Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus

Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus

     The Jehovah's Witnesses deny that Jesus is God in flesh.  Therefore, they have produced a Bible, the New World Translation, that reflects their theological bias against Christ's deity.  But, their Bible cannot completely remove all the references that show who Jesus really is.  Such is the case with the phrase, "to call upon the name of the Lord."
     We can see in the Bible where the Old Testament believers "call upon the name of the Lord," as a reference to God.  Literally, in Hebrew this is "call upon the name of Jehovah [YHWH]."  This phrase with its variations "calling upon..." and "called upon..." etc., occurs eleven times in the Old Testament in the King James Version, which the Jehovah's Witnesses used as their Bible for many years.  
     "Jehovah" is an English(ized) form of the Hebrew four letters YHWH from which we get God's name "Jehovah" or "Yahweh."  Most modern English Bibles translate the four letters "YHWH" into the word "Lord."  This is done because no one knows the true pronunciation of God's name and also because the Jews wanted to avoid violating the sacredness of God's name if they pronounced it incorrectly.  Nevertheless, in every instance of this usage "Lord" in the Hebrew phrase, "call upon the name of the Lord," it is the Hebrew "YHWH" in the original and is always in reference to God and to God, the everlasting God, alone.
     Around 250 B.C., the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek by Jewish scholars.  This translation is called the Septuagint and is known by the designation LXX.  The Hebrew phrase to "call upon the name of the Lord [YHWH]," of course, was also translated into Greek.  For example, in Joel 2:32 it says, "...whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD [YHWH] shall be delivered..."  This Greek translation in the LXX is "hos an epikalesatai to onoma kuriou," literally, "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord." 
     When we look at this phrase in the Old Testament, we see that "to call upon the name of the Lord" was used to designate prayer to God in 1 Kings 18:24,37 and Psalm 116:4.  Please consider the following verses from the KJV.

• 1 Kings 18:24, "And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD [YHWH]: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God."
  • 1 Kings 18:37, "Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD [YHWH] God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. ³⁸Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench."  
• Psalm 116:4, "Then called I upon the name of the LORD [YHWH] ; O LORD [YHWH], I beseech thee, deliver my soul."

     Clearly, the phrase is used of God in reference to prayer to Him.  The phrase is never used in reference to anyone else other than God.  Remember that "call upon the name of the Lord [YHWH]" in Hebrew was translated into Greek by the Jews in the LXX and they rendered "YHWH" into the Greek "kurios," which means "lord."  This phrase was then used of Jesus in 1 Cor. 1:2.

• "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours," (1 Cor. 1:2).
  • "...call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ..." NASB, ASV, ASV1901,
  • "...call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ..." KJV, NJKV, NIV, RSV, 
  • "...calling upon the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours," NWT.

    • NOTE:  In the Greek, it is literally, "Call upon the name of the Lord OF US, Jesus Christ.  This is why the English says, "Call upon the name of OUR Lord."  Therefore, the phrase is the same.

     This is clear evidence that Jesus is called YHWH since the same phrase used to address God is also used to address Jesus.
      Below is a chart that transliterates the Greek into English phonetic sounds so you can check the Greek for yourself in the Old Testament Greek Septuagint and the New Testament Greek.

"Call upon the name of the Lord"
Old Testament (LXX) (Literal translation)	New Testament (Literal translation)
Joel 2:32 - call on the name of the LORD epikalesatai  to    onoma    kuriou call  upon    the   name      of Lord	with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours,"  ------------ 1 Cor. 1:2 epikaloumenois   to    onoma    tou        kuriou calling upon        the   name     of the    of lord hamon    iasous kristou of us     Jesus  Christ
1 Kings 18:24 - call on the name of the LORD epikalesomai en onomati kuriou  tou     theou call upon       in  name   of lord   of the  of god
Psalm 116:4 - called I upon the name of the LORD kai   to   onoma   kuriou   epekalesaman and  the name     of lord   call upon

    
     As you can see in 1 Kings 18:24,37 and Psalm 116:4 above, the phrase is used to designate prayer to God. This same phrase is used in reference to Jesus in 1 Cor. 1:2.
It is obvious that the Christian church is to call upon the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  This is an obvious declaration of prayer to Christ designating His divine nature.  

