The Word God Controversey

The word "God" Controversy

This actually started for me about two years ago, when someone mentioned that the word God was of pagan origin. I had never heard that before. At first I just took it on face value, never giving it much further thought, but still keeping the idea in mind. Recently, a brother and I felt what we at first thought to be  a conviction to not mention this word.  We refused to read the word God out loud, and either replaced it with Yah, or Elohim. I believe the Ruach (Spirit) often works this way in my life when He is prompting me to do a deeper study of my beliefs. This created a confusion in our synagogue, and some thought we were reading from a different Bible. Our leader asked us to read it the way it is written and I refused (until I was able to research and pray on it further) to be a reader from that day forward. Not wanting to be in rebellion, I sensed I was being led to do an in depth study on the word God. This is the result of that prayerful in depth study.

Where did the word God come from? How did it get into our language. Is it acceptable to use it in reading, writing, and in speech. How did it become pagan? Finally, is it really pagan in its origin, or has haSatan (the accuser) hijacked it? These were some of the questions I had to pray about, and search to find the answers. The final result was not what I was expecting, and I must admit, I have a different view than what I started out with, but with some distinct clarifications. I will be using a lot of Reference material and even comments from, brothers or sisters on line, with their permission. I will also use different versions of the Bible where needed. I wanted to do this in 800 to 1,200 words, but that seems to be impossible at this point. I hope the reader will understand.

Where did the word God come from?

The word God, comes from the word Gad, or גד in the Hebrew. According to the vowel points, the letter "a" is pronounced as a short "o", with an "ah" sound.

Gad: (1)  Name of one of Jacob's sons (by Zilpah, the handmaid of his wife Leah) and hence one of the twelve tribes. The tribe of Gad dwelt East of the river Jordan. The original meaning of the word gad (good fortune , deity of luck) appears in the account of his naming (cf. Genesis 30:11) and the word occurs in composite names in the Bible as well as in later literature.

[The Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion - Edited by Dr. R.J. Zwi Werblowsky,  and Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder. 1965]

(Note: The use of the name as [a deity of luck, or good fortune] does not occur until much later in the Scriptures. In the book of Joshua, it appears as Baal Gad in 11:17, 12:7, and 13:5, but here it is mentioned as a location in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon not as a deity.)

It is important to remember, that haSatan is a copy cat and a counterfeiter. It is always important to understand that it is his desire to always take the things ordained of the Almighty, and spin them, counterfeit them, and give them different meanings in order to confuse the believers understanding of our Creator's matters.

From another source;
As is common with the naming of five other sons in Gen 30, Leah connects the proper name of her son (by Zilpah) with the catch phrase, "what good fortune" ----- In exultation at the birth of another son, Leah rejoices in her experience of good fortune.

Although gad occurs later as some kind of divine name (whether semi divine or full-fledged deity is not essential to this discussion, ---it appears unlikely that Leah intended religious overtones in her rejoicing over Gad's birth. It is absolutely absurd to think that the first mention of the name Gad in Scripture was meant to declare him as some form of deity. Leah was simply making a statement that this sons birth was of "good fortune." Nothing more is implied from the context.

[New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis - Volume 1, Page 819]

One more source;
gad II. Fortune. This word only appears twice in the OT. In Genesis 30:11 it is a word play on the name of Gad. And Leah said: "Good fortune!" or as the KJV has it, "a troop comes" dividing the MT into something like bagad  into ba' / gad. Speiser's translation in the Anchor Bible is "how propitious!" It seems preferable to translate it as an appellative, and to connect it with such proper names as Gaddiel (Num 13:10), "El is my fortune";  Gaddi (Num 13:11), "my fortune" Gadi (II Kgs 15:14-17); and the prophet Gad (I Sam 22:5).
The only other place where it is used is Isa 65:11, "You who forsake the Lord... who set up a table for Gad (RSV "Fortune"),  and fill cups of mixed wine for Meni (RSV  "Destiny")." Gad here seems to be a deity of fortune equivalent in meaning to the Greek Tyche. The right described here is lectisterium, i.e. one in which food was spread before an image of a deity.
[Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament - Harris, Archer, Waltke - 1980 Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, IL.]

How did the word God come to be used in our language?

