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Jehovah in the New Testament
Jehovah
The word Jehovah has never been found in any New Testament manuscript. Watchtower reasons that Jehovah was originally there, but removed without trace. This undermines the integrity of the entire Bible, as if such a significant word has been changed, what else is wrong? On the other hand, if "Jehovah" did not appear in the New Testament, the meaning of key New World Translation Scriptures change.
This article addresses the following:
Does the New World Translation (NWT) properly include Jehovah in the New Testament?
Is it important for us to use the word Jehovah today?
Proclaimers p.99 claims regarding the NWT:
"The conventioners were thrilled to learn that this new translation restored the divine name Jehovah 237 times in the main text from Matthew to Revelation!"
The fundamental flaw of the NWT is this insertion of the word Jehovah 237 times into the New Testament. Watchtower justifies this insertion by claiming all known New Testament manuscripts are inaccurate. This is vitally important because such a claim undermines the integrity of the Bible. If God was unable to prevent the removal of his own name from the New Testament without trace, what else was he unable to prevent being changed? On the other hand, if this Watchtower claim is wrong and the word Jehovah never appeared in the New Testament this change makes Watchtower doctrine incorrect by:
Creating a false sense of importance on using the word Jehovah
Changing the meaning of important New Testament passages
Jehovah has never been found in any New Testament manuscript
The New Testament is one of the most attested ancient works in existence. The Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 87 p.184 has listed 5,255 known New Testament Greek fragments. The Tetragrammaton does not appear in the New Testament either as YHWH or as the Greek transliterations PIPI, YAW and Iabe in a single one of these ancient New Testament manuscripts. This is despite "some papyrus fragments of the Christian Greek Scriptures that go back to the middle of the second century." (w82 3/15 p.23).
On very rare occasion, Watchtower has admitted that there are no known New Testament fragments the contain the Divine Name.
"The position of God's name is unshakeable in the Hebrew Scriptures... With the Christian Greek Scriptures, the "New Testament", the situation is different... no ancient Greek manuscript that we possess today of the books of Matthew to Revelation contains God's name in full." The Divine Name that will Endure Forever p.23
When attempting to build faith in the Bible the Watchtower asserts the New Testament is complete without omissions - silent in regards to their belief that the most important word has disappeared without trace.
"No striking or fundamental variation is shown either in the Old or the New Testament. There are no important omissions or additions of passages, and no variations which affect vital facts or doctrines." Reasoning from the Scriptures p. 64
"Not only are there thousands of manuscripts to compare but discoveries of older Bible manuscripts during the past few decades take the Greek text back as far as about the year 125 C.E., just a couple of decades short of the death of the apostle John about 100 C.E. These manuscript evidences provide strong assurance that we now have a dependable Greek text in refined form." All Scripture is Inspired of God and Beneficial p.319
"God’s own purpose in preparing the Sacred Scriptures and the inspired declaration that “the saying of Jehovah endures forever” give assurance that Jehovah God has preserved the internal integrity of the Scriptures through the centuries." Insight on the Scriptures - Volume 1 p.1206 Inspiration
The story changes when explaining why the Watchtower Society added the word Jehovah into the New Testament, alleging the removal of YHWH from the New Testament during the second century.
"Sometime during the second or third century C.E. the scribes removed the Tetragrammaton from both the Septuagint and the Christian Greek Scriptures and replaced it with Ky´ri·os, "Lord" or The·os´, "God."" New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures - With References p.1564 1D The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures
There is no proof to support this claim, as not a single ancient New Testament document has been found with YHWH in it.
Several available manuscripts date back to this period. P47 dates prior to 300 A.D. and contains four uses of Kyrios from Revelation that the NWT translates as Jehovah. P66 dates from around 200 A.D. from John (written in 98 A.D) and contains five occurrences of Lord that appear in the NWT as Jehovah. Some manuscripts go back to within 25 years of John's writings, yet none contains YHWH.
Evidence it did not Appear
There is much evidence that YHWH never appeared in the New Testament. Most obvious is the absence of YHWH in any of the 5,000 discovered Greek New Testament manuscripts.
