"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:4-6)
There
is ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism…
Just
as there is one baptism, there is “One” Lord. One
Kurios.
The
Bible word “lord” is interesting to me.
While we are taught to “believe that Jesus is Lord”, I
venture to say that very few can admit to adequately understanding
what is meant by that profession. Perhaps we have heard others
complain that a father or husband habitually “lords” it
over them. Is that our connotation? And we have heard stories of
there being “lords” in the English royal family. Maybe
we’ve studied about there being lords over plantations during
the U.S. slavery era. Generally, I believe it is safe to say that
Americans in general do not relate to a system where it is accepted
that one is lord over another.
Probably
the closest I personally can relate to
is
the law enforcement officers of
my day.
Like many children of the Great Depression I was taught to respect
and fear the local police’s
power; through
movies of the day, I knew about the disobedient
gangsters
and their demise
at the hands of the FBI. As
Romans 13:4 teaches, “for
he beareth not the sword in vain.”
“Lord”
Means
“Authority.”Perhaps
a Greek definition might help us. The
“one
lord”of
Ephesians
4:5(kurios)
means“(supremacy);
supremein
authority”.
Both
Strong’s
and Vine’s
dictionaries agree with this.This
“authority”
is consistent with how
Jesus used
it:
“Why call you me
Lord, Lord,
and do
not
the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Social
Nicety?
"The
use
of
the word “lord”
in
the NT follows two main lines: first,
per
custom,
and
second, “peculiar
to the Jews, and drawn
from the Greek translation of the OT.”i“Lord”appears
to have
been
a common form of social
address
since
it is used with Jesus alike
by
the people(e.g.,
Matthew
8:2)and
by
His disciples(e.g.,
Matthew
8:25).
And
Jesus no where corrects anyone in
this matter. The
application in thefirst
century society
was
apparently like our using a titleof
respect tocertain
citizens,
aged,
elders,
and teachers (Matthew
27:63; John 4:11; Matthew 10:24; etc.).
It is used in the NT for owners, masters, rulers, even
a husband and
a fatheriivery
much I think like we have
used
“Sir” or “Mister”in
our
past. Among
modern Greeks, the
English term "Mr. Smith" is translated as
"κύριος
Σμίθ".iii
Religious
Use Of “Lord.”In
theOld
Testament the Hebrew word for
“Lord”
is Jehovahivwho
wielded authority in
Israel.
Jehovah
means “Existing One” from His identity to Moses as the “I
am” in
Exodus 3.He
is the plural but united “Elohim” of
Genesis 1:1.OT
passages
on
Jehovah are
quoted in the New Testament for
both God and the Predicted
Messiah.
For example, “For
David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The
LORDsaid
to myLord,v
Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool”
(Mark
12:36; Psalm
110:1).
Jesus
attributes this Psalm
as
a prophesy of the Messiah. On
the night of His betrayal, Jesus assertedwith
apparent
emphasis of His
religious
authority to
the apostles.
“Ye
callme
Master and Lord:
and ye say well; for so I am”
(John
13:13).
Deity.viSome
havewritten
about the Hebrew name “Jehovah”being
mystical with
a secret meaning.Suchwriterswonder
what really “power”
the
“secret”
meaning
entails.
The Septuagint Jewish scholars who translated it into Greek
obviously
understood
Hebrew
and
consequently taught that it meant simply “Lord” (i.e.,GreekKurios.)viiSince
the
word “lord” to
them identifiedthe
deity,
its
application in
the NT to
Jesus is a declaration of His deity. As
Thomas declared to
the resurrected Jesus,
“My
Lord
and my God!’”
(John
20:28).
Although
Jesus has always been one of the
Godhead
(Philippians 2:6),
nevertheless, by the
miracle
of His
resurrectionis
proof to
the apostles and to
us by
the
Holy Spirit to
His
divine
nature.
“Who
was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit
of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our
Lord”
(Romans
1:4, ASV).
Jesus
Is The One Lord now. It
is obvious that Jesusreceives
this adoration by
His disciples in
a special sense after his
crucifixion.
