Does “Jehovah” Belong in the New Testament?

The Study Edition’s note on Acts 7:60 says the Greek manuscripts read “Lord.” The New World Translation prints “Jehovah.”

The question

Does the divine name belong in the New Testament? Jehovah’s Witnesses say the copies we have replaced it, and that a faithful translation puts it back. The New World Translation does that 237 times. The test is not whether the God of Israel has a name. It is whether a verse that says “Lord” in the Greek copies should be printed as “Jehovah,” and what that choice does to passages that confess Jesus as Lord.

What Jehovah’s Witnesses teach

The Watchtower of August 1, 2008, states the practice and the problem in “Should the Name Jehovah Appear in the New Testament?” (1):

It uses the name Jehovah 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, or New Testament.

The manuscripts of the New Testament that we possess today are not the originals.

It appears that by that time those copying the manuscripts either replaced the Tetragrammaton with Kuʹri·os or Kyʹri·os, the Greek word for “Lord,” or copied from manuscripts where this had been done.

The same article gives the reasons the Society treats that replacement as reversible. Jesus, it says, “used the divine name” when he quoted the Old Testament. Fragments of the Greek Septuagint found in the twentieth century “contain the personal name of God, written in Hebrew characters.” And “Jesus used God’s name and made it known to others.”

That is the view at full strength. The name stood in the Hebrew Scriptures. Some Greek copies of those Scriptures kept the Hebrew letters. The New Testament quotes those Scriptures. Later copies of the New Testament, on this account, have “Lord” where the originals had the name. Restoring “Jehovah” is presented as undoing a copyist’s choice, especially where a verse is quoting the Old Testament, and not as inventing a name the verse never had.

The texts

Stephen’s death is the clearest place to watch the choice, because the Study Edition explains it on the page.

The New World Translation of Acts 7:59–60 (2) reads: “As they were stoning Stephen, he made this appeal: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then, kneeling down, he cried out with a strong voice: “Jehovah, do not charge this sin against them.””

The study note on verse 60 (3) says why the second “Lord” became “Jehovah”:

Jehovah: Available Greek manuscripts use the term “Lord” (Kyʹri·os) here. In the Christian Greek Scriptures, this title often refers to Jehovah God or to Jesus Christ, depending on the context. In this case, the reference is apparently to Jehovah God for the following reasons: Stephen here echoes Jesus’ words to his Father at Lu 23:34: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” In Luke’s account of Stephen’s speech, recorded at Ac 7:2-53, the term Kyʹri·os is used three times. All three are quotes from or allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures that clearly refer to God. (See study notes on Ac 7:31, 33, 49.) Many commentators and translators support the view that in these contexts, Kyʹri·os refers to Jehovah. (See App. C.) While the term Kyʹri·os also occurs at Ac 7:59, there Stephen specifically says “Lord Jesus.” However, this statement does not mean, as some claim, that Jesus is the one addressed as Kyʹri·os at Ac 7:60. There is a natural break between Stephen’s words in verse 59 and his words in verse 60. Stephen had been standing, so when he knelt in front of his enemies, it was likely in order to address Jehovah in prayer. (Compare Lu 22:41; Ac 9:40; 20:36; 21:5, where kneeling is connected with prayer to God.) Therefore, it seems that Stephen’s last words were a prayer to the almighty God, Jehovah. In addition, Ac 7:56 says that Stephen saw “the heavens opened up and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand,” so it is understandable that he would address Jesus in verse 59 and then Jehovah in verse 60. A number of translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures into Hebrew (referred to as J17, 18, 22, 23 in App. C4) use the Tetragrammaton here in verse 60 but not in verse 59 when rendering the expression “Lord Jesus.”—See App. C3 introduction; Ac 7:60.

The Kingdom Interlinear at Acts 7 (11) gives the word-for-word line of verse 59 as “ἐπικαλούμενον calling upon καὶ and λέγοντα saying Κύριε Lord Ἰησοῦ, Jesus,” and of verse 60 as “Κύριε, Lord.”

Romans 10:9–13 (15) is the other passage to read in one sitting. The New World Translation of Romans 10:9 (4): “For if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved.” Verse 13 (5): For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” The line it quotes is Joel 2:32 (16). The New World Translation of Joel 2:32 (7) reads: “And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.”

The study note on Romans 10:13 (6) says the Lord of the paragraph is not obvious, and then decides:

Ro 10:9 clearly refers to Jesus Christ as Lord, and the quotation from Isa 28:16 found at Ro 10:11 applies to him as well. So if the “Lord” at Ro 10:12 is to be directly linked with “him” at Ro 10:11, the “Lord” referred to is Jesus Christ. On the other hand, at Ro 10:9, Paul speaks of exercising faith ‘in your heart’ that “God raised him up from the dead.” Furthermore, Ro 10:13, a quotation from Joe 2:32, states: “Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” Hence, if the “Lord” referred to at Ro 10:12 is the same as at Ro 10:13, Jehovah God is the “Lord” being referred to.

