18:21 |
21 “You are not to make any of your children pass through ?the fire? to •Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am •Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Lev 19:12 |
12 You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God; I am •Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Lev 21:6 |
6 They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they present the fire offerings to Yahweh, the food of their God, and they must be holy. |
|
HCSB |
Lev 22:2 |
2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to deal respectfully with the holy offerings of the Israelites that they have consecrated to Me, so they do not profane My holy name; I am •Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Lev 22:31 |
31 “You are to keep My commands and do them; I am Yahweh. |
|
HCSB |
Lev 24:16 |
16 Whoever blasphemes the name of •Yahweh is to be put to death; the whole community must stone him. If he blasphemes the Name, he is to be put to death, whether the foreign resident or the native. |
|
HCSB |
Nu 6:24 |
24 May •Yahweh bless you and protect you; |
|
HCSB |
Nu 6:25 |
25 may Yahweh make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; |
|
HCSB |
Nu 6:26 |
26 may Yahweh look with favor on you and give you peace., |
|
HCSB |
Nu 15:41 |
41 I am •Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh your God.” |
|
HCSB |
Nu 36:2 |
2 They said, “•Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites. My lord was further commanded by Yahweh to give our brother Zelophehad’s inheritance to his daughters. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 1:11 |
11 May •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times more, and bless you as He promised you. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 1:21 |
21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 4:1 |
1 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 5:6 |
6 I am •Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 5:9 |
9 You must not bow down to them or worship them, because I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin to the third and fourth ?generations? of those who hate Me, |
|
HCSB |
Dt 5:11 |
11 Do not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, because Yahweh will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 5:12 |
12 Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as Yahweh your God has commanded you. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 5:14 |
14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 5:15 |
15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Yahweh your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 5:16 |
16 Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land Yahweh your God is giving you. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 6:3 |
3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow ?them?, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 6:4 |
4 “Listen, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is One., |
|
HCSB |
Dt 6:13 |
13 Fear Yahweh your God, worship Him, and take ?your? oaths in His name. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 7:9 |
9 Know that •Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 10:8 |
8 “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before •Yahweh to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as it is today. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 10:20 |
20 You are to fear Yahweh your God and worship Him. Remain faithful to Him and take oaths in His name. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 12:1 |
1 “Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 12:5 |
5 Instead, you must turn to the place Yahweh your God chooses from all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling and go there. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 12:11 |
11 then Yahweh your God will choose the place to have His name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 12:21 |
21 If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 14:23 |
23 You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of •Yahweh your God at the place where He chooses to have His name dwell, so that you will always learn to •fear the Lord your God. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 14:24 |
24 But if the distance is too great for you to carry it, since the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far away from you and since the Lord your God has blessed you, |
|
HCSB |
Dt 16:2 |
2 Sacrifice to •Yahweh your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have His name dwell. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 16:6 |
6 You must only sacrifice the Passover animal at the place where Yahweh your God chooses to have His name dwell. ?Do this? in the evening as the sun sets at the ?same? time ?of day? you departed from Egypt. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 16:11 |
11 Rejoice before Yahweh your God in the place where He chooses to have His name dwell—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow among you. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 18:5 |
5 For •Yahweh your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes to stand and minister in His name from now on. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 18:7 |
7 he may serve in the name of Yahweh his God like all his fellow Levites who minister there in the presence of the Lord. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 21:5 |
5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for •Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in every dispute and ?case of? assault. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 26:2 |
2 you must take some of the first of all the land’s produce that you harvest from the land •Yahweh your God is giving you and put ?it? in a container. Then go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to have His name dwell. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 26:7 |
7 So we called out to Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our misery, hardship, and oppression. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 27:3 |
3 Write all the words of this law on the stones after you cross to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as •Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 28:58 |
58 “If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by •fearing this glorious and awesome name—•Yahweh, your God— |
|
HCSB |
Dt 29:25 |
25 Then people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of •Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which He had made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. |
|
HCSB |
Dt 32:3 |
3 For I will proclaim •Yahweh’s name. Declare the greatness of our God! |
[…] The HCSB 2nd Edition and the Tetragrammaton […]
Metzger didn’t like transliterating YHWH; F F Bruce was in favour. I’d love other current EVV, such as the TNIV, to follow suit. Natural language seems to expect a name in many places the EV reader gets a title – lord/master.
The more EVV follow the hCSB, the more the general public will become familiar will less Sabellian christology, and see that Jesus the lord was not & is not the ‘lord’ of the OT – a categorical error.
Yahweh was God, the triune, in covenant with a selected people, an intimacy level distinguishing two camps. One person, Jesus, is not the OT LORD. Highlighting ‘Yahweh’ can help us restore trinitarianism.
Interesting comment, Steve. I’m not sure I quite follow, though. Maybe in part because I just don’t see Sabellianism as a significant factor in Christianity these days – at least among those who take theology seriously enough to have opinions. I understand that it’s a major force in Pentecostalism – and maybe that’s where you’re coming from – but is it really a factor anywhere else?
