The Divine Name: Does YHWH Belong to One Person or to God's Shared Identity?¶
Study Question¶
Is the divine name (YHWH, often written as "the LORD" in English Bibles) the personal name of a single individual — the Father alone — or does it express something about the divine nature that can be shared by more than one person within that identity?
What the Study Found¶
What the Name Actually Means¶
The name YHWH comes from the Hebrew verb meaning "to be." When God revealed his name at the burning bush, he said "I AM THAT I AM" — a name built on the concept of self-existent being. This is fundamentally different from personal names like Abraham ("father of many") or Israel ("struggles with God"), which describe someone's role or history. YHWH describes what God IS. If the name expresses a mode of existence rather than labeling one individual, then in principle it can be shared by anyone who possesses that same self-existent nature.
The Old Testament Shows Two Persons Bearing the Name¶
The most direct evidence comes from passages where two distinct figures are both called YHWH. In Genesis 19:24, "the LORD rained fire on Sodom from the LORD out of heaven." One YHWH is on the ground — the one who had been speaking with Abraham. The other is the source in heaven. In Zechariah, a figure says "YHWH of hosts has sent me" while simultaneously declaring "I will dwell in your midst, says the LORD." The sent one IS YHWH, yet he is sent BY YHWH. These passages cannot be explained if the name belongs to only one person.
Jesus Claimed the Name¶
A chain of divine self-identification runs from the Old Testament to the New. At the burning bush, God said "I AM." In Isaiah, God repeatedly declared "I am he" as his signature phrase. Jesus claimed the same identity: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). The crowd immediately tried to stone him — because they understood he was claiming the divine name, not merely saying he existed before Abraham. At his trial, Jesus combined three claims in one sentence: the "I am" formula, the Son of Man from Daniel 7, and the seat at God's right hand from Psalm 110. The high priest tore his robes and declared blasphemy. Merely claiming to be the Messiah was not blasphemy. What triggered the verdict was a claim to share God's identity.
The "One God" of Israel Includes Room for Christ¶
The great declaration of Deuteronomy 6:4 — "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD" — uses the Hebrew word "echad" for "one." This word can describe composite unity: two people becoming "one flesh" in marriage, many grapes forming "one cluster." A different Hebrew word, "yachid," specifically means "solitary, only one" — and it is never applied to God anywhere in the Old Testament. If the biblical authors wanted to declare that God is a single solitary person, they had the right word available and never used it.
Paul unpacks this in 1 Corinthians 8:6, where he takes the Shema's vocabulary and distributes it between "one God, the Father" and "one Lord Jesus Christ." He places Jesus inside Israel's foundational monotheistic confession without creating a second God.
The New Testament Transfers God's Exclusive Titles to Jesus¶
Multiple New Testament authors — writing independently, in different decades, to different audiences — take Old Testament passages where YHWH speaks exclusively about himself and apply them directly to Jesus. Isaiah 45:23 says every knee will bow to YHWH; Paul says every knee will bow at the name of Jesus. Joel says whoever calls on the name of YHWH will be saved; Paul says whoever calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. This pattern is too widespread and too consistent to be accidental.
The Father Shares His Name with the Son¶
In his final prayer before the crucifixion, Jesus said to the Father: "Keep them through your own name which you have given me" (John 17:11). The Father's own name has been given to the Son. In the baptismal formula (Matthew 28:19), three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — share one name (the Greek uses the singular "name," not "names"). This confirms that the divine name is a shared identity, not one person's exclusive property.
Main Takeaway¶
YHWH is the name of the divine identity — not the first name of a single individual. It expresses self-existent being, and the Bible itself shows more than one person bearing it. The Old Testament planted the seeds with two-YHWH passages, the Shema's composite "one," and the divine self-identification formula. The New Testament makes explicit what was already present: Jesus shares in the divine identity that YHWH names. He does not replace God or create a second God. He shares the one divine nature that the name has always described.