Important evidence is also contained in the writings of the early Christians. These are referred to as the Apostolic Fathers and Ante Nicene Fathers who wrote from the times of the Apostles to the third century. This includes Polycarp, who studied with the Apostle John and Justin Martyr who lived from 110 to 165 A.D. Their extensive writings are a source of information on the early Church, including the formulation of the Trinity doctrine and the development of the Bible Canon. Yet in their writings there is no discussion about the removal of God's name from the Scriptures. If a global conspiracy existed to remove YHWH from the all New Testament manuscripts debate most certainly would have occurred between these writers.
Furthermore, their works do not contain YHWH when quoting from New Testament Scriptures. For example, in Against Heresies, Irenaeus quotes Matthew 1:20; 4:10 and Romans 11:34, each time using the word Lord instead of Jehovah. Clement, mentioned at Philippians 4:3, wrote the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians between 75 and 110 A.D. and used Kyrios when quoting from the Old Testament. (See 1 Clement 13:5 which quotes Ezekiel 33:11.)
Justin Martyr converted to Christianity around 150 A.D., a mere 50 years after the Bible was completed. He had access to early copies of the New Testament yet in The Second Apology, Chapter VI he wrote;
"But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten, there is no name given. For by whatever name He be called, He has as His elder the person who gives Him the name. But these words, Father, and God, and Creator, and Lord, and Master, are not names, but appellations derived from His good deeds and functions."
Justin Martyr shows that Christians referred to the Father by appellations, but not a name such as Jehovah.
That the Holy Name was not being uttered in Jesus day is attested to by first century historian Josephus:
"Whereupon God declared to him [Moses] his holy Name, which had never been discovered to men before; concerning which it is not lawful for me to say anymore. " (Josephus; Antiquities 2:12:4)
As we do not have the actual original copies that the Bible writers penned it is always possible to say that YHWH may have appeared in the original copy. However the weight of evidence shows that YHWH was not in the original copies. If the Watchtower claims God allowed men to edit out his name "YHWH" and that no proof has been found to its existence to this day, how can a person have confidence in any of the New Testament?
The New Testament is one of the most attested ancient documents. The reason a person places trust in it is their conviction that God ensured the Bible has come down to us accurately. If use of the name Jehovah is so important one must wonder why the word never appears in any existing New Testament documents. If God inspired and protected the Bible, keeping the Bible accurate throughout all history why does his name not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts or in the very first Bible, the 5th century Latin Vulgate?
Jehovah in the New Testament
Jehovah
The word Jehovah has never been found in any New Testament manuscript. Watchtower reasons that Jehovah was originally there, but removed without trace. This undermines the integrity of the entire Bible, as if such a significant word has been changed, what else is wrong? On the other hand, if "Jehovah" did not appear in the New Testament, the meaning of key New World Translation Scriptures change.
This article addresses the following:
Does the New World Translation (NWT) properly include Jehovah in the New Testament?
Is it important for us to use the word Jehovah today?
Proclaimers p.99 claims regarding the NWT:
"The conventioners were thrilled to learn that this new translation restored the divine name Jehovah 237 times in the main text from Matthew to Revelation!"
The fundamental flaw of the NWT is this insertion of the word Jehovah 237 times into the New Testament. Watchtower justifies this insertion by claiming all known New Testament manuscripts are inaccurate. This is vitally important because such a claim undermines the integrity of the Bible. If God was unable to prevent the removal of his own name from the New Testament without trace, what else was he unable to prevent being changed? On the other hand, if this Watchtower claim is wrong and the word Jehovah never appeared in the New Testament this change makes Watchtower doctrine incorrect by:
Creating a false sense of importance on using the word Jehovah
Changing the meaning of important New Testament passages
Jehovah has never been found in any New Testament manuscript
The New Testament is one of the most attested ancient works in existence. The Journal of Biblical Literature Vol. 87 p.184 has listed 5,255 known New Testament Greek fragments. The Tetragrammaton does not appear in the New Testament either as YHWH or as the Greek transliterations PIPI, YAW and Iabe in a single one of these ancient New Testament manuscripts. This is despite "some papyrus fragments of the Christian Greek Scriptures that go back to the middle of the second century." (w82 3/15 p.23).
On very rare occasion, Watchtower has admitted that there are no known New Testament fragments the contain the Divine Name.
"The position of God's name is unshakeable in the Hebrew Scriptures... With the Christian Greek Scriptures, the "New Testament", the situation is different... no ancient Greek manuscript that we possess today of the books of Matthew to Revelation contains God's name in full." The Divine Name that will Endure Forever p.23
When attempting to build faith in the Bible the Watchtower asserts the New Testament is complete without omissions - silent in regards to their belief that the most important word has disappeared without trace.
