Baptism, Church, and the Names of God

[First off, if you don't know the main point of the Bible, learn that from my last two posts. Then come back here for some more "ed-jew-kay-shun."]

You might be wondering "What the heck is Baptism and Church all about?"
Well, I'll tell ya.

The word "baptism" comes from the Greek baptizō and literally means “dipping.” The reason Christians do it is because of ancient Jewish ritual baths called mikvehs. Even now, in modern times, dipping oneself in the mikveh is a symbol of purification. John the Baptist didn’t invent it – it was a common practice in Ancient Israel. *see embedded video*

Once people started claiming faith in Jesus as the anointed redeemer (Christ / Messiah), God-appointed sacrifice – voluntarily killed in their place to satisfy justice, for the forgiveness of their sins – they used “baptism” or the mikveh as an extra special symbol: as a public declaration of their faith, they showed outwardly what had happened to them on the inside. Going down into the water and coming up out of it also gave an interesting parallel in identifying with Jesus – dying to self and rising up to new life with Him (the resurrection being the sign that Jesus' sacrifice was accepted).

1 Peter 3:21 "Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ..."

The meaning of the word "church" is assembly. Really any kind of assembly – or gathering of people – called out for whatever reason. One of the more specific uses of that word in the Bible is for all of the believers/Christians in a local area or the total population of believers worldwide. The word is pretty much synonymous with the term synagogue – see James 2:2.

The purpose of coming together is to learn from and teach each other. There is the opportunity to make really purposeful relationships in which people build each other up, have accountability with each other in terms of sin, and help each other in their spiritual gifts; iron sharpens iron. And it is all centered on worshiping the God that rescued them. *see embedded video*

People don't go to church – they are the church. And then there are false-yet-professing "believers" sitting among and worshiping with the church (False Converts).

And the only reason the Church exists on Earth at all is so that its people will be equipped to go out and spread the Good News.

Euaggelion is the Biblical Greek term for “good news.” That would be basar/besorah in Hebrew (see Isaiah 61:1), evangel in Latin, and gospel in Old English. All those terms are calques for you linguistic types. :]

Evangelism, gospelism – whatever you want to call it – the purpose for the people of God’s church here and now is to spread the message: explaining why it’s a terrifying thought that God is good (as Paul Washer says) and explaining the great gifts of mercy and grace through the cross – the penal substitutionary atonement. Forgiveness available through repentance and faith (which are two sides of the same coin).

"I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:20-21
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10

Names

While I'm on the subject of word meanings and word origins, I'll add in a little about names. I'm no expert on this subject, but I'll tell you the information I do know (possible errors and all).
God's epicenter for revealing Himself to humanity – and the epicenter of redemption – was the Middle/Near East among people of a certain culture and mindset (John 4:22). In what became the Hebrew culture, names were more than a simple identifier. They weren't chosen for children simply based on how they sounded. Meaning was master. A person could be named based on circumstances:

Abraham fell on his face and he laughed ויצחק (vayitsachaq), and said in his heart, "...will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" ... God said, "...Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac יצחק (Yitschaq); and I will establish My covenant (legal alliance/pledge/promise) with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." -from Genesis 17

Or based on a quality: Gabriel means "warrior of God" or "man of God."

Giving a name that denoted character may have been hit and miss for many parents, but the God of scripture knows His own character for sure.

With that explained, let's go to the names and words associated with God and Jesus (the radiance of His glory...the image of the invisible God...in who all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form – as Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15, and Colossians 2:9 state).

• English "Jesus” = Greek "Iesous" = Hebrew “Yehoshua” or "Yeshua" (Joshua). The meaning is "YHWH (God) SAVES."

Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

• Germanic “God” (called-upon one) = Greek "Theos" (deity) = Hebrew “Elohim” (ruler). Elohim is used a few times throughout the Hebrew Bible to refer to various kinds of authorities and powers, but has its supreme meaning when referring to the creator of the universe and ruler of all existence. This noun also happens to be used with both singular verbs and plural verbs, based on which Being or group of beings a sentence is referring to. (source)

When English Bibles use the phrases "the LORD" and "Lord GOD" with small caps it is referring to the name YHWH יהוה. A little over 2000 years ago, when people stopped saying that name out of reverence, its accurate pronunciation was lost to history since written vowels were not in use at the time. They didn’t need to do that, seeing as everyone in the Tanakh/Old Testament had no problem saying the name. But anyway, they used the word “lord” (master) in its place. In Hebrew, adon, and in Greek, kyrios.

So when Jewish people today open up a scroll – or a Bible printed in Hebrew – and see יהוה, they say either Adonai (“My Lord”) or Hashem (“the Name”) instead. Some English translations frequently employ those words, too.

