Names of God
“God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’”
Definition
The names of God in Scripture are more than convenient labels; each reveals something true about who God is. Names built on El and Elohim name his power, identifying him as the mighty king and lord over all; Adonai names his lordship and rightful claim over his creatures; and the covenant name Yahweh identifies him as the God who has bound himself in covenant to his people.1
Biblical Basis
When Moses asks by what name he should identify the God who sends him, God answers with his own self-existent name: “I am who I am… Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “The Lord [Yahweh], the God of your fathers… has sent me to you.” This is my name forever’” (Exod. 3:14-15). Genesis identifies this same God, Elohim the Creator of heaven and earth, with Yahweh the covenant-making God of Israel as one and the same (Gen. 2:4; Exod. 20:11), so that the God of creation and the God of the covenant are never two different gods but one.2