NEW NAMES FOR ALL

New Names

Gal 4:4-6  But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"  

          Through redemption the new dignity of sonship was conferred, the new name "sons" was given to them (Luke 20:36) as a new name "Father" (John 1:18) had been declared of Him and explained in John's gospel; a new name was given to the life in this new relation, "the life eternal" (John 3:15), and a new name "Spirit of His Son, was given to the Holy Spirit, and henceforth, with new truth and a new commandment, would nourish and develop this life and illumine and lead believers into all the privilege and duties of the "sons of God."

The biblical concept of assigning a name (Hebrew-shem) to someone or something is very rich. So far from being an arbitrary and thus essentially meaningless designation (as so often the case in naming our children); it involves an understanding of the basic characteristics and attributes of the object being named. Thus Adam was involved in a highly intellectual and meaningful activity when he gave names to each kind of mammal and bird (Gen. 2:20). Paul bowed his knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name (Eph. 3:15). The fact that only God can name each star is His way of saying that the diversity and quality of the stellar universe is an adequate physical reflection to mankind of His omniscience. God's name needed explanation which Jesus came to do (John 1:18). He explained the Fatherhood of God, the Motherhood of God, His own Sonship, and the Holy Spirit. This explanation unfolds in the Book of John.