What is the Importance of a Person's Name?
By Jonathan Mitchell

My personal name has been a life-long issue, for me, and at age 76 (in 2019) I had personal realizations on how my own name, Jonathan, had impacted my life and my thinking. While on a morning's walk in our local park, the thought came: Can we extrapolate from our own experiences and our own cultural conditioning something about the Person and character of God, or are our thoughts and perceptions about God and His relationship to His own Name projections from us upon Him? I put this rhetorically, now, and will address some statements from Scripture as tentative answers, as we proceed.

Names impact our lives. Over the years, although I can't recall any specific experiences of such, I've had the impression that some people have not liked the names that their parents gave them. Having grown up in the Christian tradition, we children were aware of the importance and significance of names, from Genesis to Revelation. We understood that our parents had prayed about the names that they gave us, and so there was the element of respect for parents attached to our names. I have always insisted to others that I am Jonathan, not John. John was a friend of mine. Why do some of us feel "shrunk, or demoted," when people shorten or change our names? Not everyone feels this way, and I don't think that folks who do this have any malintent.

I was named after someone who had the character of fidelity to his friend, the man who would become King David. Sometimes, when introducing myself to someone (usually a male, as I recall), during the exchange of names he would acknowledge me as "Jon" (I presume: an abbreviated form that some Jonathans assume for themselves, or as in this case, for others). I would immediately correct him and say, "No, it's Jonathan." Most of my life all of my friends have known and referred to me as Jonathan. Being called by my brother's name was always like fingernails on a chalk board (now that dates me).

We know that all through history people have either changed their names, or had them changed by God or by someone else. We read in Ex. 20 that God identifies Himself as Yahweh (LORD, vs. 2) at the beginning of giving Israel the Ten Commandments. Reverencing His Name is the subject of the fourth promise (the statements are in the future indicative, not the imperative, at least in the LXX). This definitely establishes the importance of His Name, at least to Israel. In Genesis, we read of Abram's name being changed to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah, and Jacob to Israel (although he still kept his name, Jacob; Israel became the name of God's corporate son - Ex. 4:22). Names were important, especially in the OT. They usually had symbolic meanings, more than just being used to identify the individual.

In Mat. 28:19 we have the risen Christ instructing His followers to immerse the ethnic multitudes into The Name - of the Father, the Son and the Breath-effect (or: Holy Spirit). Notice that "The Name" is singular, not plural (but that's a side trail that we will not take at this time). In the book of Acts we observe these disciples immersing people into the Name Jesus. It is in this Name that folks must be saved. Then in Rev. 2:17 the "overcomers" will be given a white stone which has a new name inscribed on it. In Rev. 3:12, Jesus will write upon the overcomer, "the Name of My God, and the name of the city of My God... and My New Name." We see, in Rev. 14:1, "144K having His Father's Name (would this be 'Yahweh'?), or designation, written on their foreheads (indicating ownership, or that they represent the Father, or their new identity?)." Jesus gave Simon a new name, Peter. Some of the disciples had more than one name. Saul later became known as Paul. Then, in Phil. 2, Paul shares this beautiful passage about Jesus:

9. For this reason, God also lifts Him up above (or: highly exalted Him; elevates Him over) and, by Grace, gives to Him (or: joyously favors on Him) The Name - the One over and above every name! - [cf Jn. 17:5; Rev. 3:12; note: bearing a name signifies the authority of that name]

10. to the end that within The Name: Jesus! (or: in union with the name of Jesus; in the midst of this Name and Designation belonging to [Yahweh-the- Savior]; in the sphere of the designation, which is Yeshua), every knee (= person) - of the folks upon the heaven (of those belonging to an imposed heaven, or [situated] upon the atmosphere) and of the people existing upon the earth, and of the folks dwelling down under the ground (or: on the level of, or pertaining to, subterranean ones; [comment: note the ancient science of the day - a three-tiered universe]) - may bend (or: would bow) in prayer, submission and allegiance, [cf Isa.45:23]

