page_title: Names of God in Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: Names of God in Christianity
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Gudsnamnet JHWH på väggen bakom predikstolen i Alla Helgona kyrka, Nyköping
context_page_description: In Christian theology the name of God has always had much deeper meaning and significance than being just a label or designator. Christian belief states that the name of God is not a human invention, but has divine origin and is based on divine revelation. Respect for the name of God is one of the Ten Commandments, which some Christian teachings interpret to be not only a command to avoid the improper use of God's name, but a directive to exalt it through both pious deeds and praise. This is reflected in the first petition in the Lord's Prayer addressed to God the Father: "Hallowed be Thy Name".
  Going back to the Church Fathers, the name of God has been seen as a representation of the entire system of "divine truth" revealed to the faithful "that believe on his name" as in John 1:12 or "walk in the name of Jehovah our God" in Micah 4:5. In Revelation 3:12 those who bear the name of God are destined for the new Jerusalem; which will come down from heaven. John 17:6 presents the teachings of Jesus as the manifestation of the name of God to his disciples.
context_section_description: In Christian theology the name of God has always had much deeper meaning and significance than being just a label or designator. Christian belief states that the name of God is not a human invention, but has divine origin and is based on divine revelation. Respect for the name of God is one of the Ten Commandments, which some Christian teachings interpret to be not only a command to avoid the improper use of God's name, but a directive to exalt it through both pious deeds and praise. This is reflected in the first petition in the Lord's Prayer addressed to God the Father: "Hallowed be Thy Name".
  Going back to the Church Fathers, the name of God has been seen as a representation of the entire system of "divine truth" revealed to the faithful "that believe on his name" as in John 1:12 or "walk in the name of Jehovah our God" in Micah 4:5. In Revelation 3:12 those who bear the name of God are destined for the new Jerusalem; which will come down (to earth) from heaven. John 17:6 presents the teachings of Jesus as the manifestation of the name of God to his disciples.
  John 12:28 presents the sacrifice of Jesus the Lamb of God, and the ensuing salvation delivered through it as the glorification of the name of God, with the voice from Heaven confirming Jesus' petition ("Father, glorify thy name") by saying: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" referring to the Baptism and crucifixion of Jesus.
  The Bible usually uses the name of God in the singular (e.g. Ex. 20:7 or Ps. 8:1), generally using the terms in a very general sense rather than referring to any special designation of God. However, general references to the name of God may branch to other special forms which express his multifaceted attributes. Scripture presents many references to the names for God, but the key names in the Old Testament are: God the High and Exalted One, El Shaddai and YHWH (on the meaning of the latter name there is almost no agreement). In the New Testament Theos, Kyrios and Patēr (πατήρ i.e. Father in Greek) are the essential names.
caption: The Tetragrammaton YHWH, the name of God written in the Hebrew alphabet, All Saints Church, Nyköping, Sweden
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "118", "Image YResolution": "118", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2009:11:26 09:32:13", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6728", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1888", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1568"}