🧠 Deuteronomy 6:4-5 | What's in a name?

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📧 In today’s email…

• 👑 The names of God

• 💪 Power and presence

• 📕 Resources to dive deeper

 🧠 Memorize

_{see if you know what words go in the blanks}

Hear, _ ______: The Lord ___ ___, ___ ____ __ one.

You shall ____ ___ ____ ____ God with all your heart ___ with all your soul ___ with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Two Names for God? 🤔

Did you notice that there are two different terms used to identify God in these verses?

• “God” (elohim in Hebrew) functions as a description of him compared to any other being in the universe, and it emphasizes his sovereignty and power. Biblically, there is only one God and he is supreme over everyone and everything.

• “Lord” (written as yhwh and pronounced as adonai) is the personal name of God, and it emphasizes covenant relationship.

As an analogy, I can be identified as a “man” (who I am in relation to other beings in the universe) and as “Mark” (my personal name used by people in relationship with me).

Both terms are used in these verses, signifying the Lord is God and that he is both powerful (supreme ruler) and personal (covenant relationship).

Apply & respond: You and God 👇

What does it mean to you to have a personal relationship with the almighty God of the universe?

Have you ever thought about how amazing that is?

How do you pray?

What image of God is in your mind when you pray?

When you pray, do you typically refer to him as “God” or as “Lord”?

Why do you use one or the other?

Both ways of identifying him are good, but for the rest of this week, use the term you don’t normally use and reflect on how it deepens your relationship with him!

Wisdom from Jesus 🧠 

This week’s quote comes from Jesus as he responds to a question intended to trap him.

The Great Commandment

²⁸ And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus in Mark 12:28-31

Recommended Resources 🎙️ 

Here are a few resources to help you dig deeper into this week’s passage:

• 💻️ The Torah, Jesus, Paul, and the Role of Scripture Today, by Mark Wessner (link here)

• 📖 What is the Shema? (link here)

• 📚️ Deuteronomy: A 12-Week Study (link here)

• 📚️ Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves (link here)

• 📹️ The Bible Project on the Shema (link here)

• 📹️ The Bible Project on Deuteronomy (link here)

• 🗒️ No One Like Josiah by Mark Wessner (link here)

Answer key ✅ 

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5