To call upon the name of the Lord

     Following is a list of every occurrence of the phrase "to call upon the name of the Lord," and its various forms (call on, call upon, called on, etc.), in the KJV Bible along with the New World Translation's rendering of the phrase in each verse cited.
     It is here so you can see for yourself how it is used in both the Old and New Testaments. 

1. "Call upon the name of the Lord" occurs five times in the KJV:  
   1. Gen. 4:26, "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD."
      • "...calling on the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
   2. Psalm 116:13, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD."
      • "...and on the name of Jehovah I shall call," (NWT).
   3. Psalm 116:17, "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD."
      • "...and on the name of Jehovah I shall call," (NWT).
   4. Zeph. 3:9, "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent."
      • "...to call upon the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
   5. Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
      • "For "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved," (NWT).
2. "Call on the name of the Lord" occurs four times in the KJV
   1. 1 Kings 18:24, "And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God."
      • "...call upon the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
   2. 2 Kings 5:11, "But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper."
      • "...call upon the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
   3. Joel 2:32, "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call."
      • "...calls upon the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
   4. Acts 2:21, "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
      • "...calls upon the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
3. "Called on the name of the Lord" occurs one time in the KJV:
   1. Gen. 13:4, "Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD."
      • "...call there on the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
4.  "Called upon the name of the Lord" occurs three times in the KJV:
   1. Gen. 12:8, "And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD."
      • "...call on the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
   2. Gen. 26:25, "And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well."
      • "...called on the name of Jehovah," (NWT).
   3. Psalm 116:4, "Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul."
      • "But upon the name of Jehovah I proceeded to call," (NWT).
5. "Calling on the name of the Lord" occurs one time in the KJV:
   1. Acts 22:16, "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."
      • "...calling upon his name," (NWT).

      Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians said that Christians everywhere "call upon the name of the Lord Jesus."  The Jehovah's Witnesses need to do this.  They need to pray to Jesus, ask Him to forgive them of their sins, and they need to come to Him (Matt. 11:28).  Jesus said, "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it," (John 14:14, NASB).

Objection Answered

       "The translations of the books of the OT differ in style, accuracy, and substance, indicating that there was no single original translation into Greek....Manuscripts found at Qumran among the Dead Sea Scrolls and other early manuscripts and quotations from the Septuagint in ancient writings all indicate that revisions were constantly being made to the Septuagint." (Paul J. Achtemeier, Harper's Bible Dictionary, Includes index., 1st ed., Page 925 (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985).
     Some critics of the position of this paper regarding "calling upon the name of the Lord" say that the Greek word "kurios", "Lord" was substituted for the tetragrammaton (YHWH - ) in the 2nd century manuscripts of the Septuagint, well after the writing of 1 Corinthians.  In other words, they say that the original Septuagint, though written in Greek, had the Hebrew consonants (YHWH - ) inserted for the divine name and that later this was changed from YHWH to LORD (or the Greek "kurios"). This would mean that Paul could not have been referencing the Septuagint in 1 Cor. 1:2 and the argument in this paper is invalid.
     If it is true, and I am not saying that it is, that the Septuagint did not contain the word "Lord" in reference to "YHWH", it does not invalidate the argument because the practice of substituting "YHWH" for another word "adonai" (Hebrew for Lord), was commonly done among the Jews and was well known by Paul.  He could easily have provided this word substitution as a natural thing to do when writing 1 Corinthians.  We see that in the existing Septuagint versions that this is exactly the case.   Second, since Paul was writing to the Corinthians who spoke Greek, to write in Greek and then insert the Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHWH -) into the text would have been confusing to them since they did not read Hebrew.  Remember, Corinth is about 750 miles from Israel.  The Corinthians spoke Greek. Therefore, it would have been very natural for Paul to insert the Greek "kurios" (Lord) for the Hebrew name of God (YHWH - ) when quoting Old Testament references as found in the LXX.  In fact, Paul did this very thing in several places:

