What Should We Call God?

I will use the traditional term ’God’ so as not to confuse anyone who doesn’t have knowledge of this perplexing subject, who might land on a page, although I have always had trouble believing that this is the name we should ascribe to Him. So, what should we call Him? There are many descriptors – Creator, Lord (capitalized ot otherwise!), Redeemer…the list goes on, but what is His actual name? Now, this is a subject about which there is no conclusion. He told it to Moses in Exodus 3..but even then, there is no definitive answer among scholars…and perhaps that is the way God intended, so that we could keep pondering it and working it out, getting closer to Him as we realise layer by layer what it could mean.

There are terms used in the Bible that are similar to God but not quite. Elim/ Elohim is frequently used, Elohim actually being both singular and plural (Heiser, 2015). ‘Elohim’ means beings who are rulers, which could mean spiritual or Earthly (and here is a whole conundrum but I recommend Michael Heiser’s work, though subject to some dispute, for a better explanation about whether God created supernatural entities that have authority). Whatever the translation, Elohim was not a personal name.

God is also called El Elyon – God most high, and various versions of El, which was a Ugaritic word for god or power. Examples of these variations are El Shaddai - God of the Mountain, which has connotations of ancient dwelling places of the deities, or being almighty and all-powerful; El Echad – the One God; El Emet – God of Truth etc (for more, see https://hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/El/el.html#loaded).

Yahweh is another name frequently used in the Hebrew original of the Old Testament, and will often be seen translated as LORD in our Bibles, though I like the French Segord’s version- L’Eternel – the eternal one. In response to Exodus 3:14, where God is calling Himself (for the sake of time I am shortening this to) ‘I am’, the person who is sending Moses is to be called by the Israelites (again, a truncated version would be) ‘He is’. The more erudite among you might have heard Yahweh/ YHWH termed the ‘sacred tetragrammaton’ Hebrew does not have vowels so the a and e (or e, o and a in Jehovah) were added for pronunciation…not that Jewish people tend to pronounce it as they deem it too holy, and fear taking the Lord’s name in vain, preferring ‘Hashem’, meaning ‘Name’. The word LORD is also substituted. For more details – see GotQuestions.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzLjNNLHYlQ

Perhaps the most wondrous, complicated and debated name is the one He gives Himself when speaking to Moses in Exodus 3, when Moses is asking God whom he should say sent him to set the Israelites free from captivity. The name He gives is actually a phrase, the interpretation of which is as dynamic as the God who gives it. The NIV translates Exodus 3:14 as ‘I am who I am’ and adds a footnote stating “or I will be what I will be”. It could also be, ‘I will become who I choose to become’. The Hebrew language works differently to English and many layers can be read into one word. If we transliterated it to English, it would be ‘ehyeh asher ehyeh’ – the ehyeh being the same word that God used when he said I will be with you. There is a video by Chad Bird that might be helpful to you here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M14QeME6StI

So why is this relevant here?

If the name of God means that He is the essence of life, that he is eternal, coming before all things, that makes Him impressive to us, marvellous, and therefore worthy of worship. How are we to worship Him? In Romans 12:1 we are told that we should offer our “bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing o God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Where are we meant to worship Yahweh? In the words of Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are ot your own.” We are to worship Him with our acts, how we use and look after or bodies. Faith is God isn’t just a mental thing, or a spiritual, but encompasses out whole selves.

If the name Yahweh is dynamic, encompassing the past, the present and the future, then surely, even without every other Biblical indicator that He is the Creator, that name alone designated Him as the origin of life. Therefore we owe Him our very lives. It is an honour to have been created, to have His wisdom living within every cell of our bodies and surrounding us in Creation. I would argue, then, that we need to live in harmony with His rhythms and ways if we are to truly live.