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Lord
April 8
Lord (1)
kurios
In early Classical Greek, while kurios (G2962) was applied to
the gods, there was no general belief of a Creator God. The
word, therefore, was used in a broad way of someone who had
power or authority. It was different in Eastern thought,
however.
To the Oriental mind, the gods were “the lords of reality.” By
Jesus’ day, Eastern kings, such as Herod the Great (c. 73-74
BC), Agrippa I (10 BC-44 AD), and Agrippa II (27-c. 100 AD)
came to be called lord.
Most Roman emperors resisted such temptation, but others, such
as Caligula (37-41 AD) and Nero (54-68) found it appealing. It
was this very attitude of implied divinity that caused both
Jews and Christians to refuse to use the term lord of the
emperor.
Turning to the Septuagint, kurios appears over 9,000 times,
some 6,156 of which translate the Hebrew YHWH (Yahweh,
Jehovah), thus reemphasizing the meaning of divinity.
In the NT, then, kurios appears 717 times, the majority of
which occur in Luke’s gospel and Acts (210) and Paul’s epistles
(275). The reason for this, of course, was that they both wrote
for readers who were dominated by Greek culture and language
and who, therefore, understood the deep significance of this
word in implying deity.
Finally, while lord is sometimes used as simply a title of
honor, such as Rabbi, Teacher, Master (Mat_10:24; cf.
Luk_16:3), or even a husband (1Pe_3:6), when used of Jesus in a
confessional way, it without question refers to His divinity.
The confession Kurios Iēsous (Lord Jesus) is rooted in the
pre-Pauline Greek Christian community and is probably the
oldest of all Christian creeds.
Early Christians unarguably recognized Jesus as God, as Paul
wrote to the Philippians: “And that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
(Php_2:11). Even more significant, when Thomas saw the risen
Jesus, he called Him, “My Lord and my God” (Joh_20:28).
As we’ll see tomorrow, even salvation is based on a confession
of Jesus as Lord, as Divine Authority (Rom_10:9-10).
Let us give our Lord glory as Lord! We’ll continue our
meditation on this truth tomorrow.
S
criptures for Study: In the following verses, note our
attitudes toward God (and Jesus) as Lord: Mat_4:10; Rom_15:11;
Jer_26:13; Rom_14:11; 2Pe_3:18.
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