Introduction:
The first six posts of this current series were devoted to introducing readers to the Nicene Creed and its first section about God the Father. That first section of the Nicene Creed begins as follows:
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible;
As we prepare to move onto the second major section of the Creed, we are journeying ever deeper into the reality of God Himself as it pertains to the Person of the Son. The Apostle Peter preached to a group of Gentiles in Acts 10. In Acts 10:36 Luke records part of what Peter said in that sermon:
"The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)".
We find Jesus referred to as "Lord" over 300x in the New Testament. As I have learned in writing this series thus far, studying the Creed and reciting them prompts the Christian to pursue more clarity and accuracy when proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Person of the Son of God is central in the Nicene Creed.
Kevin DeYoung's recent book "The Nicene Creed - What You Need To Know About The Most Important Creed Ever Written", page 36, notes the following about this upcoming section on the Person of the Son:1
"The historical reality is that there was no controversy surrounding the Person of the Father. Everyone agreed that God was the Father, and the Father was God. There wasn't much to debate."2
The Creed then expands upon the Father as "Almighty God" by citing "maker of Heaven and Earth, of things visible and invisible". Deyoung continues:
"The theological reality is that Jesus Christ stands as the central figure in the storyline of Scripture. This does not mean that one Person of the Trinity is more important than another. It does mean, however, that we know the Father through the Son (John 14:6-7), while the Spirit's work is to reveal the Son (John 16:14). It makes sense both historically and theologically that the most important creed in the history of the church would be largely about the person and work of Jesus Christ."
It is to the Person of the Son that we now turn our attention in this series on the Nicene Creed. We will summarize how we see the Old Testament use various names for God, and their relevance to the Persons of the Father and the Son in the Trinity. We will then look at the New Testament's use of words for "God" and "Lord", noting how that pattern informs why the Nicene Creed begins its section on the Son with the words "And in The Lord Jesus Christ".
The names "LORD" and "God" in the Old Testament, and what they tell us about the Father, the Son, and the oneness of the Divine nature.
"God" or "Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים)
When you look at the two most common names for God in the Old Testament, and then compare how they are used in the New Testament, you find an interesting pattern that reveals the oneness of God's being on the one hand, and the plurality of identity on the other. Such patterns prepare us for the full revelation of the intra-trinitarian relationship of the Father and the Son.
In Trinitarian thought, we see the term "God" used to refer to either the totality of the Divine nature, signifying God as He is indivisibly in the Three Persons as a whole; or we observe this same term describing how each Person is truly God by nature.
The name "Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים) ("God" in our English Bibles) is plural in the Hebrew, with the "im" suffix signifying God's majestic power. In Hebrew, plural nouns attached to singular verbs in Divine settings will signify the majesty of God (called "plural of majesty") or hint to a plurality of identity (as in Genesis 1:26 "let us make man in our image", with a plural pronoun "us" as subject of a singular verb "make"). This name in most instances refers to God generically in the oneness of His essence.3
Overwhelmingly, Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים) refers generally to the Divine nature or "Godhead" of the True and living God. Providing the name "Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים) is attached to a singular verb (as we see in Genesis 1:1), the power of God is conveyed. Hebrew dictionaries define the Hebrew singular form of Elohim, "El", as meaning "Mighty One" or "Strong One". Thus, God alone has the power to create something from nothing, bring forth life from death, and forgive sin - none of which any creature can perform.
The Old Testament will also use this noun "Elohim" to refer to distinctions in the Godhead, whereby a Divine Person is addressing another Divine Person of the same nature. Psalm 45:7 is a good example: "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God , Your God (אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֶיךָ), has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows." The writer of Hebrews, quoting Psalm 45:7, ascribes the second "Elohim" or "God" as being none other than the pre-incarnate Christ in Hebrews 1:8 "But of the Son He says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.'"
"LORD" or "Yahweh" (יְהוָה)
The other common name in the Old Testament for God is "Yahweh" (יְהוָה)or "Jehovah", translated in the Greek Old Testament and Greek New Testament as "kurios" (κυριος) or "LORD". In Exodus 3:14, we read of the following encounter between God and Moses,
"God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
This unusual name is capitalized in our English Bibles as "LORD". The phrase "I AM WHO I AM" ("e-hayah a-sher e-hayah = אֶֽהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶֽהְיֶה) is grammatically related by root to - "Yahweh" (יְהוָה). The name "Yahweh" and the attending English translation "I AM WHO I AM" derive from the verb "hawa" (הָיָה) which means "to be, to exist".4
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible;
Endnotes:
1. Kevin Deyoung. The Nicene Creed - What You Need To Know About The Most Important Creed Ever Written. Crossway Publishers. 2025
2. Let's pause and reflect on Deyoung's point on what the Creed says about the nature of God and the Person of the Father. Both points are without controversy. As we've seen in prior posts, the Creed's confession of "We believe in One God, the Father" is straight-forward, describing the Divine nature, of which the Father personally possess from all eternity, as being "the Almighty".
3. A handful of occasions feature "Elohim" referring to spiritual beings or angels, as well as to the false deities worshipped by the nations.
4. The way God expresses His name is by taking this verb and making it into a first person singular imperfect, which conveys a continual action, unending, as performed by the subject. The beauty of the imperfect verbal pattern in Hebrew is that in can often refer to ongoing action in the past, present, or future. In other words, God is saying that "I AM He who is, who always has been, and who will always be".
5. There are of course those instances where the New Testament will use the generic term for deity, "theos" or "God" to refer to the Father and the Son, as in John 1:18 "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." As we saw already in the citations of the book of Hebrews above, the New Testament revelation will utilize the other common name for deity, Yahweh, by using the name "kurios" or "LORD" to refer to both the Father and the Son.