The Kingdom Interlinear at Romans 10 (13) gives verse 9 as “Κύριος Lord Ἰησοῦς, Jesus,” and verse 13 as “ἐπικαλέσηται might call upon τὸ the ὄνομα name Κυρίου of Lord.”

Acts 8:39 (14) is not a quotation of a Hebrew verse. The New World Translation (8) reads: “When they came up out of the water, Jehovah’s spirit quickly led Philip away.” The Kingdom Interlinear at Acts 8 (12) gives the word-for-word line “πνεῦμα spirit Κυρίου of Lord.”

A Christian response

The name of the God of Israel is not the dispute. Joel 2:32 really does say that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. The dispute is the New Testament sentence that quotes it, and the sentences that do not.

The Study Edition already says the decisive thing about Acts 7:60. Available Greek manuscripts use the term “Lord” (Kyʹri·os) here. The interlinear prints “Lord” in verse 59 and “Lord” in verse 60. “Jehovah” in verse 60 is the Society’s decision about which Lord Stephen meant, after the note has said the copies do not write the name. The reasons in the note are real reasons to weigh: Stephen’s words sound like Jesus’ prayer from the cross, he kneels, and verse 59 has already said “Lord Jesus.” Those reasons are an argument from context. They are not a manuscript reading. The 2008 Watchtower describes the manuscript situation the same way: the copies we possess have “Lord,” and the name is restored on the theory that earlier copyists took it out.

Romans 10:9–13 shows what the theory costs when a paragraph is using one word. Verse 9, in the New World Translation and in the interlinear, says the confession is that Jesus is Lord. Verse 13 quotes Joel. The interlinear’s word for the one who is called on is the same title, “Lord.” The study note grants that if verse 12 is tied to verse 11, the Lord is Jesus, and that if verse 12 is tied to the Joel quotation as the New World Translation prints it, the Lord is Jehovah. Paul did not write two titles. He wrote one, and he put “Jesus is Lord” and “call on the name of the Lord” in the same appeal. Calling on the name, in that paragraph, is how the person who confesses Jesus is saved. Inserting “Jehovah” at verse 13 makes the quotation speak to a different person from the one the mouth has just confessed. The Hebrew of Joel has the divine name. The Greek sentence Paul wrote, on the Society’s own interlinear, has “Lord,” in a chapter that has already said Jesus is Lord.

Acts 8:39 is the same decision where no Hebrew line is being quoted. The interlinear says “spirit of Lord.” The New World Translation says “Jehovah’s spirit.” Nothing on that page is an Old Testament quotation that could be checked against a Tetragrammaton in a Hebrew source. The name is supplied because the translators have decided that this “Lord” is Jehovah.

Jesus is Lord. The Christian confession is not that a creature has been given a courtesy title while the divine name is kept for someone else. It is that the Lord whom Joel says must be called on is the Lord Jesus whom Paul says must be confessed. He is not a second god with a borrowed title. He is the one God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Who is the Alpha and the Omega? follows that claim through the titles “the First and the Last.” Should Jesus be worshipped? follows Stephen’s “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” into the question of prayer.

Common follow-ups

Later Hebrew translations of the New Testament print the Tetragrammaton at Acts 7:60. The study note says this, and names J17, J18, J22, and J23. Those are translations into Hebrew. The same note says the Greek manuscripts use “Lord,” and that those Hebrew translations do not put the name into verse 59, where Stephen says “Lord Jesus.” A Hebrew translation can show how a later translator identified the Lord. It is not a Greek copy of Acts.

Jesus made the Father’s name known, so the name belongs in the New Testament. The 2008 article says Jesus used God’s name and made it known. John 17 is the passage usually opened next. Making the Father’s name known is not the same thing as a Greek manuscript of Acts or Romans containing the four Hebrew letters. The copies the Society describes have “Lord.” Whether Jesus spoke the divine name in Hebrew when he quoted Deuteronomy is a question about his speech, not a variant printed in those copies.

The New World Translation also changes verses that are not about the name. John 14:14 (17) is one, and it should be kept separate. The New World Translation (9) reads: “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” The study note (10) says:

ask: This reading is supported by some ancient manuscripts and agrees with the wording at Joh 15:16 and 16:23. Other ancient manuscripts read: “ask me.”

That is a real variant. The note does not say which reading is in more manuscripts. It is not an insertion of “Jehovah,” and it should not be described as one. The question on this page is the name.

Keep reading

• Should Jesus be worshipped, or only given obeisance?
• Who is the Alpha and the Omega?
• John 1 and the Word
• The Watch Tower and Scripture