Greetings to you ministers of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ ,I'm blessed day by day when I study the word on your site , thanks a lot may God richly bless you with all wisdom in revealing only the truth plus nothing without fear. Thanks again.
Hi,
thanks for the email and question. The name of God in the Bible is in the four letters YHWH (known as the 'tetragrammaton'). Scholars do not know what vowels it should have or even how many. People generally use Yahweh adding an 'a' and 'e' from the names 'Adonai' and 'Elohim'... but we don't know. We don't know exactly how it is pronounced. I personally prefer Yahweh to Jehovah but do you know what I prefer over both of these? It is the name that Jesus used and the one that both He and Paul taught us to use. It is...
Father!
Some people getting into Hebrew roots and especially 'Sacred name' stuff get all bent out of shape trying to insist that you use this name or that one (they often don't even agree amongst themselves) and cause division and hostility within the body. It really is far from what Jesus desires from us and what He taught. For example did Jesus go around speaking of God as Yahweh? No, he had the blessed position to call Him 'Father' and taught us to do likewise! (Matt 6:9, John 20:17, Rom 8:15) How awesome it is to be in the family of God and be able to call God our Father!
Can we use 'Jesus'?
The same goes for Jesus' name. In Greek it is 'Iesous'. In English, 'Jesus'. In Hebrew 'Yeshua' or 'Yahshua'. 'Jesus' didn't come from Rome and it isn't pagan. It is the accurate and acceptable translation of the Greek 'Iesous'. Other languages will have other variants as they do for all names. Does it matter? No. There is no command to only use Hebrew in addressing Him! People can call Him by the Hebrew Yeshua if they want but it doesn't make anyone more spiritual or closer to Him. And yet some make such a big deal about these things! Be careful not to major on minors and minor on majors! A lot of this reminds me of what Jesus said about he Pharisees:
Mat 23:24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
The Bible Knowledge Commentary states: "They were majoring on minors, straining out a gnat, while minoring on majors, swallowing a camel. Being so busy with small details, they never dealt with the important matters."
For more info, I would recommend the following pages (this is a good site in general that I recommend for lots of different questions):
https://www.gotquestions.org/Yeshua-Jesus.htmlhttps://www.gotquestions.org/Yeshua-Hamashiach.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/YHWH-tetragrammaton.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Sacred-Name-Movement.html
To quote one of the above pages on the Sacred Name movement:
"The Sacred Name Movement fails to understand that the Savior did not come to expand Judaism or the Old Covenant. The Savior came to fulfill the Old Covenant and establish the New Covenant. Messiah’s death and resurrection fulfilled the requirements of the Law and freed us from its demands (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:15). The Old Covenant was but a shadow (Hebrews 8)."
I am not surprised, but saddened, that you have 'a very big problem' there with those teaching these things. It is very similar to the issue in Galatians where the Judaizers came into the church and starting turning the believers from their freedom and faith in Christ back to Jewish customs and practices under the law. And Paul was very firm with them when he wrote his letter (Gal:1:6-10, 3:1-3) pointing them back to faith and freedom in Christ.
Feasts
Concerning the feasts/holidays - Christmas and Easter do have Pagan origins but that doesn't mean that God has instructed us to keep the feasts of Israel. Well, we do keep them, but in a spiritual sense... not an outward sense. For example Paul tells us that we keep the feast of unleavened bread as we walk in sincerity and truth as this is what that feast pointed to.
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
We also need to remember that the outward feast is BUT A SHADOW of the reality in Christ. It was a picture pointing to what He would do and what believers have in Him. So we are free to partake in these feasts if we like but the MOST IMPORTANT thing is that we experience the REALITY of what these feasts pointed to in Christ and not just focus on the SHADOW. It is reality, not shadow that we want!
Col 2:16-17 Therefore let no one sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath. (17) Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to come, and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ.
My advise is to keep your focus on Jesus, what He did, who He is for you now, the grace and freedom that we have in Him and the need to tell others about the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. A lot of this other stuff is simply focusing on that which the New Covenant (the one we are under) doesn't focus on, and often brings conflict and division. And the Bible warns us against such ones who cause division:
Rom 16:17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
It doesn't sound like a good situation you have there at all. I hope this helps with your own clarity on the matter.
May God Bless