The names of the deity as they appear in Scripture, beginning with Genesis, are as follows: the first is God, appearing in the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, the familiar “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The word “God”, in our English version, is different in Hebrew, which was the actual language of the original Genesis document that was penned by Moses. That word is “Elohim”, E-l-o-h-i-m. Elohim is not a name familiar to most English-speaking people, but it is very familiar to those of the Jewish religion, particularly among Jews who practice their faith. Curiously, the word “Elohim” is clearly in the plural, and the literal translation of Elohim is “Gods”, plural. This is precisely the meaning, yet, it is translated as if it were singular. However, the Hebrew word for “God” in the singular is clearly not “Elohim” but “Eloah.” Even more curious is the fact that Elohim, in the plural, is found 2570 times in the Bible. Traditionally, Christians attribute the plural usage of Elohim, or Gods, to be compelling evidence that there is a plurality of Persons in the one true God. While three Persons subsisting in one God appears mysterious and confusing, Scripture uses the term repeatedly, and often connects the plural Elohim with singular verbs or adjectives. We’ve already briefly discussed the Christian concept of the Trinity on previous sessions of Christianity Clarified.
The second designation of the deity also appear in Genesis 2:4 when the English word “LORD” appears and is connected with God. The verse reads, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” Both “LORD” and “God” are used together and would appear as such many more times in the Bible. The word in English is L-O-R-D, all capital letters in English.
The third name for deity after Elohim and LORD with each letter capitalized is the word “Lord,” spelled the very same way except only the first letter “L” is capitalized but the following letters “o-r-d” being in the lowercase form, and while both are spelled and pronounced “Lord” in English, they are not the same, especially in the original Hebrew.
In addition, and lastly, Scripture refers to the deity as “El Shaddai”, deserving of its own explanation later. Each of the afore mentioned names all designate the one true Deity, Creator of heaven and earth, and each speaks of His person in a distinctly different way. A brief examination of each will be considered on subsequent sessions of Christianity Clarified.
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