DEVIN - Is Jehovah in the Old Testament Jesus Christ in the New Testament?
We've been talking with a Jehovah's Witness about this and we can't come to any conclusion. He uses Strongs Concordance to pull up the Hebrew names for God and Lord and it seems to prove his case. Ps 110:1 and Matt 4:10 seem to be the strongest scriptures in his favor. Even our own scholars like Talmage says that LORD (all caps) translates into Jehovah. I'm confused, please help any way you can.
This is an excerpt from their "Reasoning from the Scriptures".
Is Jehovah in the Old Testament Jesus Christ in the New Testament?
Matt 4:10: "Jesus said to him: 'Go away Satan! For it is written, "It is Jehovah ["the Lord," KJ and others] your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service:'"' (Jesus was obviously not saying that he himself was to be worshipped.)
John 8:54: "Jesus answered [the Jews]: 'If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifies me, he who you say your God.'" (The Hebrew Scriptures clearly identify Jehovah as the God that the Jews professed to worship. Jesus said, not that he himself was Jehovah, but that Jehovah was his father. Jesus here made it very clear that he and his father were distinct individuals.)
Ps. 110:1: "The utterance of Jehovah to my [David's] Lord is: 'Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.'"(At Matthew 22:41-45, Jesus explained that he himself was David's "Lord", referred to in this psalm. So Jesus is not Jehovah but is the one to whom Jehovah's words were here directed.)
Phil. 2:9-11: "For this very reason also God exalted him [Jesus Christ] to a superior position and kindly gave him the name

JOEL - First of all we need to remember the 8th Article of Faith:
"We believe in the Bible as far as it is translated correctly;"
Perhaps because of incorrect translation in the Bible, the distinction between the Father and the Son is sometimes unclear.
Also, the problem about whether or not Jesus was Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, comes about partially due to the fact that in a few cases God the Father is also referred to as "Jehovah".
In that entire Psalm 110, the word "LORD (ie Jehovah)" refers not to Jesus Christ, but to the Father of Jesus Christ.

1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

In this Psalm, as in the rest of the Old Testament, the word "LORD"(all caps) is Jehovah, and the word "Lord" is Adoni. However, it is Christ who is to sit at the right hand of the Father until the Father makes Christ's enemies his footstool, as is made clear by Paul in Acts 2:34 and in Hebrews 1:13 and 10:13. Therefore verse one depicts the Father speaking to Christ. This is the same sense in which the Savior quotes this verse to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46.
There are a few other cases in the Bible where God the Father is referred to as "Jehovah" as you have pointed out, which does make things somewhat confusing. But there are so many more scriptures in the Old Testament that are obviously talking about Jesus Christ when they use the word LORD or "Jehovah". No one disputes the fact that on a few occasions in the Old Testament that God the Father is being referred to as Jehovah. Even some of the early leaders of the Church used the same title as they spoke of God the Father. More recently in the church we have avoided using the term "Jehovah" for God the Father to help avoid confusion about who we are talking about. But for the most part it is Jesus who is THE "Jehovah" that is communicating to His prophets and who is the God they are writing about. For example, Jesus Christ is identified as the "judge" of all the earth in New Testament scriptures(John 5:22, John 9:39, Acts 10:42, Acts 17:31, Rom 14:10, 2 Cor 5:10, 2 Tim 4:1, Jude 1:15).
There are also several scriptures in the Old Testament where Jehovah is called a judge as well.(Ge 18:25, Sam 2:10, De 32:36, 1Chr 16:33, Ps 9:8, Ps 96:10, Ps 96:13, Isa 2:4, Isa 3:13, Isa 11:4, Isa 33:22, Eze 18:30)
Since the Father "judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son"(John 5:22), the judge named Jehovah, described in the Old Testament verses, must therefore be Jesus Christ.

In Isaiah 43:11, 14 God says;
"I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;"

In these scripture the LORD(Jehovah) identifies Himself as the only Savior, Redeemer, and Holy One of Israel. We know from New Testament scriptures that only Jesus Christ goes by these titles.

I am sure this is one debate that has been going on for a long time and will probably continue to go on in the future, until Christ Himself comes again and straightens us out on the matter. But then again, He may just shake His head and chastise us a little for how we have wasted so much time and energy nitpicking at a few words in the Bible. The best thing to do is to go with what our modern day prophets tell us and leave the debates to the politicians.

Return to top

Return to Questions
HOME