Is Jesus Yahweh or Jehovah?

Question

True Bible Answers · Accepted Answer

Ask whether Jesus is Yahweh (Jehovah) and you are asking whether the God who spoke to Moses at the burning bush is the same Person who walked out of a carpenter's shop in Nazareth. The commentators in this collection answer yes, and they build the case from the divine name itself, from the words Jesus spoke, and from the way the New Testament quotes Old Testament texts about Jehovah and applies them to Him. (Most English Bibles, including the ESV, print "the LORD" in small capitals where the Hebrew name stands; the writers quoted below use the older form "Jehovah.")

The Name He Was Given

The answer starts before He was born, in the name the angel supplied. One writer points out that the name is not a label but a statement, and asks a question the name forces on us:

His name is called Jesus — Jehoshua, that is, Jehovah the Saviour, for He shall save His people. Who is this, and whose people, given the meaning of such a name? Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.

J. N. Darby

The Claim He Made

Jesus did not leave the matter to inference. In answering the religious leaders about Abraham, He used the exact form of speech God used at the bush — and one writer ties that claim to the vision Isaiah saw centuries earlier:

We do not wonder that He claims to be the self-existent One, as in His words to the Jews: "Before Abraham was I AM" (John 8:58). This is the incommunicable name of Deity, by which He revealed Himself to Moses and to Israel: "I AM has sent me to you" (Ex. 3:14)… Jehovah is only the synonym of this; and so the glory of Jehovah, which Isaiah saw in his day, is declared to be His glory: "these things said Isaiah when he saw His glory, and spoke of Him."

Frederick W. Grant

Old Testament Texts About Jehovah, Quoted of Jesus

This is the strongest thread in the commentary: New Testament writers take verses that plainly speak of Jehovah and hand them to Jesus. Hebrews does it with a psalm about the Creator:

In Hebrews chapter 1 the writer attributes creation to the Son (verse 2) and further down quotes Psalm 102:25: "And you, Lord (Jehovah), laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands" (Heb. 1:10). While the other passages referred to are quite clear, this third reference would lead the simplest believer to the conclusion that Jesus is Jehovah.

Robert F. Wall

The pattern runs wide. One writer gathers a string of them and argues that this is not a case of squeezing two texts, but of a truth built into the fabric of the Bible:

The more we compare passages on this, the more we shall see this identification, and that it is not forcing one or two texts, but the doctrine of Scripture woven into its whole texture. Jehovah is Israel's righteousness, but Christ is made our righteousness… "and Jehovah said… a goodly price that I was valued at by them, and I took the thirty pieces of silver"… "Then shall Jehovah go forth… and His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives."

J. N. Darby

Why It Decides Your Salvation

This is not a puzzle for specialists. The promise every preacher leans on — that anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved — comes from a prophet who meant Jehovah by it:

"Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Notice in passing one of the many incidental proofs of the Deity of Christ. This verse is quoted from Joel 2:32, where the reference is plainly to Jehovah; in Romans 10 it is applied to the Lord Jesus. Then He is Jehovah! If He were not, He would not have the competence to be the Saviour of men.

W. W. Fereday

Not the Son Instead of the Father

Saying "Jesus is Jehovah" does not mean the Son is the only Person who bears that name, or that Father and Son are merely two masks. Commenting on the double name "the LORD God" in Genesis 2, one writer holds both truths together:

The Father is Jehovah. The Son is Jehovah. The Holy Spirit is Jehovah. And yet there is only one Jehovah.

A. J. Pollock

The Test Jesus Himself Applied

When Thomas addressed the risen Christ as his Lord and his God, Jesus had one obvious option if the words were false — and He did not take it:

There is no greater sin than for a mere man to accept divine honours or praise, as the drastic striking down of Herod in Acts 12 shows. When John fell down before a holy angel, about to worship him, the instant reply was, "You must not do that!" (Rev. 22:9). Instead of rebuking Thomas, Jesus approved of his confession and called it faith.

F. B. Hole

Summary

- Name. "Jesus" means Jehovah the Saviour — the identity is announced before He is even born.

- Claim. "Before Abraham was, I AM" borrows the name God gave Moses at the bush, and the crowd understood it well enough to reach for stones.

- Pattern. The New Testament repeatedly quotes verses about Jehovah — Creator, Redeemer, the One valued at thirty pieces of silver — and applies them to Jesus; it is woven through Scripture, not forced from two texts.

- Stakes. Joel's promise about calling on Jehovah is applied in Romans to Jesus; if He is not Jehovah, He is not competent to save.

- Balance. Father, Son and Spirit are each Jehovah, yet there is one Jehovah — which is why Thomas could call the risen Christ "my Lord and my God" and be commended, not corrected.