Full Text for Exodus 6,3b. Was God Known to the Patriarchs as Jehovah? (Text)

(!tnurnr~iu UJqrnlngirul flnutlJly Continuing LEHRE UND VVEHRE MAGAZIN FUER EV.-LuTH. HOMILETlK THEOLOGICAL QU A.RTERL Y -THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Vo1. IV May, 1933 No.5 CONTENTS FUERBRINGER, L.: Die pel'soenliche Weisheit Got tes ... . l'aa:e 321 I GRAEBNER, THEODORE: Buchmanism ... . . . .... . 329V'i WOHLFEIL, L. T.: What is Meant by ".All Fulness." Col. 1, 19? 339 HEERBOTH. L. Aug.: Exodus 6, 3 h. W as God Kll O W ll to the Plltriarchs as Jehovnh~ ... . ... . . . . . . . . .. . 345 KRETZMANN, P. E.: Das Commll Iohanneum. 1 Joh. 5.7 349 XRETZMANN. P. E.: Die H nuptschriften L uthers in cbro- nologischer Reihenfolge .................. ...... ...... 354 FRITZ, J. H. C.: The Theme of the Sermon. . . . . . . . . .. . ... 355 Dispositionen ueber die altkirchliche Epistelreihe . . '" . . 361 Miscellanea. . . ... .......................... . .. .. . ....... 369 Theologicnl Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches ..... , 374 Book Review. - Literatur 389 £ 111 .Prf'di~er mU<:: 3 n icht allt!in welden.. r .. b t hE'in Din;.:. dQ.'· die L1..Ut4~ meh r 11 It ..1;1' t'r li ll Schafe wlI c""wpi,t'>. wit: 1ft'! del' Ki rehe Iwlt.wIt d l III tl il ~\lt, it! r. ,t'ht e Ch~ j- t t>n oIleli ·jll , somiern Pn . 1i:.{t. - .Jpo(f)!1ip . .. 4rt . ~~ . !'Oil· Ilil S C,' I;lte niC!itt .mgl~it '].I UIld ll1it I I t ll< I r 1111V· t Kh t ,I Tl unc·,rhin llmd. t~h('t.(>r L ·hr- ll'rfuehrlln und l rrtllll! eill· wilt) ,.:h:.Jl\ ph.'pan,' hilll ... elf tr) the battle;- til( hr,,". - -1 If 1 Cor. l~. S. Published for the Ev. Luth. Syn od of liIi.:i80tlri, Ohio, alld Ol-her States CONC ORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE, St. Louis. M o. I Exodus 6,3 b. Was God Known to the Patriarchs as Jehovah? 345 est aeternlls, omnipotens, iuSt~lS, perfectus, nimirum, quia est sub- siantialis et perfecta Patris imago." (Loci, III, 1. 15, s.12, 206.) Moreover, Oluist is the "Image of the invisible God." In Him our great God has become visible, as it were; though GerhaTd COT- rectly says: "Dicilur a~dem Filius Dei imago Patris non solum 1'espectu nosfj'i, qllia Deivoluntatem nobis manifesiat, ef; De'um quasi visibilem noiJis j'aC'it;,llt Calvi/nlS supel' 1. 001. et 1. II ebl'. nimis ieitllW sCl'ibit, sed eliarn respect'u Patris, qu,ia est substantialis imago Patris, pel'fecte refcrens nahcram eills, quippe cui est of/.aavow,." (Loci, I, 1. 3, 162.) All d Quenstedt sums up: "Quia pel'fectissima i.mago invisibilis Dei est, ergo ipse ut Deus, invisibilis sit, oportet. Filius, qui est invisibilis Dei imago, non invisibiZis mansit, sed in carne manifesta.tus fuit." (Syst., I, 9, 384 b.) If Christ is the perfect and exact Image of the Father, of perfect equality with the Father in respect of His substance, nature, and eternity, it follows of necessity that all the fulness of the Deity dwells in Him, and it is quite natuTal for Paul simply to say in this context that all the fulness was pleased to dwell in Him, the teTm nay ';0 nU)(!wf'a being used absolute};\'. Thus it is seen that om interpreta- tion of the term in question is in admiTable agTeemcnt with both the preceding and the following context. Again, it must be granted that nay ';0 nA:r)(!wfla is a beautiful term to describe our great God, pointing as it does to His omnipresence and confirming the Scripture truth that He fills all things. ~"hat more fitting term could have been used in the context? We therefore maintain that the expression nay TO nkll(!l))f'a, with- out modifier, means the fulness of the Deity, "omne~ divitiae divinae nat1iTae ," in this context; indeed, that it cannot signify anything else in this setting and that any addition is superfluous. It is of this fulness that Bengel says: "Haec inhabitatio est fundamentum recon- ciliationis/' which we subscTibe unequivocally, accepting this gr-eat mystery by faith as does Bengel in the wOTds: "Quis exhauriat p1'ofundum hoc?" Hannover, N. Dak. L. T. WOHLFEIL. Exodus 6, 3 b. Was God Known to the Patriarchs as Jehovah? (Compare Salwift una Bekenntnis, 1931, p. 124.) "But by My name Jehovah was I not known to them." This statement, as it appears in our English and German Bibles, seems to contTadict other passages of Holy WTit. The context, vv.2-5, reads as follows: "And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord [Jehovah]; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto 346 Exodus 6,3 b. Was God Known to the Patrial'chs as Jehovah? Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by My name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Oanaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant." Likewise we read in Luther's translation: "Und Gatt redete mit Mose und sprach Ztt ihm: 1eh bin del' Herr [Jehovah]. Und ich bin ersehienen dem Abraham, Isaak und Jakob, dass 'Lch ihr allmrwehtige1' Gott sein wollte; abel' mein Name Herr [Jehovah] ist ihnen nicht geoffenbart w,orden. A ttch habe ich meinen Bund mit ihnen aufgerichtet. . . . Auch habe ich gehoed die Wehklage del' Kinder Israel . .. ttnd habe an meinen Bund gedaeht." The words of v. 3b are rendered by the LXX: Kat "-0 OYOfuJ. ftov KV(2LOC; [Jehovah] olm "o~,1,