What is the name of God?

Eloah (Elah Chaldee), Elohim. The names most commonly used for God the Creator, the One with whom man has to do, the supreme Deity. Gen. 1:1-31. … Elohim (which is plural, called the plural of majesty or excellency) is the word of most frequent occurrence. When it is distinctly used for the one true God the article is often added.

ELOHIM is, as often remarked, the common name for God, viewed as the Divine Being with whom men as men have to do, and as the One to whom they are accountable. It is a plural word. … There are others who maintain that it is divinely intended to set forth the Trinity, the unity of the Godhead in the three Persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In support of this the devout reader will not fail to notice the language of Genesis 1:26, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."

The first mention of this is found in Genesis 17:1, "The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God"; that is, EL SHADDAI — God Almighty. But the meaning of the word El is said to be strength, omnipotence; and Shaddai is thought by some to signify the same thing, while others prefer the rendering of all-sufficient, or self-sufficiency.

Shaddai, 'the Almighty,' is another name of God, and is often so translated, especially in Job. … At times it is associated with one of the above words, and was the name by which He was especially known to the Patriarchs, as El Shaddai, God Almighty, Ex. 6:3.

Jehovah. This is a name of relationship with men, especially with Israel, taken by God in time. It is derived from havah, 'to exist,' and may be expanded into 'who is, who was, and is to come.' … "God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM," Ex. 3:14, where the word is Ehyeh, which is from the same root as Jehovah, the Eternal existing One.

"And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you." The title which God here gives Himself is one of wondrous significancy. … When He calls Himself "I AM," it comprehends them all. Jehovah, in taking this title, was furnishing His people with a blank cheque, to be filled up to any amount. He calls Himself "I AM," and faith has but to write over against that ineffably precious name whatever we want. If we want life, Christ says, "I AM the life." If we want righteousness, He is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." If we want peace, "He is our peace."

There is great force in these words. It was not merely what God was going to perform. Man probably would have preferred "I shall do;" but God takes His stand upon these weighty words, "I AM THAT I AM," the self-subsisting, ever-being One. In truth, on Him hangs everything. All others are merely beings that exist; God is the only one who can say "I AM."

God takes care to utter another word: "Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, Jehovah the 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 for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations." How infinitely gracious of God, that the name taken for ever in connection with Israel is not that which relegates every other creature into its own nothingness … He loves and cherishes the name in which He has bound up the objects of His choice with Himself.

El is also used with ELION, and is then translated the "Most High God." An examination of the various places in which this name is found will show that it is God's "millennial name above all idolatrous gods and demons and all power." It is in this character that God is said to be "possessor of heaven and earth." (Gen. 14:18-19.)

It means, as to the root of the word, Master, Ruler, or Owner; but the form Adonai is only used of God, and of Him as One who has taken power and is in the relationship of Lord to those who call upon His name. It is therefore especially applied to Christ, in His exaltation at the right hand of God. … "The Lord [Jehovah] said unto my Lord [Adonai], Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." (Ps. 110:1)

The characteristic name of God in the N.T. in relationship with His saints is that of FATHER: it was used anticipatively in the Lord's intercourse with His disciples, but made a reality after His resurrection, when He sent the message: "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." John 20:17.

The God who was known to Abraham as Shaddai, and to Israel as Jehovah, was now declared as Father in that blessed and intimate relationship into which, in His precious grace, He had taken His people in association with Christ.

As may be seen from Hebrews 4:8, Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, or Jehoshua, which signifies "Jehovah is salvation," or "whose salvation is Jehovah." There is therefore ample justification for the common observation that the name Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. If so, what a subject for contemplation, yea, and for adoration, is thus brought before our souls! A child born into the world, of lowly parentage in man's esteem, is declared, divinely declared, to be Jehovah the Saviour!