I have searched through the oldest dictionaries available to me at the present time, and cannot find the English source for the word God. Online however, I can find all different sources for the word God. Personally, I find very little, that can be substantiated with good and sound references. They all seem to point to the early Germanic source coming from the Hindi. My problem with them is that none of them refer back far enough in History to compare with what we have already learned above. The following is copied from Wikipedia, but I find it terribly wanting for good information:

Main article: God (word)

The earliest written form of the Germanic word God (always, in this usage, capitalized^[8]) comes from the 6th century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. Most linguists^[who?] agree that the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was based on the root * ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke".^[9] The Germanic words for God were originally neuter—applying to both genders—but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the word became a masculine syntactic form.^[10]

In the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic "God" and "gods" in polytheism.^[11][12] The English word "God" and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions, the term remains an English translation common to all. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, the tetragrammaton (written YHWH), in origin the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh. In many translations of the Bible, when the word "LORD" is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton.^[13] Allāh (Arabic: الله‎ allāh) is the Arabic term with no plural or gender used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning "The God" (with a capital G), while "ʾilāh" (Arabic: إله‎ ellāh) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.^[14][15][16] God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God, with early references to his name as Krishna-Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari.^[17]

Still, they do not get to the source of the word, and seem to be constantly trying to tie it to the paganism, that came long after Genesis. It's like I said earlier, haSatan is a copy cat, and a counterfeiter. He takes the things of our Creator, and twists them to the point, to where many, who are seeking to know the truth, become paralyzed, by fear of practicing paganism, when in fact they are truly seeking to know their Creator. The Author of our Bibles, is constantly reminding us to Fear not!  If we are constantly in fear of using the words God, or Lord, I am forced to ask the question, "Who is bringing this fear upon us?" The only time I can find in Scripture where we are to fear, is, that we are to fear God. Even then, that fear is not meant to be interpreted as being afraid o God, but rather to reverence God.

The following is a correspondence I had with a brother in Messiah named Stephen Otto. It is used with his permission.

You may find this interesting!

This is what troubles me regarding the ISR Scriptures (Mr. Koster's translation)!

It leaves the title “Elohim” un-translated when it refers to the true God, but translates the title “Elohim” as “mighty ones” when it refers to false gods! As a result, they hide the contrast that God is attempting to make. Exodus 1-3 is a great example of this! It states, “And Elohim spoke all these Words, saying, “I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery. “You have no other mighty ones against My face.” Notice that there is seemingly no connection between the words “Elohim” and “mighty ones”. Now let’s use the title “elohim” in both applications, except that we will use an upper case E for the true God and a lower case e for the false gods! “And Elohim spoke all these Words, saying, “I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery. “You have no other elohim against My face.” Now we should be able to recognize the contrast that God is attempting to make!

Some may say that this is a minor issue, but I don’t believe it is! In this Scripture, God is attempting to contrast Himself with other gods and by not being consistent with the title in both applications the contrast is hidden and God’s point neglected! The truth is that the ISR was so focused on keeping God’s name set apart that, not only did they destroy this Scripture, but also every Scripture where they use the title “mighty ones”. Furthermore, the fact that the title “Elohim” applies to both the true God and the false god proves that the title “Lord” can also apply to both!

Interestingly, the HalleuYah Scriptures, a translation based on the ISR Scriptures, took this insanity one step further! Just as the ISR leaves the title “Elohim” un-translated when it refers to the true God, but translates the title “Elohim” as “mighty ones” when it refers to false gods, the HalleuYah Scriptures leaves the word “mishkan” un-translated when it refers to the true temple, but translates the word “mishkan” as “temple” when it refers to pagan temples!

Other problems I see with the ISR Scriptures is the substitution of the word belief for faith, the word grace for favor, crucify for impale, king for sovereign and new for renew, etc!

It is our duty as believers in Messiah to search the Scriptures, that we may find what is true. Yeshua (Jesus) promised His believers, that when He returned to the Father, that the Father would send another Comforter, and He would lead us into all truth. I think the time has come that we start believing what the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God) is trying to teach us and leave the fears and doctrines of men behind us.

I no longer have a fear of using the word God, or Lord. By that same token, I also do not have a fear of using the name Yahweh, or Yehovah. Am I certain that they are the correct pronunciation? No. I am not. Our God is bigger than that. Just as I did not get angry when my children could not pronounce my name properly, I am certain that our heavenly Father (Who loves us more than we are able to comprehend) is not going to have a fit because we may not get His name exactly right. He examines the intents of the heart. Does that mean that we are to use His name loosely? Of course not. He is our Creator and He is our Father. Respect Him as such.

Shalom Ahlaychem,
Barry W Gaugler