Titles Are Generic, But Names Are Specific

Titles are given to persons to identify a position, which often may be held by many different people. There is confusion over the Name of God. Since the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint during the third and second centuries B. C., a title has been traditionally used in place of His name. Consequently, many have taught that we no longer need to know His name. However, the Word of God itself tells us to call upon Him through His name and to praise Him by His name.

The term, “Proper Name,” as used in the Proper Name Version of the King James Bible, denotes the use of a proper noun, rather than a common noun, for the name of God. A proper noun, which is also called a proper name, is a noun that designates a particular person, place, or thing and is usually not preceded by an article, such as “the.” A common noun, however, does not identify a specific individual and is often preceded by an article. It refers to any or all of a group or class.

Common Titles: Adonay, Kurios, Lord, El, Elohiym, Elowahh, Theos, God

Adonay, Kurios, Lord

There is often confusion over the difference between titles and names. The Hebrew word “Adonay” adny) and the Greek word “Kurios” are titles that are frequently translated into English as “Lord.” These commonly used titles are used to indicate position or status of one as having power over others. While these titles are often used in the Bible in reference to Yahweh, they are also used for anyone that is believed to occupy the position or have the status which the title describes. Therefore, the title “Lord” is also used to reference persons having authority over others, as well as any other god, such as Baal, or other idol or image perceived as having power over others.

El, Elohiym, Elowahh, Theos, God

The Hebrew words, including El , el) or Elohiym elhym), Elowahh elowh), and the Greek word Theos are often translated into English as “God.” These are all descriptive titles that are frequently used to refer to Yahweh. However, some of them are also used to refer to idols or images of other deities:

They sacrificed unto devils, not to God elowahh); to gods elohiym) whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. - Deuteronomy 32:17

Although “El” is a title that ascribes the power of Yahweh, it is also recorded as the name of the supreme god in Ugarit, a coastal city of northern Syria. The Ugaritic texts (1600-1200 B. C.) record El as the chief god of the local pantheon of gods, which included Baal, Anat, Asherah, and Yamm (see Victor H. Matthews, Judges and Ruth: The New Cambridge Bible Commentary, Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 79).

Like “El,” other pagan gods also had names in addition to their titles. Such gods included “Gad” and “Meniy” that were worshipped by those that forsook Yahweh:

But you are they that forsake Yahweh, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for fortune gad), and that furnish the drink offering unto the god of fate Meniy). - Isaiah 65:11

Some have suggested that “Gad,” the god of fortune, is the basis for the English title, “God,” and, therefore, “God” should not be used as a title for Yahweh as the overcomer and as our salvation. Instead, they suggest, Hebrew titles, such as (el) and (elohiym), even though they are also used as names and/or titles of pagan gods, should be transliterated rather than translated in order to avoid the English title, “God.”

While there should be no objection to such a practice of transliteration, we should remember that these titles are not names. The proper name of Yahweh is holy:

Bless Yahweh, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. -Psalms 103:1

Titles, on the other hand, such as king, prophet, lord, or god, describe the positions, functions, or attributes of those to whom they are ascribed. Notwithstanding the fact that Gad is the name of a pagan god, it is also the name of the seventh son of Jacob. Gad is translated as “a troop” or as “good fortune”:

And Leah said, Good fortune comes: and she called his name Gad. -Genesis 30:11

Yahweh also used a prophet named Gad to speak to David, the King of Israel (see 2 Samuel 24:11).

When Jacob, as “Israel,” called his sons together to tell them what “shall befall” them “in the last days,” he gave revealing prophecies concerning each son. Interestingly, he chose his seventh son, Gad, for his eighth prophecy, which is about overcoming unto salvation. He introduced it by saying that he had waited for the salvation of Yahweh:

I have waited for your salvation, O Yahweh.
Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. -Genesis 49:18-19

He uses the word, “overcome,” twice. First, he says that a “troop,” as in an army, shall overcome Gad. However, he says Gad “shall overcome at the last.” Interestingly, the Hebrew word for “overcome” is (guwd), which is pronounced as “goode.” Whether or not this is the basis for the English title, “God,” we can only speculate.

Proper Names: Yah, Yahweh, Yahshua

Scriptural passages that clearly highlight the importance of knowing God’s name are introduced in the book of Exodus. The descendants of Jacob, which were called the “children of Israel,” had been living in Egypt for more than four hundred years when Yahweh spoke to Moses and gave him the responsibility of leading them out of Egypt:

Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. -Exodus 3:10

Joshua clearly revealed that the “children of Israel” served the Egyptian “gods” while they were in Egypt:

Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river, and in Egypt; and serve you Yahweh. -Joshua 24:14

Since the Egyptians served many “gods,” it was reasonable for Moses to ask Yahweh which one of them was now speaking to him, “What is his name?”

And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say to them? -Exodus 3:13

Yahweh answered Moses by saying, “I AM THAT I AM”:

And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. -Exodus 3:14

“I AM” is written in the Hebrew text as (ahyh) which is (hyh) with an added (aleph) to mark the suspension of breathing preceding the initial sound. The name “HYH” cannot be pronounced without added vowels, as in “HAYAH.” Its meaning is “to be” or “to exist.” The expression “I AM THAT I AM” effectively means, “I am the one that is.”

“I AM” told Moses to call Him (YHWH), which, with added vowels, is pronounced as YAHWEH:

And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Yahweh 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 this is my memorial unto all generations. -Exodus 3:15