In
fact, the
disciples use “Lord”
as
an exclusive
title for Jesus after the cross. Jesus
tells His disciples that He
is not just a lord but
now He possesses “all
authority
in heaven and earth”
(Matthew 28:18).
After
this Peter proclaims, “
Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that
same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Christ ”
(Acts
2:36). This
clearly applies
to
after his resurrection
as Acts 2.31-33 shows and
His
being "made Lord" refers
to
after
his return to the spiritual heavens to be once again beside the
Father, God.viii
“Jesus
Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,
with
angels, authorities, and powers subject to him."
(1
Peter 3:21-22).
The
Limit Of His Power. The
only exception to
the exclusive
authority
rule, according
to 1 Corinthians 15:27, 28, is the Father who
has
madeJesus
“Lord”.
The
Holy Spirit is “sent” by the Lord to the apostles to make
known His will (John 16:13). “The
last enemy that
shall be destroyed is
death. For He
hath put all things under his feet. But when He
saith all things are put under him,
it is manifest that
He
is excepted, which did put all
things under him.” And in
the future afterdeath is subdued
byJesus,
then shall the Son also Himself
be subject unto God on whose right hand He
sits.
In The Name: In
The Authority.
Jesus’ Lordship is backed by the (one) Father
and
is executed by the (one)
Holy
Spirit. “ But
the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name ,ix
he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that
I said unto you ”
(John
14:26). Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine" (John 16:14, 15a).
The
apostles taught and baptized by
the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20). The
Father gave all authority to His Son, as
the Father declares, “ This is my
beloved Son,
hear ye Him” (Matthew
17:5).
Conclusion.
Hence,
after
the cross, we
have the apostle asserting
that at the time of his writing of
Ephesians 4:3-6,
there
is “one
Lord”
while
there is also
“one
God and Father of all" and "one Spirit"; all fully encompassed in Jesus bodily (Colossians 2:4).
"And
Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you
IN
THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST for
the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.’"
(Acts
2:38).
The
Father wants us to obey Jesus and be subject to Him in
everything (Ephesians
5:24) while the Spirit reveals through the apostles and prophets what Jesus wants us to do.
GAYLON
WEST
Throw
Out The Lifeline
i
Lord-lordship. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New
Testament Words.
iiKurios
(lord):(a)
of an owner,
as in Luke
19:33
; (b)
of a master,
i.e., one to whom service is due on any ground, Matthew
6:24
; 24:50
; Ephesians
6:5
; (c) of an Emperor or King,
Acts
25:26
;Revelation
17:14
; (d) of idols
called,
1
Corinthians 8:5
, cp. Isaiah
26:13
; (e) as
a title of respect addressed
to a
father,
Matthew
21:30
, to
a
husband,
1
Peter 3:6
, to
a
master, Matthew
13:27
; Luke
13:8
, a
ruler,
Matthew
27:63
,addressesan
angel when
representing God,
Acts
10:4
; (f) as
a title of courtesy
addressed to a stranger,John
12:21;
from the outset of His ministry this was a
common form of address to the Lord Jesus,
alike
by the people,
Matthew
8:2
; and by
His disciples,
Matthew
8:25;
(g)
kurios is actually
the Sept. Greek
OT and
NT representative of Heb. Jehovah
('Lord' in Eng. versions), see Matthew
4:7
;James
5:11.-Vine’s.
iv
“Jehovah”
according to
Brown-Drivers-Briggs Hebrew Dictionaries: "The
Existing
One": from “I
Am”.
vBoth
“Lords” are kurios
in the quote. And
so said the Septuagint LXX. However, in Hebrew they were two
different words that were similar in meaning: Jehovah and'âdôn.
vi
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1963/01/kurios
ix
“in
the name of” means “in the authority of”. "The
seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are
subject to us IN
YOUR NAME!’
… ‘Behold, I
HAVE GIVEN YOU AUTHORITYto
tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.’"
Luke 10:17, 19
"HOW DO WE RELATE TO THE LORD?"
