The Significance of the Title "Kyrios": Jesus is Lord in the New Testament
This is demonstrated by the fact that up to 90% of the New Testament quotations of the Old Testament are from the LXX (Harris, Archer, & Waltke, 1980). This is significant for several reasons. Since the authors of the New Testament were also writing in Greek, it allowed for an "apples to apples" rendering of various words and concepts from the Old Testament into the New Testament (Comfort, 2008). The most significant example of this is in the word "Kyrios." Most often translated as "LORD," it was used by the Jewish translators of the Hebrew into Greek as the word for the personal covenant name of God, YHWH, the tetragrammaton. In this context, it occurs more than 7,000 times in the LXX (Morris, 1986).
The significance of this title is illuminated when we see it is also applied to Jesus Christ over 700 times in the New Testament (Hurtado, 2003). The use of this title for Jesus is an explicit and overt claim to His deity every single time it is used (Wright, 1992).
This usage of "Kyrios" to refer to Jesus is profoundly impactful because it directly associates Jesus with the divine name of God (Martin, 1983). In the Septuagint, "Kyrios" is not just a generic term for "lord" or "master"; it is the specific designation used for the God of Israel. Therefore, when New Testament authors apply this title to Jesus, they are making a deliberate theological statement: Jesus is identified with the God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament (Hengel, 1976).
Moreover, the early Christian confession "Jesus is Lord" (Greek: "Iesous Kyrios") becomes much more than a statement of allegiance; it is a declaration of Jesus' divine status (Bauckham, 1998). This confession, found in passages like Romans 10:9 and 1 Corinthians 12:3, would have resonated powerfully with both Jewish and Gentile audiences. For Jewish believers, it affirmed that Jesus shared the divine identity of YHWH. For Gentile converts, it established that the one true God had revealed Himself in Jesus, distinguishing Him from the pantheon of pagan gods (Witherington, 1994). Furthermore, since Romans 10:9 (NIV) states: "If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" - it explicitly ties acknowledging Jesus as YHWH God to the condition of one's salvation.
The application of "Kyrios" to Jesus is also evident in key Christological passages. In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul states that God exalted Jesus and bestowed on Him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ("Kyrios"), to the glory of God the Father. This passage echoes Isaiah 45:23, where every knee bows to YHWH, further solidifying the identification of Jesus with the God of Israel (Fee, 1995).
Furthermore, in the book of Acts, Peter's sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:36) concludes with the declaration that God has made Jesus both "Lord" ("Kyrios") and Christ, again linking Jesus with the divine name and affirming His divine authority (Bruce, 1988).
Given these points, it becomes difficult to avoid the conclusion that the New Testament authors, and the earliest Christians, viewed Jesus as divine, as the Incarnate God of Israel. The consistent application of "Kyrios" to Jesus, a title used over 7,000 times in the Septuagint to denote YHWH, leaves little room for interpretation that denies His deity (Tilling, 2012). Groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who deny the divinity of Christ, must contend with this overwhelming scriptural evidence. The clear and repeated identification of Jesus with YHWH in the New Testament writings challenges any attempt to regard Him as merely a human teacher or prophet (McGrath, 2001). The divinity claims about Jesus are deeply embedded in the language and theology of the New Testament, making it nearly impossible to dismiss or reinterpret without ignoring significant portions of the biblical text.
Prophecy Asserts Messiah Will Be God
The Old Testament also contains passages that seem to assert that God Himself will come in the messianic prophecies, further supporting the New Testament's portrayal of Jesus as divine. For instance, Isaiah 40:3 states, "A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’" This passage, which the New Testament writers apply to John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23), indicates that the coming of the LORD (YHWH) is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus (France, 2007).
Another example is found in Malachi 3:1, where it says, "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty." Here, the prophecy speaks of the LORD Himself coming to His temple, which is understood as being fulfilled in Jesus entering the temple in Jerusalem (Keener, 1999).
In Zechariah 12:10 it profoundly states: "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son." The New Testament applies this verse to Jesus' crucifixion (John 19:37; Revelation 1:7), indicating that the pierced one is YHWH Himself (Carson, 1991).
In conclusion, the use of the Septuagint by New Testament authors, particularly the application of "Kyrios" to Jesus, is a profound assertion of His deity. It bridges the Old and New Testaments, showing the continuity of God's revelation and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in Jesus. This usage underscores the central Christian claim that Jesus is not merely a human teacher or prophet but is indeed the incarnate God, YHWH Himself, worthy of worship and allegiance (Wright, 1996). The repeated and deliberate application of "Kyrios" to Jesus in the New Testament, along with Old Testament prophecies asserting that God Himself will come, is a clear and powerful affirmation of His divine nature and role in the salvation of humanity (Moo, 1996).
References
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Bruce, F. F. (1988). *The Book of the Acts*. Eerdmans.
Carson, D. A. (1991). *The Gospel According to John*. Eerdmans.
Comfort, P. W. (2008). *New Testament Text and Translation Commentary*. Tyndale House.
Fee, G. D. (1995). *Paul's Letter to the Philippians*. Eerdmans.
France, R. T. (2007). *The Gospel of Matthew*. Eerdmans.
Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. (1980). *Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament*. Moody Press.
Hengel, M. (1976). *The Son of God: The Origin of Christology and the History of Jewish-Hellenistic Religion*. Fortress Press.
Hurtado, L. W. (2003). *Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity*. Eerdmans.
Jobes, K. H., & Silva, M. (2000). *Invitation to the Septuagint*. Baker Academic.
Keener, C. S. (1999). *A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew*. Eerdmans.
Martin, R. P. (1983). *Carmen Christi: Philippians 2:5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the Setting of Early Christian Worship*. Eerdmans.
McGrath, A. E. (2001). *Christian Theology: An Introduction*. Blackwell Publishers.
Moo, D. J. (1996). *The Epistle to the Romans*. Eerdmans.
Morris, L. (1986). *New Testament Theology*. Zondervan.
Tilling, C. (2012). *Paul's Divine Christology*. Eerdmans.
Witherington, B. (1994). *Paul's Narrative Thought World: The Tapestry of Tragedy and Triumph*. Westminster John Knox Press.
Wright, N. T. (1992). *The New Testament and the People of God*. Fortress Press.
Wright, N. T. (1996). *Jesus and the Victory of God*. Fortress Press.
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