Chapter 2
Chapter 2 : The Lord the Redeemer
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HE previous chapter was on God the Creator, and also included
material on creation. This chapter is on the Lord the Redeemer, and
also includes material on redemption. The following chapter is on the
Holy Spirit, and will also include material on divine action.
By “the Lord, the Redeemer” we mean Jehovah in his human mani-
festation. In what follows, we will show that Jehovah himself came down
and took on a human manifestation for the purpose of redeeming.
We speak of “the Lord” rather than “Jehovah” because Jehovah of the
Old Testament is called “the Lord” in the New, as you can see from the
following passages. In Moses it says, “Hear, O Israel, Jehovahyour God,
Jehovahis one. You are to love Jehovah Godwith all your heart and with
all your soul” (Deuteronomy 6 : 4 – 5 ); but in Mark it says, “The Lordyour
Godis one Lord.You are to love the Lordyour Godwith all your heart
and with all your soul” (Mark 12 : 29 – 30 ). Likewise in Isaiah it says, “Pre-
pare a way for Jehovah; make a level pathway in the solitude for our
God” (Isaiah 40 : 3 ); but in Luke it says, “I will go before the face of the
Lordto prepare the way for him” (Luke 1 : 76 ). There are other instances
elsewhere.
Furthermore, the Lord commanded his disciples to call him Lord
[John 13 : 13 ]. Therefore this is what he was called by the apostles in their
letters, and afterward what he was called in the apostolic church, as is
clear from its creed, called the Apostles’ Creed.
One reason for this change of names was that the Jews did not dare
to say the name Jehovah, because of its holiness. Another reason is that
“Jehovah” means the underlying divine reality, which existed from eter-
nity; but the human aspect that he took on in time was not that underly-
ing reality. The nature of the underlying divine reality or Jehovah was
shown in the previous chapter, §§ 18 – 26 , 27 – 35.