Reply: 1Cor.8:6 identifies the "one God" as the Father who is the source of creation. Jesus is explicitly excluded when he is next identified as the "Lord" who is the agent of the one God. 1Tim.2:5 states there is "one God" but then specifically EXCLUDES Jesus from being that one God by saying he is the "mediator" between GOD and humans. Without equivocation or replacing the word God with father, explain how can Jesus be the same God he is mediator for?
Far from being Almighty, Jesus is said to have a God over him before, during and after he came to earth (Mic.5:4, Rom.15:6, Rev.1:6; 3:2,12). Rather than being equal in power, Jesus is said to be in subjection to God even when he is as high as he ever gets (1Cor.15:27,28, Eph. 1:17; 19-22). Mat.28:18,19 says that when Jesus returned to heaven he had to be "given" all authority (power-KJV). If Jesus were equal to God in power, then why exactly would he need to be "given" any authority? (Mt.28:18; 11:27, Jn. 5:22; 17:2; 3:35; 2Pet.1:17) cf. (Mat.11:26-27, Dan.7:13-14, Phil.2:9).
So what of the NAME in Php 2:9-11. We have to keep in mind the context of the passage.
"Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name."
God had to exalt Jesus, and give him a name above all others. Obviously, it is something he did not have before his exaltation, and again, why would Almighty God need to be given anything?
Any authority Jesus has was given to him (see Mt 9:8; 28:18; Jn 17:2).
It never says God shared his name.
But how does this authority tie into his exalted name? Thayer's Greek Lexicon says of NAME/ONOMA, "for one's rank, authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc."
Vine's Bible Dictionary says of ONOMA/Name in reference to Jesus (as "in the name of Christ"). "representing the authority of Christ."
Christians are persecuted for recognizing his authority. Interestingly, the New Living Translation renders Matthew 24:9 as "You will be hated all over the world because of your allegiance to me."
The Message translates Php 2:9 as "God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything."
What else can we learn from the preceeding verses in Php 2?
"Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross." ASV
Jesus, as the last Adam (1Cor 15:45) would never do what Adam did, that is, trying to be "be as God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:5) Jesus humbled himself and was obedient to God, and in this, we should be of the "same mind." For this ultimate humility, Jesus was honored by being given more authority than the angels.
Does the exaltation of Jesus push his Father, Jehovah into the background? No, for the Bible never tells us to stop honoring the Father, and this is where I agree with you. Honoring Jesus means honoring the Father, as Jesus definitely made God's name known.
"Hallowed be thy name" Matt 6:9 Revised Version
"I have made known to them your name, and will make it known," John 17:26 NASB
"Around the time of Christ the Jewish copyists began to leave off writing the Divine Name in their Hebrew MSS and substituting the titles Lord and God. The reason was the development of a tradition of superstitious fear over pronouncing or writing the Divine Name. Old worn-out MSS were not destroyed but were buried, because they contained the Name. One Jewish tradition credits the miracles of Jesus to his possessing a writing containing the Name that he stole from the temple. Each time scribes scribes wrote the Name they reverently wiped their pens, some even took a bath! Little wonder that the copying of the Name was eventually dropped altogether by Jewish scribes.
Jesus was no respecter of Jewish traditions (Matt 15:3,6) especially when his Father's Name was at stake (John 17:26). So he and his apostles would scarcely have approved or followed this practice. In the original Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures as used by the apostles, the Name appeared in the form of the four Hebrew letters. This is shown by its appearance in ancient fragments of the Septuagint such as the Fouad 266 papyrus of the 2nd century B.C. It also can be seen in Aquila's version of the second century A.D., in Origen's Hexapla of the third century, and is attested to by Jerome in the fourth century. It can also be seen in the Dead Sea fragment of Habakkuk in Greek.
The Divine Name would thus have been spoken by Jesus and the apostles whenever they quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures, either directly or from the Greek version, and so would have appeared in their writings when they made such quotations."
Appendix, 21st Century N.T.
George Howard has done extensive study on the Divine Name in the New Testament and has this to say:
"The removal of the Tetragrammaton from the New Testament and its replacement with the surrogates KYRIOS and THEOS blurred the original distinction between the Lord God and the Lord Christ, and in many passages made it impossible which one was meant. ..Once the Tetragrammaton was removed and replaced by the surrogate 'Lord', scribes were unsure whether "lord" meant God or Christ. As time went on, these two figures were brought into even closer unity until it was often impossible to distinguish between them. Thus it may be that the removal of the Tetragrammaton contributed significantly to the later Christological and Trinitarian debates which plagued the church of the early Christian centuries." George Howard, The Name of God in the New Testament, BAR 4.1 (March 1978), 15
In fact, the name Jesus means, "Jehovah is Salvation."
Does the Bible ever tell us to stop using the Divine Name though?
No, definitely not. This name is in the Hebrew scriptures almost 7000 times. This name was in the LXX in Jesus time and it was definitely in the Hebrew scriptures. When Jesus read scriptures, whether he was using the the LXX (Septuagint) or the Hebrew, he read the Divine Name. This name is mentioned more than any other name, and more than all the other titles put together. The math and common sense alone tells us this repetitive emphasis means the Name was meant to last forever.
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