Evidence that the "New Testament" contained the Divine Name (YHWH)

[JW Insider]

How good is the evidence that the Christian Scriptures contained YHWH or some variation of that Divine Name?

There are probably some non-JWs who believe that there is absolutely no reason at all to even entertain the possibility, and there are probably some JWs who believe manuscripts have already been found with YHWH in the NT.  For most of us, the real answer lies somewhere in between. There is a lot of good research on the issue, and this research might be interesting to some of us, whether or not it is compelling enough for anyone to change their mind.

A previous discussion on the topic became very long and veered off into other topics, too. Hopefully, this attempt will not result in multiple topics or judgmental attitudes about people, and we can focus on the validity of the research itself.

If anyone wishes to participate, they should feel free to copy anything they wrote in a previous thread. A topic about YHWH in the NT will likely also include topics about the pronunciation of YHWH, YHWH in the OT (LXX, Masoretic, DSS, and other manuscripts), the earliest NT and OT meanings of "name," historical linguistic trends, Greek abbreviations, NT translations, usage by early "Ante-Nicene Fathers," and the various alternatives to YHWH, and comments made by anyone else that might seem partly relevant or interesting (Philo, Josephus, Ebionites, Talmud, Gnostics, etc.). It's still a big topic.

The arguments that many find relevant are found in Gerard Gertoux, which can be seen here: http://areopage.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Gertoux_UseNameEarlyChristians.pdf

He references G. Howard, of course, which might even be a better place to start. (HOWARD, Biblical Archaeology Review Vol IV, No. 1). His ideas can be found online here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3265328?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

 

[JW Insider]

If one were to start with a blank slate on this subject, we might start with all the different "names" by which God is called in the Bible. One might also look at all the names that start with "Jeh..." or "El..." or "Adon.." or "Baal..." all those that end with those same letters ("...jah" "...el" "...baal"). Of course, you'll also come across some special cases, too, like Adonijah, Elijah. One might also compare all the variations of similar language (and quotations) across several books of the Bible to get a sense of the historical trends with divine names and secular names containing divine names.

Of course, that might take some time, which is why it's nice to find research where other people have already done things like that. And since even the "best" of research is not always accurate, it's nice to find multiple sources and critical reviews, and feedback from others when something we might have overlooked just doesn't quite ring true to someone else.

For the first step, I thought it might be good to go to a couple of well respected Jewish sources to help understand the thinking behind most Jewish scholars when they develop teachings about "YHWH" in their own language. I found several, but wanted to start with what can be learned from these two sources, because they both reference several Jewish and Hebrew-based sources:

THE NAME OF GOD, A STUDY IN RABBINIC THEOLOGY
Author(s): SAMUEL S. COHON
Source: Hebrew Union College Annual, Vol. 23, No. 1, Hebrew Union College Seventy-fifthAnniversary Publication 1875-1950 (1950-1951), pp. 579-604
Published by: Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion

THE DIVINE NAME YAHWEH
Author(s): Raymond Abba
Source: Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Dec., 1961), pp. 320-328
Published by: The Society of Biblical Literature

[bruceq]

    I think that is a good point on theophoric names. Not only does it show God's name in the New Testament since some there have the Divine Name within their name but since Jesus also does shows that he was not named after a "cannanite god" as someone once said. lol. {of course that would mean most of the Bible characters were named after a false god named YHWH. Of course Satan being the ultimate deceiver and angel of light can make good appear bad and vice versa just as other apostates do. So naturally satanist can use YHWH or tetragrammaton just as anyone can. Satan also quoted Scripture and that dosen't mean we should avoid the Bible or that it is Satanic.}

   Of course I realize the original pronunciation is not important since "Jesus" was obviously not the original pronunciation of his name but what are you thoughts on the name YHWH originally being three syllables based on the theophoric names?