Several words denoting lordship were used of Jesus in the New Testament. The most frequent and the most in relation to the doctrine of His person, was the Greek word 'kurios'. It was given to Him as a polite term of address, meaning "Sir". Sometimes the title was used of Him in the third person when the disciples and others spoke of Him as "The Lord" or "The Master".
After Jesus resurrection and exaltation, however, Jesus was given the title "Lord" in its full Christological sense. Apostle Peter, concluding his address to the crowd in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, declared, 'For this reason the whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ'. - Acts 2:36 -
The title "Lord" in the Christological sense must have been given to Jesus before the Church moved out into the Gentile world. The evidence for this is the invocation "Maranatha" or "Come, Lord Jesus come!" - If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse on him. "Maranatha" - 1Cor. 16:22 - The apostle Paul, writing to Gentile Church in the Greek-speaking world assumed that its believers were familiar with this Aramaic phrase. It was an early Christian title for Jesus which was taken over untranslated. It bears witness to the fact that from the earliest days of the Church, the one who had been exalted as Lord was expected to return as Lord.
Another key New Testament text that shows the sense in which Jesus was acknowledged as Lord is Philippians 2:2-11 - In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus: His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself...in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Phil. 2:2-11 - In these verses Paul may be quoting an early confession of faith. If so, he endorsed it and made it his own.
The 'name which is above every name' is probably the title Lord, in the highest sense that it can bear. The words echo Isaiah 45:23, where the God of Israel swears, "To Me, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess" In the Old Testament, the God of Israel denies to any other being the right to receive the worship which belongs to Him alone and in the passage from the Philippians He readily shares that worship with the humiliated and exalted Jesus. More than that, He shares His own name with him. When human beings honour Jesus as Lord, God is glorified.
If Jesus is called Lord, in this supreme sense, it is not surprising that He occasionally is called God in the New Testament. Apostle Thomas convinced that the risen Christ stood before him, abandoned his doubts with the confession, "My Lord and My God!" - John 20:28 -
The classic text is John 1:1. John declared that the Word existed not only 'in the beginning' where He was 'with God' but also actually 'was God'. This is the Word the became incarnate as real man in Jesus Christ, without ceasing to be what He had been from eternity. The Word was God in the sense that the Father shared with Him the fullness of His own nature. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible thus presents Christ as altogether God and altogether man [fully God and fully man] - the perfect mediator between God and mankind because He partakes fully of the nature of both.
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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