From a non-JW site:
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Jehovah in the NT
Although there are no remaining ancient Christian Era Scripture (New Testament) manuscripts that contain the full name of God, there are four reasons why we believe that the Name actually existed in the original texts back in the First Century. They are:
· The Name would have been found in many of the ancient Hebrew texts that are quoted by Jesus and his disciples.
· Jesus mentioned God having a Name in ‘The Lord’s Prayer,’ and at John 5:43, 10:25, 12:13, 17:26.
· The Name still appears in the Revelation as part the word HalleluJah. For Hallel means praise, u implies second person, and Jah is a shortened form of Jehovah (you find this shortened form used in many Hebrew names of people, such as EliJah).
· The fact that Christians who lived in Jerusalem were still worshiping at the Temple of Jehovah late into Paul’s ministry proves that they still viewed Jehovah as their God (see Acts 21:20-26).
It appears as though God’s Name was originally removed from the OT texts by Jewish scribes either during or shortly after the First Century CE. Therefore, it’s not surprising that it may have also been removed from the NT texts by later ‘Christian’ Jewish copyists.
Note for example, the words of 2 Timothy 1:18. For in this Bible we have translated the words as saying:
‘So, may
the Lord grant him mercy from
Jehovah.’
In the existing Greek texts, this reads:
‘δῴη αὐτῷ
ὁ Κύριος εὑρεῖν ἔλεος παρὰ
Κυρίου,’
or,
‘May grant to/him
the Lord to/find mercy from
Lord.’
As you can see, two ‘Lords’ are mentioned here and only one is preceded by the definite article,
the. But if Paul was in fact speaking of Jesus in both places where the Greek word for ‘Lord’ is found in that text, he would have simply written:
‘
May the Lord grant him mercy.’
However, notice that Paul was talking about the Lord (Jesus) granting this person (Onesiphorus) mercy from a third person whom the current Greek text also refers to as
Κύριος (Lord). This is obviously a case where the Divine Name has been omitted from the existing Greek text. As you can see, Paul was speaking of Jesus granting the man (Onesiphorus) mercy from The God (Jehovah)… so the context shows that
God’s name must have originally been there!
When was this substitution of ‘Lord’ for God’s Name likely made? It has been argued (and there is considerable textual evidence that this is true) that all of Paul’s writings were translated from his common language (Aramaic) into Greek in the early Second Century, and this appears to be the period in which this, as well as several other changes to the original texts, were made.
I struggle to understand your reasoning. Jesus talked about the name of His Father, but did not directly mention what that name was. It is important to consider what our Lord Jesus had to say about His Father:-
John 14:8-9 (KJV)
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Our Lord was more interested in showing people how to have a personal relationship with God rather than to argue about His name. When they saw ‘Jesus’, they saw God His Father.
With respect to the issue of the name of Jehovah being removed from all manuscripts by the Jews, this seems to be highly unlikely and a desperate idea to those who are incapable or unwilling to consider any alternative. There are about 5,000 pieces of manuscripts in existence today and none of them have the name of Jehovah. You must also consider that not all original books and letters are written to Jews, but many to Gentiles. Are they all of the same conspiracy?? Were the Gentiles also desperate to get rid of the name Jehovah from every scrap of manuscript?? There is the complete lack of any evidence of any record of any loud and clear complaint from the Gentiles?
You say that Jesus used the name of the Father, but it seems to me that they were far more interested in the name of Jesus. Why was this do you think? If Jesus came to make His Father’s name known, then the name ’Jehovah’ should be mentioned hundreds of times throughout the New Testament, but it isn’t.
When you mention 2 Timothy 1:18, my Bible says:-
2 Timothy 1:18 (KJV)
18 The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.
When I read my version as it is interpreted correctly, I don’t see any difficulty. It could be one or two Lords. Whether it has the article or none is no difficulty.
The previous verse about Onesiphorus leaves no evidence of the name of ‘Jehovah’ ever being there. I think that is wishful thinking??
Now, I have to make an admission. In the opening question, I said that ‘Jesus came to make His Father’s name known.’ No-one has picked up on the fact that there is no such Scripture. That was a red herring. Jesus never said that He came to make His Father’s name known. It was all about Jesus’ name. But now here is something to think about. There are people who have made it a life’s study of the ancient Hebrew language. They say that they have come to understand it despite the language having no vowels. From their research, they believe that the name of God is YAHAWAH (name of the most high). The name of Joshua in the Greek in the Old Testament is the same as Jesus in the New Testament. The name of Joshua in the ancient Hebrew in the Old Testament is YAHAWAHSHI (YAHAWAH is salvation) and thus the name ‘Jesus’ in the New Testament in the ancient Hebrew is YAHAWAHSHI. So in the Greek when people called on the name of Jesus, they were effectively saying ‘YAHAWAH is salvation’ thus making the name of God known. I think I have explained that correctly. Certainty for eternity.
Understand that we are Bible translators (not teachers); so, our conclusions on this are based strictly on our research, not on a desire to take a religious position. And because we can see that such changes were obviously made; this Bible is one that uses God’s Name in the Christian Era Scriptures.
However, unlike other Bibles that use the Divine Name there, you will see that we have avoided using it in places where the two Greek words
ho Kyrios (the Lord)
could actually be speaking of Jesus, for we own no franchise on the use of God’s Name. Rather, you will notice that we have inserted the English spelling of the Divine Name (Jehovah) where the NT text is quoting OT texts that are clearly speaking of
The God and were not prophecies about
Jesus (we will discuss more about that below). You will also find a few places in the NT that we have inserted God’s Name where the text is clearly speaking about The God (not about ‘the Lord’ Jesus), which we have done for the purpose of clarification.
Yet, whenever there is any question about which ‘Lord’ is being mentioned (and there are several questionable instances), we have simply left it translated it as ‘the Lord.’
Objections to Using God’s Name in the NT
Some have objected to putting the Name Jehovah in the Greek text, for they say that use of the Divine Name would have been offensive – and may have resulted in stoning – if Jesus and his disciples had actually spoken or written it, because of the supposed Jewish tradition against doing such a thing. Yet, God’s Name had to be used when the Apostles were preaching to the gentiles… otherwise, these people simply wouldn’t have known which ‘Lord’ the disciples were talking about (remember that the gentiles to whom they preached believed in other Gods). For, to call God
the Lord when most gods (and many men) were also called lord, would have been confusing to all those to whom Jesus’ disciples preached, both Jews and Gentiles.
So, it is because we know that the non-Jews to whom Jesus’ disciples spoke had to be told the True God’s Name to differentiate him from their pagan gods, that we seriously question whether the use of the Name was really as offensive as some claim it was prior to JeruSalem’s destruction by the Roman armies in 70-CE… also, we find it hard to imagine Jesus ever being afraid to speak the Name of his Father!
Another common argument that we’ve heard against using The Name in the Christian Era Scriptures (NT) is that it was
the time of Jesus, and all mention of
the Lord referred to him. However, numerous texts prove that this argument isn’t valid… and again; it is hard for us to imagine Jesus pushing his own name over the Name of his Father.
But, recognize that there are still serious problems with trying to correctly insert the Divine Name in the Bible to replace it with the words that have been substituted by Jewish and Christian copyists, since the title ‘Lord’ appears to have been the correct choice in many places. For, as we will discuss below, even the Masoretic copyists of the Hebrew text have clearly gotten it wrong in several instances!”
—Source:
http://www.2001translation.com/Jehovah.htm#_3