11. and then every tongue (= person) may speak out the same thing (or: would openly, and joyfully agree; can confess, avow and, with praise, acclaim) that Jesus Christ [is] Lord (Master; Owner) - [leading] into [the] glory of Father God (or: unto Father God's good reputation; into the midst of a praise-inducing manifestation and assumed appearance which is God: a Father)! [cf Jn. 13:13; Rev. 5:13]

We have heard that although the Name Yahweh (YHWH) is written throughout the OT, during the "intertestamental" period, Jews in Alexandria translated the OT from Hebrew into Greek (the LXX). With that, the written occurrences of the Name Yahweh disappeared, being replaced by the term "Lord" (and then later given as "LORD," in some common English translations). So, I ask, What did God think of this? The NT writers mostly quote the LXX in their citations of the OT. Did Yahweh now have a new Name? Quotes of His Name are frequently found in the NT, but in the new form/word, "Lord." Did Yahweh experience an identity crisis? There are post-modern NT teachers of today who have come to the assumption that Yahweh was only a "tribal god" of Israel, and Christianity has had the true God revealed in Christ (this is another rabbit trail that we will not follow, here - but this is the logic of some folks). So why was the Name Yahweh not brought into the NT? Just askin'. Apparently, this Name was no longer important to the NT writers, at least for their time and place (they apparently followed Jewish tradition of the day).

The New had come, and old things had passed away (2 Cor. 5:17) - and most Gentiles would not think of God as Yahweh (especially those who used the LXX, where the Name does not appear, as it does in the Hebrew texts). So, is it important that our name survives us? Is this a kind of idolatry? Our culture creates monuments that have a person's name, or the names of a group. What was once meant for respect so often becomes idolatry. Now, yes, I am not forgetting that it is important to have our names written "in heaven," or in the "scroll of the Life." But I suspect that the former is figurative language, and we know that the latter is a part of a book of apocalyptic symbols. I suggest that we need to look for a deeper significance of these NT statements (cf: The End of the Old and the Beginning of the New, Comments on Revelation).

Today's religious Jews refer to God as Adonai (roughly equivalent to "Lord"), and Christians use the catch-phrase "Lord" to refer to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as using the terms Father, Jesus and Spirit. God seems to have multiple identities. The Jehovah's Witnesses have turned to the name Jehovah, and various "Messianic" Christian groups insist on referring to Jesus as Yeshua (or some other spelling). In both public life, religious life, and personal lives, names remain an important item of our cultures. Why do we think that, given the history of our Scriptures, a name remains important to God? We can, of course, pull up proof texts to support our views, but, having the same Scriptures, there is a diversity of views about the importance of God's Name, among the various sects of Christianity. My personal - culturally and religiously scripted - manner of thinking of God, and of addressing God in my communications (aka prayers) with Him is as "Father." This is because I am a relational being, and because this is how Jesus taught His disciples to "pray."

OK, so how do my personal life-experiences, and the importance (to me) of my own name, affect my perception of how God regards the various "names" that Scripture has given to Him, or Her (like El Shaddai - the breasted God)? Has He detached Himself from the Name Yahweh, as the ages have passed? Is it important to Him that other religions and cultures give Him different Names? We see the symbolic significance of names in the Bible. Beyond their contextual significances (especially via the experiences of OT characters in the various narratives), is it important that we address God with a specific name? Father, that Jesus taught us, is not a name but an expression of familial relationship. Jesus was declared to be God's Son. Has God stripped away a sense of His ego, as the ages have moved on? Remember, humans were, and are, made in God's image. Then God became one of us via the incarnation.

