Kyrios #29

Kyrios is the ordinary Greek word for someone with authority over another: an owner, a master, a ruler, or, in polite address, “sir.” Its weight in the New Testament comes from two facts. The Greek translation of the Old Testament had long used it where the Hebrew text reads the divine name YHWH, and the first Christians used it constantly of Jesus.

Biblical Usage

The everyday senses are all present. The Samaritan woman addresses Jesus as “Sir” (kyrie) at the well (John 4:11), Jesus speaks of slaves serving two masters (kyrioi) in Matthew 6:24, and Festus refers to the emperor as “my lord” in Acts 25:26. Where the Old Testament is quoted, kyrios usually stands for YHWH. Joel’s promise that whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered (Joel 2:32) is quoted in Romans 10:13 with the same word.

The New Testament then applies the title to Jesus in confessional settings. Paul ties salvation to confessing “the Lord Jesus” (Romans 10:9) and says that no one can say “Jesus is the Lord” except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). Philippians 2:11 pictures every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, and Thomas answers the risen Jesus with “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus himself warns that repeating the title is not enough without doing what he says (Luke 6:46).

Theological Significance

Christian traditions agree that “Lord” is the central early confession, but they explain its force differently. Nicene and most later traditions read it as ascribing to Jesus the identity of the God of Israel, pointing to 1 Corinthians 8:5-6, where Paul appears to divide the wording of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) between the Father as “one God” and Jesus as “one Lord.” Others stress passages such as Acts 2:36, where God “hath made” Jesus both Lord and Christ, and read the title as marking his exaltation and delegated authority. Some scholars also hear a political edge, since the same word was applied to the emperor, though how formal that imperial usage was in the first century is debated.