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In my experience I have observed a widespread lack of consistent, clear thinking regarding the issue of reverence and the divine name. The mainstream opinion often asserts that all avoidance of saying God’s name aloud stems from a profound reverence and respect. This is usually the reason given for the substitution of kurios in the NT and the absence of any transliteration of YHWH in modern versions of the OT. However, if this is indeed the case, in order to be consistent, Christians should use only titles for Jesus and never pronounce his name. Nor should it ever be rendered in transliterated form in any Bible translation.

If Christians fail to show the same “reverence” to Jesus that they show to Yahweh by avoiding his name, they imply a belief that the second person of the Trinity is less in dignity and not worthy of equal honor. They inadvertently demote Jesus as inferior. This practice unwittingly echoes the heresies of Arianism, Adoptionism, Ebionism, Socianism, and Unitarianism. If it is so important to show reverence to Yahweh by obscuring his name with a title, why has this not been normalized with the name of Jesus? What does this inconsistency communicate to Christians and the unbelieving world? It would seem to run contrary to a high Christology (John 1:1, 14, 20:28, Col 1:15-17, 2:9, Heb 1:3, 8, Phil 2:6-7, Titus 2:13, Rev 1:17-18, etc.).

Part 6 - Pronouncing & Translating the Divine Name - Reverence, Discontinuity, Supersessionism, & Accuracy