To remember all the phrases simply, here are the English presentations alongside the original manuscript presentations and their meanings:

• lord =  adon / kyrios = master
• my lord = adonai 
• the LORD = Yahweh 
• Lord GOD = adon Yahweh = master Yahweh
• God = El, Elohim = ruler
• my God = Eli, Ehohei
• the LORD God = Yahweh Elohim = the existing/true supreme ruler (see below)

The meaning of Yahweh/Yehovah/Jehovah is connected with the I AM* statement in Exodus 3:14-15

"I AM THAT/WHO I AM אהיה אשר אהיה (ehyeh asher ehyeh) ... Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD יהוה, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations."

Based on stuff I've read, my little paraphrase of that passage has God basically telling Moses "I exist because I exist (I am the self-existing one) ... say to the Israelites 'He Exists' has sent me to you." http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_Yahweh_mean

Now back to the name “Jesus.” How did we get that from Yehoshua? Well, another given name in the Bible is Yeshua – a shortened form of Yehoshua. And when transferred over into the Greek language letter by letter (transliteration) it became Iesous, pronounced Yay-soos. Greek has no “sh” sound and the “s” added at the end has to do with grammar. http://jesusisajew.org/YESHUA.php

“Iesous” rendered with Latin letters is IESUS, and about 500 years ago in the English language the letters I and J sounded identical. French influence gave us the hard J sound, so printings of “Jesus” gradually lost that I/Y sound at the beginning. That’s where the name “Jesus” comes from. It is equivalent to Joshua. The ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible calls Joshua, Moses’ successor, Iesous. *see embedded video*

There is a Hebrew word, yeshu'ah, which means “salvation/deliverance.” Sounds pretty similar to "Yeshua.” Click the link and scroll down to read the verses and passages that used that word.

There also might be a prophesy about the name Joshua in relation to the coming Messiah (“anointed one” or “Christ” in Anglicized Greek) in Zechariah 3:8-10, 6:11-13. It was written around 500BC. The branch and the vine were phrases some prophets used to refer to a promised coming deliverer.

That's it for now. See ya next time!

www.youtube.com/News2urEars

*Jesus applied the title "I AM" to himself on a few occasions:
A John 8 audio dramatization: Before Abraham was...

Another edit/addition:
The word angel – which mistakenly conjures up images of European dudes in bathrobes or naked babies with two wings – simply means messenger. Particular humans and solely spiritual beings are both referred to as angels. The "messengers from Heaven" have no physical or material form, but were manifested to people in various ways. Check out this message on the encounters with Abraham, Lot, Isaiah, and Ezekiel: part one & part two.

The word "Lucifer" just means "morning star" and was not specifically the name of Satan before he fell. It is only in the Latin Vulgate translation, and only in the 14th chapter of Isaiah, that the word lucifer is used in the Bible – and not everyone agrees that that passage is partially about Satan. But whether it is or not, lucifer is not exactly used there as a name. Even Jesus is referred to as a morning star of sorts in the Book of Revelation. What is true about Satan is that "he" is a rebellious angelic being who stirs up evil in the world. He isn't big and powerful like God but just evil, like a negative version of God. Satan is limited. He is incomparable to God like any other created thing and will be punished along with his fellow rebels and unforgiven humanity, after the resurrection, in Gehenna. The Bible doesn't teach "pitchfork theology." Oh, and by the way, the word "Satan" simply means enemy and "devil" means liar/accuser/slanderer.

One last side note, in regards to the often twisted verse in John chapter ten where Jesus says "you are gods"...
During a confrontation at the time of Hanukkah (The Feast of the Dedication) some Judeans picked up stones to stone Jesus for claiming to be God. (The Greek word is rendered "Jews" in most translations, but it's probably used as a locative term here rather than an ethnic term – Jesus and his disciples being Jews from Galilee in the north and these Jews being natives of Judea in the south.) His response to them is a little confusing, but the commentaries on verse 34 here help a lot. Since another meaning of the word Elohim is "earthly ruler," Jesus may have been basically saying to them in that moment: "Wait a second, you have no problems calling each other rulers, so why bar me from using that term?"

It looks like, to some, that it wasn't until the Festival of Lights (symbolic of Revelation) that Jesus chose to finally let the cat completely out of the bag. Although he did make the big John 8:58 statement previously, he had also been telling people whom he healed not to say anything openly about him. So once the John 10 confrontation rolled around he held back for a while until verse 38. The big reveal! Either that or He just didn't want politically-minded people raising Him up in some of those earlier instances.

Source (for some of that info):
 Messianic Jewish/Hebrew Roots Pastor Mark McLellan on Jesus & Hanukkah
http://www.graftedin.com/sermons/121201.mp3

Here's a couple minutes from Jews for Jesus about Jesus & Passover
and Mark McLellan's foundational sermon on the same topic, if you haven't heard it yet: http://www.graftedin.com/sermons/120331.mp3