Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT sil.org]

As we are looking for examples of how New Testament writers identified 
Jesus with YHWH, surely this is clear in Romans 9:9 "That if you 
confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,'... you will be saved", in 
the context of the quotation in verse 13 from Joel 3:5 (Eng. 2:32) 
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved". In the 
Joel passage the Lord is clearly YHWH. So this comes as close as you 
could get to saying "Jesus is YHWH", and that it is central to the 
Christian proclamation. Philippians 2:9-11 must also identify Jesus 
with YHWH - what else is "the name that is above every name" than 
YHWH? But in both passages Jesus is also distinguished from God. Does 
this mean that Paul did not identify YHWH with God? I wonder. Did 
anyone else have such thoughts at that, or any other period?

Suppose someone in one of Paul's churches had confessed with his mouth 
"Jesus is Lord" and later turned round and said "All I meant was, 
Jesus is the agent of the Lord". What do you think would have been the 
reaction to this of Paul who wrote Galatians 1:8-9?

Peter Kirk