Bullinger on kurios and adonai
Jesus Christ is Lord
I. Introduction
Our interest is to understand the meaning of this title in Pauline literature.
The confession or title is made up of three nouns:
Kurios, Iesous, and Christos.
It is the idea of some scholars that each part of the title has a particular meaning or significance. The three nouns together are Jesus full name in the letters of Paul, however they are used separately and their order changes in the writings of Paul.
The full title then is Ho Kurious Iesous Kristos and we will seek to look at each part and seek to gain some understating of what this title would have meant to Paul or his readers in the first century Church.
II Ethelbert Bullinger and Kurios Iesous Christos
A. Ethelbert Bullinger who edited the Companion Bible early in the twentieth century presented the idea that each title and the way the title was used had meaning and significance.
1. He argued that Kurios meant Lord. Consequently this would tie back to the use of the word Lord in the Old Testament.
2. That is with the word Adon which represented headship or God as overlord or ruler in the earth. In this case the person ruling is not necessarily the owner of the property he is governing.
So hear in the case of Jesus, Kurios would mean he was ruling and overseeing the Church or the things on the earth, he may or may not possess ownership rights to that which he rules.
3. He contrasts this with Adonai which he believes is the Lord as blesser. It is says Bullinger the Lord in his relation to the earth. Here the Lord is carrying out his plan to bless the earth.
4. Adonim is the intensified form of Adon and has the added aspect of the ruler being the over of that which he rules.
5. Finally we have the name Yah`wah which Bullinger see’s as God in covenant relation to those whom he created. Here he gives an example from 2 Chronicles 18:31 where the term Yah’wah is used when speaking in relation to Israel or Judah and Elohim is used when speaking of a non covenant nation. (Companion Bible OUP London New York).
6. To him the divine definition of Yah’wah is given in Gen 21:33 where he is called the eternal God El Olam.
B. Bullinger teaches ideas as to the meaning of Iesous and Christos also.
1. Iesous which is said to mean Yah’wah’s salvation or Yah’wah the saviour. Here he expresses the idea that Iesous is the name connected with “the shame” which the saviour went through during his incarnation to provide his people with salvation from their sins.
2. Christos on the other hand represents the saiour now glorified and exalted.
3. Consequently Jesus Christ means he who was humbled but is now glorified.
4. Christ Jesus means the exalted one who was once humbled.
C. Whereas I don’t necessarily agree with Bullinger’s interpretations of the meanings of the titles I do believe the titles do have a significance which will enrich the understanding of the New Testament and Pauline writings if understood.
III. I Thessalonians the first document of the New Testament and Ho Kurious Iesous Christos
A. This is the first piece of literature in the Pauline corpus and so although it is written 21 years after the Church universal was born and after the whole of Cilicia, Phrygia, Asia Minor and Phillipi had been evangelised, it gives us an introduction to Paul’s use of the title Kurios Iesous Christos in literature.
1. According to most scholars this letter was written in about AD 51. It was written by Paul and Silas from Corinth in Achaia and sent with Timothy north to Thessalonica because it was not possible for then to go in person.
2. In Luke’s account of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica (Acts 17) the title Kurious does not come up at all, however the Apostles are accused of teaching about another king than Ceaser. Luke relates that Paul explained that Ton Christov according to scripture had to suffer and rise from the dead and that Ho Iesous Paul was proclaiming was Ho Christos.
3. When we now come to the first letter to the Thessalonians the word Basilea King does not come up at all. However the word Kurios comes up in various forms about 25 times.
B. Kurios
1. One Bible dictionary assigns at least 8 different usages to the word kurios contemporary with Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
(a) It is used in the broad sense as the possessor or owner of a property.
(b) As a title of respect or honor
(c) It was used in respect to gods in the orient. And examples are given regarding the Egyptian cult of Serapis who is called Kurio S…
(d) In the East it was applied to rulers or kings for example Ptolemy XIII was called kuriou Basileos Theou in 62 BC,Deismann (LAE p.356). King Herod the Great is called Herodei Kurio between 37 and 34 BC and more poignantly Herod Agrippa I was called soterias kuriou Basileos Agrippa between AD 37-44 (Ibid p 418), which might give us a hint as to why he was so upset with the Church and tried to kill her leaders (Acts 12). Among the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberias are said to have disclaimed the title but Claudius (AD 54) received it Tiberiou Klaudiou Kaisaros tou kuriou (P Oxy I. 37-AD 49)and in the time of Nero (AD 54-68) it was quite popular (dic p365)
(e) It was used in prayer to God
(f) It was used for a legal guardian of a women and finally
(g) It is used as an adjective meaning something is valid as in a contract(Dic p365-366).
(h) Paul’s uses supposedly governed mainly by the LXX usage
2. Kurios is used a number of different ways in 1 Thessalonians
Now we turn back to Paul first letter to any Church and try to grasp the implication of this title for the Church. In contrast to Iesous and Christos we find that Kurios is used with personal pronouns. The various uses of Kurious are listed below.
(a) The Ekklesia (Church) is in Theo Patri kai kurio Iesou Xristo (I Th 1:1)
(b) The Elpidos (hope) of Tou Kuriou Hemon the Lord of us (or Adoneinu) Iesou Xristou enables the Church to endure suffering (1 Th 1:4).
Paul appears to use the title Kuriou Hemon sometimes to refer to those persons he is with alone and sometimes to include to those members of the congregations he is writing too eg I Cor 1:2
The various personal pronouns Paul uses in the epistle are:
Humas-you
Humeis-you
Humin- to you (dative)
Humon-of you
Hemas-us
Hemon-of us
Autou-of him
Hon-whom
(c)
I. Introduction
Our interest is to understand the meaning of this title in Pauline literature.