• Rom. 4:8, "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account."
  • Psalm 32:2, "How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
• Rom. 9:29, "And just as Isaiah foretold, 'Except the Lord [kurios] of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity.  We would have become as Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah."
  • Isaiah 1:9, "Unless the Lord [YHWH] of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah."
• Rom. 10:13, "for 'Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord [kurios] will be saved.'" 
• Rom. 11:34, "For who has known the mind of the Lord [kurios], or who became His counselor?"
  • Isaiah 40:13, "Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord [YHWH], Or as His counselor has informed Him?"
• Rom. 15:11, "And again, “Praise the Lord [kurios] all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.” 
  • Psalm 117:1, "Praise the Lord [YHWH], all nations; Laud Him, all peoples!"

       At the very least, this substantiates that Paul's practice was to substitute "kurios" for the tetragrammaton (YHWH - ) when he quoted the Old Testament.  Since we see that the phrase "call upon the name of the Lord" is used only of God in the Old Testament, it is fair to say that the phrase applies to Jesus in 1 Cor. 1:2.
       Finally, there are only two places in the entire Old Testament where the phrase "call upon the name of" ("Lord" is omitted) is used in reference to someone other than God.

  • 1 Kings 18:24-26, "Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God." And all the people answered and said, "That is a good idea.  ²⁵So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it." ²⁶Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, "O Baal, answer us." But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made."
  • Isaiah 44:5, "This one will say, ‘I am the Lord's'; and that one will call on the name of Jacob."

       In these two cases we see that they do not affect the issue of "call upon the name of the Lord" in any way since one is clearly about Baal and the other is about Jacob and the word "Lord" would not suit in the translation of either.  If we combine this with the knowledge that Paul translated the Hebrew YHWH () into the Greek "kurios" (Lord), we can easily see that 1 Cor. 1:2 is most probably a reference to the Old Testament phrase, "call upon the name of YHWH."

  Objection Answered

       An objection has been raised by Jehovah's Witnesses who state that the word "Lord" functions as a noun in a different way than YHWH does.  They say that "Call upon the name of YHWH" is a different sense than "Call upon the name of the Lord of us, Jesus Christ" because the word "Lord" takes a possessive pronoun "of us".  Therefore, they say, the word "Lord" does not function as a proper noun as does "YHWH" and the phrase used of Christ is not the same as that used in the LXX.  But, this is just an attempt to strip the phrase of its biblical power so as to continue teaching taht Jesus is not divien.
       Nevertheless, the word "Lord" in the LXX phrase "Call upon the name of the Lord" is capable of taking a possessive pronoun.  This is the nature of the phrase as it appears throughout the LXX.  In other words, the fact that the LXX phrase "Call upon the name of the Lord (gk. kurios)" has the capability of receiving a possessive pronoun, it does not change the meaning of the phrase -- whether or not a possessive pronoun "of us" is added to it or not.  We do not see "the YHWH of us."  But, we do see "the Lord of us" (our Lord).  For example, in Psalm 147:5 it says, "Great is our Lord."  In the LXX it is "kurios hamon" (the Lord of us).  In Neh. 10:29 of the LXX it says, "..of our Lord."  The Greek is "kuriou hamon." 
       The word "kurios" can take a possessive pronoun.  The fact that "of us" is added to the Greek word "kurios" does not mean that the word is no longer used in place of God's name nor does it invalidate the power of the phrase, "Call upon the name of the Lord of us, Jesus Christ," (1 Cor. 1:2).  As I have demonstrated earlier, the LXX substitutes YHWH for kurios in the phrase "Call upon the name of YHWH.  Therefore, by the nature of the word "lord," it is possible to add a possessive pronoun (of us).  Does this then mean that the phrase looses its power?
       Undoubtedly Paul knew of the phrase in the LXX.  He knew that it carried the weight of proclaiming and appealing to God -- since that is how it is used in the LXX.  Should we accept the Jehovah's Witness' notion that by adding "of us" onto the end of the phrase that the phrase then somehow looses its majesty and Old Testament context?  Hardly. 
       If we look at Romans 10:13 we see the very same phrase, "Call upon the name of the Lord."  The only difference is that "of us" is not there.  Are we to believe that Paul who wrote Romans and 1 Corinthians used the same phrase twice but in 1 Cor. 1:2 did not mean to carry with it the Old Testament usage by simply adding "of us" to it?  Well, that is waht some Jehovha's Witnesses want us to believe.
       Unfortunately for them, the truth is that the same phrase that is used only of God in the Old Testament is also used of Jesus in the New Testament.
     