These ponderings are part of a larger question: Have we, for religious reasons, transported ancient, cultural values (e.g., the ideas concerning the wearing of gender-related clothing, or husband-wife-child relationships and the principles for raising children, etc., found in the Mosaic Law) into our present religious or ethical values? And then the question is: Should we? We, who have founded our value systems on what we perceive to be "biblical ethics," have tended to pick and choose which parts of the Law (the Torah) that we will carry-over into our religious praxis and moral ethics. I think that it is good that we do. But, when one grows up in some form of Bible-based culture, some of these carry-overs become deeply ingrained into our own self-identity - and this can be either good or bad, depending on the cultures, situations and environments in which we live. But, back to my topic...

I realized that I needed to detach from my ego-sense of the name Jonathan. To those nearest and dearest to me, i.e., my immediate family, I am Hun, Dad and Pa - not Jonathan (except with my siblings), in the sense that the name Jonathan has been so important to me. Who will I be in "the next life"? I really hope that I will be someone different (not tied to what has been some aspect of my present earthly life). Not that I want human relationships to disappear, but that just as our adult children relate to us differently than they did as young children, I anticipate relationships that have grown, evolved, been transformed, etc. Maybe this is why we will be given new names. Even though I still consider myself to be Jonathan, I am aware that I am not the same person that I was as a student in high school. I look back over the years, and I see different "Jonathans", in different stages of my growth and circumstances. So, I ask you, Why is a name so important? People tend to dehumanize others that they don't like by saying such things as, "Hey stupid, come here!" Other more crass or vulgar terms are often used to put people down. Folks do this because they know that names are important to people: degrade a name and you degrade the person - and, unfortunately, that is often the point.

I realize that, even now, the importance of "Jonathan" - and all that this "name" implies - is something that my true self needs to deny and destroy (as in Mat. 16:24-25), for it is part of the transitory ego. Paul wrote regarding our Master,

"He empties Himself (or: removed the contents of Himself; made Himself empty), receiving (or: taking; accepting) a slave's form, coming to be within an effect of humanity's likeness. And so, being found in an outward fashion, mode of circumstance, condition, form-appearance (or: character, role, phase, configuration, manner) as a human (a person; a man), He lowers Himself (or: humbled Himself; made Himself low; degrades Himself; levels Himself off), coming to be a submissive, obedient One, as far as (or: to the point of; until) death..." (Phil. 2:7-8)

We are called to follow Him; to do what He did. Regarding himself, Paul gave this example for us to imitate,

"I was crucified together with Christ, and thus it remains... yet I continue living! [It is] no longer I, but it is Christ continuously living and alive within me! (or: No longer an "I," an ego - now Christ constantly lives in the midst of, and in union with, me). Now that which I, at the present moment, continue living within flesh I am constantly living within [His] faithfulness - in and by that [faithfulness] which is the Son of God(or: in union with the trust and confidence that is from God's Son; [with other MSS: in the faith and fidelity belonging to God and Christ]) ..." (Gal. 2:20).

In the parable of the sheep and the kids (Mat. 25), we find the Lord identifying with the naked, the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned. But in the symbolism of Rev. 3:12 we find the risen Christ writing His new identity, or perhaps title (literally: Name) upon the overcomer. So now, in Him, we have a new identity: His. The symbolism of Rev. 14:1 portrays the 144K with the Father's Name (and which Name is that?) written in their foreheads. They now have His identity. Is this like how Jesus answered Philip?

"The person having discerned and seen Me has seen, and now perceives, the Father!"(Jn. 14:9)

In this life, humans often struggle with their identity because of not realizing that they are ontologically children of God, even though, like Jesus said concerning Israel, "It is necessary and binding for you folks to be born back up again to a higher place (or: for you people to be given birth from above)" (Jn. 3:7). I AM more than this name that my parents gave to me, but still, for the present, I am recognized as...

Jonathan

PS: Our cultural (or, familial) conditioning so often has lasting effects upon us. As we mature in Christ, and as Wisdom is added to us, we need to be pliable in His hands. He uses other people to sand and to polish us so that we will reflect HIS image, and not that of an unpruned ego. Selah.

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