Seek Yahweh: Nomina Sacra -

The Replacement of God’s Name

Scholars and paleographers have come to realize that

there are no extant manuscripts dated before 100 AD

where the Greek Word kurios (LORD) was used as a

surrogate for the name of God, YHWH. In fact, in all

manuscripts (both Greek and Hebrew) dated earlier

than 100AD, the name of God, YHWH, is used in the

manuscript. It is found written either in Herodian

Hebrew script of that era, a more ancient Paleo Hebrew

script, or in some instances, rendered in Greek by the

letters IAO. (See Glad Tidings Article Seek Yahweh: The

Tetragrammaton in First Century, July/August Edition,

Vol 16, issue 4, page 4). The question then becomes

“What Happened?” How and when did the name of

God disappear from Scripture? Perhaps the early

Christian use of the nomina sacra offers insight as to

when this replacement occurred.

Nomina sacra means “sacred names” in Latin and refers

to the traditions of abbreviating frequently occurring

sacred titles in early Greek manuscripts. These

contractions are indicated with over lines above two or

sometimes three Greek letters. These are found in all

early Greek manuscripts from the 2nd and 3rd

centuries. “God,” “Jesus,” “Christ,” and “Lord” are

some of the words designated with this feature. For

instance, “Lord” or KYPIOC (kurios) in the Greek would

be KC. (See examples below.) This practice of

abbreviating the divine names was a uniquely Christian

phenomenon. In his book, Encountering the

Manuscripts: An Introduction to New Testament

Paleography and Textual Criticism, Philip Comfort

writes, “Jews never wrote nomina sacra the way

Christians did; the Jews did things differently for one

divine name and one divine name only: Yahweh. Jewish

scribes would frequently write this in its Hebrew

contracted form (even in Paleo-Hebrew letters) and

then continue on with the Greek text.”1 However, by

the second century, in Christian copies of the Greek Old

Testament, the divine name YHWH is no longer in the

text. Rather, it is replaced with the abbreviated nomina

sacra form of kurios.

While all manuscripts from the First Century contain the

name of God, YHWH, none of the Greek manuscripts

from the second century contain the Tetragrammaton.

Rather, in all manuscripts, both Old and New

Testament, the Greek word kurios is written in the

contracted form of nomina sacra. This simple truth, as

seen from these ancient documents, should grab our

attention and help to identify the historical context as

to when this change took place.

Different theories exist regarding this change from the

Tetragrammaton to the nomina sacra. In the

Cambridge History of the Bible, Volume I, the authors

state that “in Jewish copies of the Greek versions of the

scripts, it was usual for the name of God, Yahweh, to be

written in Hebrew letters, sometimes by a second hand,

the place for it being indicated by spacing or dots. This

treatment of the Tetragrammaton provided a precedent

for what paleographers know as nomina sacra in

Christian manuscripts.”2

Through his examination of ancient manuscripts, Philip

Comfort offers insight, giving a time frame for the

transition of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, to the

nomina sacra form of Kurios (Lord). “Interestingly, a

transitional stage – between YHWH and KC – can be

witnessed in P. Oxyrynchus 656 (… this codex is dated to

the second century AD)… the original scribe left a four-

letter space open in four occurrences where the name

‘Lord’ would appear, presumably for someone else to

fill in the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew. But it was not

filled in with the Tetragrammaton. Instead, the divine

name was squeezed in by another scribe with the name

KYPIOC. Evidently, there was no one qualified to fill in

the space with the archaic-Hebrew form, so it was filled

in with the Greek surrogate.”3

By the end of the second century, the Christian church

had veered from the days of the early apostles. By this

time, Judaism had experienced radical upheaval

through the Jewish-Roman wars: the destruction of the

temple in 70AD, and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132 – 136

AD). The Christian movement had moved away from

its Jewish roots and taken on a more Greek influenced

form. Writings from some 2nd

century church fathers

reveal doctrines of Jesus being God or a preexistence.

These doctrines, with roots in Greek philosophy, were

beginning to make their way into Christian thought.

Professor George Howard, Associate Professor of

Religion and Hebrew at the University of Georgia,

suggested that the removal of God’s name blurred

understanding in the early church. “Once the

Tetragrammaton was removed and replaced by the

surrogate ‘Lord,’ scribes were unsure whether ‘Lord’

meant God or Christ. As time went on, these two

figures were brought into even closer unity until it was

often impossible to distinguish between them. Thus, it

may be that the removal of the Tetragrammaton

contributed significantly to the later Christological and

Trinitarian debates which plagued the church of the

early Christian centuries.”4

As the children of faith, as followers of the Lord Jesus

Christ, and as worshippers of the one true God, whose

name is Yahweh, may the church continually search for

truth. May we, as workmen of the Word, seek Yahweh

with all of our hearts and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 2:1-5

My son, if you will receive my words and

treasure my commandments within you,

Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline

your heart to understanding;

For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice

for understanding;

If you seek her as silver and search for her as

for hidden treasures;

Then you will discern the fear of the LORD

(Yahweh) and discover the knowledge of God.

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This manuscript is a 3rd

Century (around 200AD) Greek Old

Testament papyrus from the book of Ezekiel. Here in this 3rd

Century document, the name of God is not written in Hebrew

as YHWH; but rather, it has been replaced with a nomina sacra

form of the Greek word kurios as KC. This manuscript is part of

the Chester Beatty Collection.

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1

Philip Comfort, Encountering the Manuscripts: An

Introduction to New Testament Paleography and

Textual Criticism (Broadman and Holman Publishers,

Nashville, TN, Copyright © 2005). P. 202

This scroll is from Hebrews chapter 7:20-28. This papyrus

manuscript is freely available online from the University of

Michigan’s online collection of Papyrus #46. It is dated to the

3rd

century and is one of the oldest extant manuscripts of the

book of Hebrews. This Greek word for “Lord” (kurios) is

written in nomina sacra form as KC. This verse is a quote

from Ps 110:4, where in the Hebrew Old Testament, it is the

name of God, YHWH.

2

P.R. Ackroyd and C.F. Evans, Editors, The Cambridge

History of the Bible- Volume 1: From the Beginnings to

Jerome (Cambridge University Press, New York, NY,

Copyright © 1970). P. 60

3

Comfort, op.cit P.209

4

George Howard, “The Name of God in the New

Testament," Biblical Archaeology Review, March 1978,

pgs.12-14, 56