Understanding God's Name is Understanding Who He is

Photo by Daria Nekipelova

If you are like me and have a common name, you can probably relate to the struggle of frequently whipping your head around at the grocery store as you hear someone calling for you, only to realize it was for a different Emma (I would not be surprised if a published study will reveal that 30% of women are named “Emma”). Perhaps you walk into souvenir shops and try to find your name among personalized keychains. Even if you do not have a common name, for all of us it may feel like our name is more of a product rather than who we are, just some letters that we read on our birth certificate. However, scripture points to the importance of names and how our name plays a major factor in our identity. Not to mention that making names simply into a product can lower our view of the greatest name there is: the name of God. The Bible emphasizes the importance of knowing God by name and living to make His name known to the world (Matthew 18:20; Matthew 28:19-20; Matthew 6:9). In fact, if we misunderstand the significance of God’s name and how it relates to who He is, it will be very challenging for us to recognize blasphemy we commit in profaning His name.

Why Are Names So Important?

What is so special about God’s name? To answer this, we must consider what exactly a name means. A name is not simply how we address a person, but it is also a part of their identity, their existence itself. Whenever I hear the name “Denver,” more often than the city in Colorado I think of my kind and loving husband, perhaps a specific, recent memory that I shared with him will come to mind. In other words, a name is not simply a word or label, but it is part of a person and is associated with our personality and our connections. Whatever you are called, whether it is a nickname, full name, or middle name, it is what people use in describing you and equate things to you. The Bible has a lot to say about how important our names are:

• “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches and favor is better than silver or gold.” Proverbs 22:1

• “A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.” Ecclesiastes 7:1

A name can have qualities to it, not because of the name itself but because of the person. There is a good name and a bad name, which is certainly tied to our reputation, what people know about us that they then tie to our name, our “identifier,” if you will.

• “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20

• “[God] determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names.” Psalm 174:4

God has named His creation one by one, and He has identified His children from heaven and given them purpose and eternal life by name. So along with being part of our identity, our names are also part of our purpose.

Why is God’s Name Important?

If our names are such an important part of our identity, what about God’s? His name not only directly reflects who He is, but it is through God’s name that we know Him and understand who He is. We know Him as “God” because we believe that He is the only true God that exists (John 17:3; 1 John 5:20), and God reveals Himself to His people through His name to separate Himself from false gods and all other beings whom He has created. See what God calls Himself when Moses asks for His name:

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me.” (Exodus 3:13-16)

It is out of the Hebrew pronunciation of “I AM” that we have God’s personal name “Yahweh.” The people of Israel would know who He is, distinct from every Being, through His name. It is “Yahweh,” who is so beyond our human understanding of being, that He describes Himself, His existence, ultimately summed up as “I AM WHO I AM.” He has no limits, no Myer Briggs personality trait, no conflicts within Himself, no “dramatic” emotional blow ups, but He is complete and perfect in Himself. Theologian John Piper explains that there are many things we can learn about God through the statement of His name “I AM” or “Yahweh,” including “He never had a beginning,” “God will never end,” “God is absolute reality,” “God is utterly independent,” “Everything that is not God depends totally on God,” “God is constant,” and “God is the most important and most valuable reality and person in the universe.” ¹

Despite how distinct He is from our created selves, He still provides a way for us to relate to Him in some way by giving us His name. R.C. Sproul talks about the transcendence (holiness and power that separates Him from us) and immanence (how He interacts with humanity) revealed in His name:

In God’s answer to Moses, we see a contrast to this impersonal force. He didn’t say, “It is what it is,” which seems to be the name of false gods of our day. He said, “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14). This name is related to God’s personal name, Yahweh. So the very first thing that God reveals about Himself in that name is that He is personal. He can see; He can hear; He can know; He can speak. He can relate to the creatures He made in His own image. He is the God who brought up His people out of the land of Egypt. He is a God with a name and a history…when we look at God, we know His name is wonderful. In that name, He reveals manifold things about the excellency of His being and the perfections of His character. And that’s why the saints of old, if we asked, “Tell us everything you know about God,” they would finally say, “Yahweh—I AM WHO I AM.” ²

We are able to understand who God is because He is not a God who made the world and left. He is not a God who does not care for those He has created. How are we to praise and thank a God we do not know? He has provided a way for us to give glory to Him - to point others to the one true God, by giving us His name, and His very name declares who He is: “I AM.”

Do We Have to Call Him “Yahweh”?

If God revealed Himself as “Yahweh,” is this the only way we can refer to Him? Is it incorrect to call Him “God” or “Lord”? While Yahweh is the proper name of God, it is not the only name He has given us to call Him. There are other names through which God revealed Himself to prophets and kings in the Bible, so Professor Daniel J. Elbert provides a definition of the name of God:

God’s names refer to the appellations, titles, and metaphors by which God reveals himself in his relationship to people. God’s names appear as the LORD [Yahweh] discloses himself to Israel; this revelation culminates in the gospel that is for all people as God’s name unfolds to include Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.³

So “God” or “Yahweh” are not the only ways that we can address God, but it does not mean one of His titles in the Bible is less valid than another. Elbert continues by listing some of the most popular Hebrew names of God, saying, “There are many compound forms of Yahweh, especially Yahweh Sabaoth (“Lord of Hosts”), and cognates of Elohim, such as Eloah, and El with its compound forms, especially El-Shaddai. There are titles such as King, Creator, Father, Holy One, Redeemer, and Rock.” ³ These are just some of the ways God describes Himself in scripture, but all of them point to the same Being. This is incredibly important to understand, dear friends. Many will say that God indeed has many names, such as Allah, Buddha, various Hindu gods or Egyptian gods, and so on. However, these are false gods of other religions. While we call God titles such as King, Creator, God, Lord, Father, Yahweh, we are speaking of One specific Being, namely, the God who is Jesus Christ and the God who sent down Christ to us. “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23). If you do not believe in Christ and believe that Christ is God in the flesh, you do not know God.

Some find this a difficult and perhaps even a contradicting concept that God can be called by certain titles in the bible but He cannot be called “Allah.” However, we see this pattern reflected in the names of those around us. For instance, my dad has many names, including dad, father, grandpa, Robert, Robby, Bob, Brother, and so on. When I call him “dad” I am specifically talking about him. I would be talking about a different person if I were to call him “mom” or “Anna”. Likewise, when we speak of God, we are speaking of only One God in particular, the One who declared Himself to be “the Alpha and the Omega,” “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8), and as “I AM.”

Live For His Name

So what is so special about the name of God? It is part of His identity; it is how we know Him. He has been so gracious as to make Himself known to His creation, His children, as our Father, Creator, Lord, King, and the great “I AM.” His very name implies His greatness and all the wonderful deeds that He works in His creation. His name is salvation (Acts 4:12), His name is Holy (Psalm 111:9), and His name is the highest and greatest name that we know (Psalm 83:18). We live to declare the greatness of His name because of all that He has done for us. This is our greatest purpose, dear friends, and it is the only fulfilling purpose you will find - not making much of ourselves, but making much of the One true God. “Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!” (Psalm 34:3).

References

1. Piper, John. “I Am Who I Am.” Desiring God, 8 Sept. 2012, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/i-am-who-i-am--2.

2. Sproul, R.C. “What is God’s Name?” Ligonier, 15 June 2020, https://www.ligonier.org/posts/what-gods-name.

3. Elbert IV, Daniel J. “The Names of God.” The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-names-of-god/. Accessed 27 April 2022.