  _________

       Note:  I am indebted to a poster on my website Robert V Frazier who pointed out the following quotes from three different Christian commentators.

  • "Hereby Christians are distinguished from the profane and atheistical, that they dare not live without prayer; and hereby they are distinguished from Jews and Pagans, that they call on the name of Christ. He is their common head and Lord. Observe, In every place in the Christian world there are some that call on the name of Christ. God hath a remnant in all places; and we should have a common concern for and hold communion with all that call on Christ’s name."
    • Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Commentary : On the Whole Bible. electronic ed. of the complete and unabridged edition., 1 Co 1:1. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996, c1991.
  • "with all that in every place call upon . . . Christ--The Epistle is intended for these also, as well as for the Corinthians. The true CATHOLIC CHURCH (a term first used by IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Smyraeans, 8]): not consisting of those who call themselves from Paul, Cephas, or any other eminent leader ( 1Cr 1:12 ), but of all, wherever they be, who call on Jesus as their Saviour in sincerity (compare 2Ti 2:22 ). Still a general unity of discipline and doctrine in the several churches is implied in 1Cr 4:17 7:17 11:16 14:33, 36. The worship due to God is here attributed to Jesus (compare Joe 2:32 Mat 4:10 Act 9:14 )."  (emphasis added)
    • Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
  • With all that call upon (sun pasin toiß epikaloumenoiß). Associative instrumental case with sun rather than kai (and), making a close connection with "saints" just before and so giving the Corinthian Christians a picture of their close unity with the brotherhood everywhere through the common bond of faith. This phrase occurs in the LXX (Genesis 12:8; Zechariah 13:9) and is applied to Christ as to Jehovah (2 Thessalonians 1:7,9,12; Philippians 2:9,10)."
    • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament
      http://bible1.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/
      rwp.cgi?book=1co&chapter=001&verse=002&next=003&prev=001
       
  • Also, from another commentary
  • "The worship due to God is here attributed to Jesus (compare Joe 2:32 ; Mt 4:10; Ac 9:14 )."
    • Jamieson, Robert, A.R. Fausset, and David and Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. electronic ed., 1 Co 1:2. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997.
• 1 Cor. 2:16, "For who has known the mind of the Lord [kurios], that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
  • Isaiah 40:13, "Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord [YHWH], Or as His counselor has informed Him?"
• 1 Cor. 3:20, "The Lord [kurios] knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.” 
  • Psalm 94:11, "The Lord [YHWH] knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath."
• 1 Cor. 10:26, "for the earth is the Lord’s [kurios], and all it contains."
  • Psalm 24:1, "The earth is the LORD’s [YHWH], and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."
• 2 Cor. 10:17, "But he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord [kurios]."
  •  Jer. 9:24, "but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord [YHWH] who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the Lord [YHWH]."

• Joel 2:32, "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord [YHWH] will be delivered,"