I’d like to talk about the importance of a name, God’s Name. Let me present just three verses that show what I’m talking about. These three verses: Acts 3:16, 4:7 and 4:12 talk about how important a name is, but it isn’t really the name itself. It’s the Person that name represents. It wasn’t Jesus’ name the followers of Jesus had faith in. His name is just a collection of sounds, of letters. It was the person and authority that name represents. So, when we approach demons to expel them in Jesus’ name, it’s not some magical formula but the presentation of the authority we have received as children of God, as followers of Jesus.
We see this especially in Acts 4:7 where it is clear that it is not the name used but the power or authority that name represents.
We see this in Acts 4:12. There are false gods named Jesus (2 Cor. 11:4). If I were to call on the name of Jesus and meant one of those false Jesuses, would I still be saved? Is that what Philippians 2:10-11 means? It doesn’t matter Who I think Jesus is, just using His name means I’m golden even if it’s a false Jesus? I don’t think so.
If it were so important to use the name, “Jehovah.” why do you suppose Jesus Himself, the greatest representative of God, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Number 2 in the universe (according to the WT), foremost teacher and example for us all; why did that Person only use the Name, “Jehovah” twice in conversation and never in prayer?
If we have seen Jesus, we’ve seen the Father, so I would pose God the Father Himself, therefore, does not lay great importance on “Jehovah” other than that it is the Name of the omnipotent Greatest Being. It is Who and What God is; not so much what we call Him that we are to honor, bless, and obey.
There are lots of groups that use the name, “Jehovah.” Do you think just the use of His name makes them God’s organizations? Accurate in their views? Able to source the very omnipotent power of the True God of Heaven? I don’t.
Since we see in another post that, according to the New World Translation of Jehovah’s Witneses, Jesus only used the name “Jehovah,” 22 times, 20 of those were in Old Testament quotes, and only two of them were said in passing. So, using the name, “Jehovah” was not that important to Jesus. It was the Person that name represented that He was interested in.
Acts 3:14-16 (ESV)
14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
Acts 4:7 (ESV)
7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
Acts 4:12 (ESV)
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
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Philippians 2:10-11 (ESV)
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
AnswersAZ 