"No striking or fundamental variation is shown either in the Old or the New Testament. There are no important omissions or additions of passages, and no variations which affect vital facts or doctrines." Reasoning from the Scriptures p. 64
"Not only are there thousands of manuscripts to compare but discoveries of older Bible manuscripts during the past few decades take the Greek text back as far as about the year 125 C.E., just a couple of decades short of the death of the apostle John about 100 C.E. These manuscript evidences provide strong assurance that we now have a dependable Greek text in refined form." All Scripture is Inspired of God and Beneficial p.319
"God’s own purpose in preparing the Sacred Scriptures and the inspired declaration that “the saying of Jehovah endures forever” give assurance that Jehovah God has preserved the internal integrity of the Scriptures through the centuries." Insight on the Scriptures - Volume 1 p.1206 Inspiration
The story changes when explaining why the Watchtower Society added the word Jehovah into the New Testament, alleging the removal of YHWH from the New Testament during the second century.
"Sometime during the second or third century C.E. the scribes removed the Tetragrammaton from both the Septuagint and the Christian Greek Scriptures and replaced it with Ky´ri·os, "Lord" or The·os´, "God."" New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures - With References p.1564 1D The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures
There is no proof to support this claim, as not a single ancient New Testament document has been found with YHWH in it.
Several available manuscripts date back to this period. P47 dates prior to 300 A.D. and contains four uses of Kyrios from Revelation that the NWT translates as Jehovah. P66 dates from around 200 A.D. from John (written in 98 A.D) and contains five occurrences of Lord that appear in the NWT as Jehovah. Some manuscripts go back to within 25 years of John's writings, yet none contains YHWH.
Evidence it did not Appear
There is much evidence that YHWH never appeared in the New Testament. Most obvious is the absence of YHWH in any of the 5,000 discovered Greek New Testament manuscripts.
Important evidence is also contained in the writings of the early Christians. These are referred to as the Apostolic Fathers and Ante Nicene Fathers who wrote from the times of the Apostles to the third century. This includes Polycarp, who studied with the Apostle John and Justin Martyr who lived from 110 to 165 A.D. Their extensive writings are a source of information on the early Church, including the formulation of the Trinity doctrine and the development of the Bible Canon. Yet in their writings there is no discussion about the removal of God's name from the Scriptures. If a global conspiracy existed to remove YHWH from the all New Testament manuscripts debate most certainly would have occurred between these writers.
Furthermore, their works do not contain YHWH when quoting from New Testament Scriptures. For example, in Against Heresies, Irenaeus quotes Matthew 1:20; 4:10 and Romans 11:34, each time using the word Lord instead of Jehovah. Clement, mentioned at Philippians 4:3, wrote the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians between 75 and 110 A.D. and used Kyrios when quoting from the Old Testament. (See 1 Clement 13:5 which quotes Ezekiel 33:11.)
Justin Martyr converted to Christianity around 150 A.D., a mere 50 years after the Bible was completed. He had access to early copies of the New Testament yet in The Second Apology, Chapter VI he wrote;
"But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten, there is no name given. For by whatever name He be called, He has as His elder the person who gives Him the name. But these words, Father, and God, and Creator, and Lord, and Master, are not names, but appellations derived from His good deeds and functions."
Justin Martyr shows that Christians referred to the Father by appellations, but not a name such as Jehovah.
That the Holy Name was not being uttered in Jesus day is attested to by first century historian Josephus:
"Whereupon God declared to him [Moses] his holy Name, which had never been discovered to men before; concerning which it is not lawful for me to say anymore. " (Josephus; Antiquities 2:12:4)
As we do not have the actual original copies that the Bible writers penned it is always possible to say that YHWH may have appeared in the original copy. However the weight of evidence shows that YHWH was not in the original copies. If the Watchtower claims God allowed men to edit out his name "YHWH" and that no proof has been found to its existence to this day, how can a person have confidence in any of the New Testament?
The New Testament is one of the most attested ancient documents. The reason a person places trust in it is their conviction that God ensured the Bible has come down to us accurately. If use of the name Jehovah is so important one must wonder why the word never appears in any existing New Testament documents. If God inspired and protected the Bible, keeping the Bible accurate throughout all history why does his name not appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts or in the very first Bible, the 5th century Latin Vulgate?
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