The confession or title is made up of three nouns:
Kurios, Iesous, and Christos.
It is the idea of some scholars that each part of the title has a particular meaning or significance. The three nouns together are Jesus full name in the letters of Paul, however they are used separately and their order changes in the writings of Paul.
The full title then is Ho Kurious Iesous Kristos and we will seek to look at each part and seek to gain some understating of what this title would have meant to Paul or his readers in the first century Church.
II Ethelbert Bullinger and Kurios Iesous Christos
A. Ethelbert Bullinger who edited the Companion Bible early in the twentieth century presented the idea that each title and the way the title was used had meaning and significance.
1. He argued that Kurios meant Lord. Consequently this would tie back to the use of the word Lord in the Old Testament.
2. That is with the word Adon which represented headship or God as overlord or ruler in the earth. In this case the person ruling is not necessarily the owner of the property he is governing.
So hear in the case of Jesus, Kurios would mean he was ruling and overseeing the Church or the things on the earth, he may or may not possess ownership rights to that which he rules.
3. He contrasts this with Adonai which he believes is the Lord as blesser. It is says Bullinger the Lord in his relation to the earth. Here the Lord is carrying out his plan to bless the earth.
4. Adonim is the intensified form of Adon and has the added aspect of the ruler being the over of that which he rules.
5. Finally we have the name Yah`wah which Bullinger see’s as God in covenant relation to those whom he created. Here he gives an example from 2 Chronicles 18:31 where the term Yah’wah is used when speaking in relation to Israel or Judah and Elohim is used when speaking of a non covenant nation. (Companion Bible OUP London New York).
6. To him the divine definition of Yah’wah is given in Gen 21:33 where he is called the eternal God El Olam.
B. Bullinger teaches ideas as to the meaning of Iesous and Christos also.
1. Iesous which is said to mean Yah’wah’s salvation or Yah’wah the saviour. Here he expresses the idea that Iesous is the name connected with “the shame” which the saviour went through during his incarnation to provide his people with salvation from their sins.
2. Christos on the other hand represents the saiour now glorified and exalted.
3. Consequently Jesus Christ means he who was humbled but is now glorified.
4. Christ Jesus means the exalted one who was once humbled.
C. Whereas I don’t necessarily agree with Bullinger’s interpretations of the meanings of the titles I do believe the titles do have a significance which will enrich the understanding of the New Testament and Pauline writings if understood.
III. I Thessalonians the first document of the New Testament and Ho Kurious Iesous Christos
A. This is the first piece of literature in the Pauline corpus and so although it is written 21 years after the Church universal was born and after the whole of Cilicia, Phrygia, Asia Minor and Phillipi had been evangelised, it gives us an introduction to Paul’s use of the title Kurios Iesous Christos in literature.
1. According to most scholars this letter was written in about AD 51. It was written by Paul and Silas from Corinth in Achaia and sent with Timothy north to Thessalonica because it was not possible for then to go in person.
2. In Luke’s account of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica (Acts 17) the title Kurious does not come up at all, however the Apostles are accused of teaching about another king than Ceaser. Luke relates that Paul explained that Ton Christov according to scripture had to suffer and rise from the dead and that Ho Iesous Paul was proclaiming was Ho Christos.
3. When we now come to the first letter to the Thessalonians the word Basilea King does not come up at all. However the word Kurios comes up in various forms about 25 times.
B. Kurios
1. One Bible dictionary assigns at least 8 different usages to the word kurios contemporary with Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
(a) It is used in the broad sense as the possessor or owner of a property.
(b) As a title of respect or honor
(c) It was used in respect to gods in the orient. And examples are given regarding the Egyptian cult of Serapis who is called Kurio S…
(d) In the East it was applied to rulers or kings for example Ptolemy XIII was called kuriou Basileos Theou in 62 BC,Deismann (LAE p.356). King Herod the Great is called Herodei Kurio between 37 and 34 BC and more poignantly Herod Agrippa I was called soterias kuriou Basileos Agrippa between AD 37-44 (Ibid p 418), which might give us a hint as to why he was so upset with the Church and tried to kill her leaders (Acts 12). Among the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberias are said to have disclaimed the title but Claudius (AD 54) received it Tiberiou Klaudiou Kaisaros tou kuriou (P Oxy I. 37-AD 49)and in the time of Nero (AD 54-68) it was quite popular (dic p365)
(e) It was used in prayer to God
(f) It was used for a legal guardian of a women and finally
(g) It is used as an adjective meaning something is valid as in a contract(Dic p365-366).
(h) Paul’s uses supposedly governed mainly by the LXX usage
2. Kurios is used a number of different ways in 1 Thessalonians
Now we turn back to Paul first letter to any Church and try to grasp the implication of this title for the Church. In contrast to Iesous and Christos we find that Kurios is used with personal pronouns. The various uses of Kurious are listed below.
(a) The Ekklesia (Church) is in Theo Patri kai kurio Iesou Xristo (I Th 1:1)
(b) The Elpidos (hope) of Tou Kuriou Hemon the Lord of us (or Adoneinu) Iesou Xristou enables the Church to endure suffering (1 Th 1:4).
Paul appears to use the title Kuriou Hemon sometimes to refer to those persons he is with alone and sometimes to include to those members of the congregations he is writing too eg I Cor 1:2
The various personal pronouns Paul uses in the epistle are:
Humas-you
Humeis-you
Humin- to you (dative)
Humon-of you
Hemas-us
Hemon-of us
Autou-of him
Hon-whom
(c)
posted by Evangelist Edi Nachman Bsc. PGCE @ 1:48 PM
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