The Old Testament Doctrine of Salvation by WILLIAM DEAS KERSWILL

Author:WILLIAM DEAS KERSWILL
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Soteriology, Salvation, Christ, Old Testament
Publisher: Monergism Books
Published: 2011-02-22T23:41:36.587000+00:00

Chapter 5 : JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF REDEMPTION

(115) THE view which the Old Testament believer had of his own salvation is inseparably connected with his conception of "Jehovah." Misconception of Jehovah, as the New Testament reader's conception of Christ, determined more than anything else, except his own sin, the question of his salvation. What his conception of Jehovah was, is to be learned from his habitual usage of that name. The etymology of a name is one thing, but its practical meaning may be quite another. It is the usage of a name which reflects its practical meaning. It is not to be wondered at, that the believer of old, as the Christian of today, had several names with which to denote the all-comprehensive Deity, different designations, to be used according to the particular characteristic or work of God which was intended to be emphasized.

These several names of God in the Old Testament are not adequately distinguished, in our (116) Authorized English version, nor even in the ordinary Revised Version.

One of these names of God, and the one which we first meet with is "Elohim," generally rendered in our English versions simply, "God," but which we may refer to in the following pages more definitely as, "Elohim." A cursory examination of the passages in which this name occurs reveals, in general, its meaning, its usage: "Elohim created the heavens and the earth." Gen. 1:1. It was the Spirit of "Elohim" who "moved [brooded] upon the face of the waters." Gen. 1:2. It was "Elohim" who said, "Let there be light." Gen. 1:3. And so it was "Elohim" who, as it is recorded throughout the first chapter of Genesis, performed the several days work of Creation. "Elohim" completed in the seventh day " his work which he had made." Gen. 2:2. So, as we shall have reason also to notice later, wherever God especially appears as Creator or Ruler, this name is, in a consistent, but not narrowly pedantic, manner used, in the Old Testament.

But it is not the usage of the name "Elohim" with which we are at present so directly concerned. It is with another name of God with (117) which we also frequently meet in the Old Testament, the English equivalent of which is "Jehovah." The much debated question as to what was the original pronunciation of this name, is a matter of very minor importance. Its English equivalent, by which we shall refer to it, is, in any case, the well-established, splendidly resonant word, "Jehovah." Many modern scholars have sought to gain currency for some other English transliterative, of more heathen-like sound, lacking the gracious associations with which an evangelical faith, for centuries, has gradually been clothing this name, "Jehovah." It would accord too, with the effort made by many unbelieving scholars, to make Jehovah stand in the same narrow national relation to Israel which the various heathen deities occupied toward their several nations. It would please any who would exclude the Jehovah of the Old Testament from his universe as a whole, and make him merely a national deity.

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