Besides, I don’t see how you think the use of “Yahweh” in the text would help people distinguish between Persons in the Trinity. To say that the Yahweh who covenanted with Israel was the Triune God, while true, does not say anything distinguishing among Persons. You say that Jesus is not the OT Lord, but I heartily disagree – Jesus is the 2nd Person of the OT Lord (Jn 8:58, 18:6, etc.). Even his name seems to militate against your suggestion: the name of Jesus, the Savior, is basically “Yah(weh) saves” – I just don’t get how transliterating the Tetragrammaton would be a safeguard against Sabellianism.
John – thanks for posting this. I really do appreciate it!
Hallelujah! Praise the name of Yahweh, the name of God the Father! I am very happy that the HCSB will greatly increase the use of God the Father’s name in the Bible, though ideally I prefer that it appear everywhere the Tetragrammaton appears in the Hebrew manuscripts. This Bible may help people to realize that while they should pray in the name of Yeshua (Jesus), there prayers should be addressed to Yahweh (Jehovah) the Father. This Bible might also help people to realize that God is a unity instead of a trinity or binity, though the translators of the HCSB appear to believe that God is a trinity. It may also help Christians to better understand Revelation 14:1, Revelation 13:17,18 and Revelation 3:12 which show that God’s true people will the name of God the Father and the name of the Son of God (which are thus two separate names) on their foreheads instead of the mark/number/name of the wild beast.
Hello, Gavin. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I find if confusing that you say “God is a unity instead of a trinity,” because a trinity is a unity: a tri-unity.
Perhaps you are confusing unity with singularity, but it would be preposterous for a Christian to say that God is a singularity, because when Jesus Christ says “I and the Father are one.” (Jn 10:30), he is speaking of his essential unity with the Father – likewise when he prays for the unity of the Church to be modeled after the unity of Father and Son in Jn 17:11, 17:21, 17:22.
A man and a woman become a unity in marriage, but it is illogical to speak of a man being a unity of himself. Unity, or union, requires agreement, coming together, uniting. God is indeed a unity, and every Christian (that is, every Trinitarian) should be quick to proclaim it.
Hello John W Gillis. I meant unity in a unitarian Christian sense, namely that God is one person (the Father) and not a binity of two persons (Yahweh Elohim the Father and Jesus Christ the Son), nor a trinity of three persons (Yahweh Elohim the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit). To me when Jesus Christ said “I and the Father are one” he meant a unity of purpose, rather than claiming he was part of the Godhead of three persons. There are a number of Christian denominations (though non-traditional ones) with this unitarian Christian view of God instead of the binitarian and trinitarian views. I belong to one those non-binitarian/non-trinitarian Christian denominations. Regarding your definition of the word unity being not the same as singularity, my dictionary agrees with you, except that my dictionary also defines unity as “Mathematical: The smallest whole numerical unit: 1.” and that is same as my use of the word, just as the prefix “uni” means one (as in the word “unicyle”), whereas the prefix “bi” means two (as in “bicycle”), and whereas the prefix ‘tri” means three as in “tricycle”).
Hello John J Volk. I agree with your comments about “A Bible is no place to start a Theological Argument.” The only reason why I posted my theological views here is counteract the trinitarian theological views posted here by Steve and then by John W Gillis.
A Bible is no place to start a Theological Argument. The Bible needs to be protected against interpretations while translating the texts. A translation should be just that – taking the words/phrases/syntax and structure from one language and translating it into another language without regard to the current school of thought about what the passage says or does not say theologically. A Bible should not be a book of Theology, but just a faithful and true translation. The translators may have their own perceptions on the meaning of verses, but ultimately only the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of God’s Holy Word, not man. Yet the HCSV Bible seems to inject the theology or the finding of men into the text. Like the NKJV substituting Gehenna for Hell. Gehenna is no clearer than Hell. Unless one studies the background of Hell or Gehenna in the New Testament one does not know about the accursed ground where human sacrifices were performed before Israel moved back into their land. But that is a topic for Bible Study, not for Translation. When translating Plato or Homer there is no compelling need to update the text to agree with modern Archeology or Geography. Just translate the text and leave the rest to further study for Pete’s Sake!
I can’t for the life of me understand why they would not be consistent in rendering YHWH. If they are going to say, “Yahweh” sometimes, it should be done always.
As to the post below, I could LOL. If the Bible is not theological, it is nothing. The Analogy of the Faith is a valid principle. Since it is self-evident that the Bible is the Word of God, and since God cannot lie, it needs to be translated as a body of consistent truth. Gehenna is a transliteration of what the Lord Jesus said for a place that the KJV calls Hell. Hell is a modern word that confuses 2 different Biblical places: 1) Sheol/Hades, 2) Gehenna/Lake of Fire. You simply cannot avoid interpreting the text, though indeed it should be kept to a minimum. It is may well be better to translate in the light of modern archaeology than to continue a translation produced in the darkness of the middle ages. Modern geographical knowledge could indeed help translate the Odyssey with its travels around the Mediterranean. The use of Gehenna is extremely non-interpretive.