✨ THERE IS POWER IN THE NAME… BUT WHO SAID IT FIRST? 📜
What if I told you that some of the most familiar teachings in Christianity were written down BEFORE Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John ever wrote their Gospels?
And what if I told you that the idea of power in a sacred name existed CENTURIES before Christianity?
Here is something that may change the way you read the New Testament.
Most Christians open their New Testament and begin with Matthew, followed by Mark, Luke, and John. Only afterward do they encounter Paul and his letters.
But that is NOT the order in which these writings appeared!
Paul’s earliest surviving letters date to approximately 50–51 CE, while Mark, generally considered the earliest written Gospel, is commonly dated around 65–75 CE. Matthew and Luke came later, followed by John.
Think about that.
Paul was writing to early Christian congregations decades before the four Gospels were completed!
And those writings weren’t originally chapters in a book called the New Testament. They were LETTERS, written to particular congregations and individuals, addressing their beliefs, disagreements, and religious practices.
Now consider something fascinating.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2, written around 53–55 CE, Paul refers to people who call upon the name of Jesus Christ.
That’s among our earliest surviving written evidence of Christians invoking Jesus’ name!
But where did the underlying idea come from?
Long before Paul, the Hebrew Tanakh declared:
📜 Proverbs 18:10: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”
And here’s where it becomes even more interesting.
In Joel 2:32, the Hebrew Scriptures declare that whoever calls upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered. In the original Hebrew, that LORD is יהוה (YHWH), the God of Israel.
Centuries later, in Romans 10:13, Paul quotes that very passage while teaching about confessing Jesus as Lord!
Do you see what happened?
A declaration originally concerning the name of the God of Israel was being applied within Paul’s teachings about Jesus.
The language of divine authority, protection, and salvation did not originate with Christianity. Its roots were already firmly established in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Later Gospel writers also used language about acting, healing, and praying in Jesus’ name. Whether they borrowed particular expressions directly from Paul’s letters or inherited shared earlier traditions cannot always be established. But Paul’s surviving writings came FIRST.
And there is another detail worth remembering: the four Gospels were originally circulated anonymously. Their traditional author names became attached to them through early Christian tradition.
None of this requires anyone to abandon their faith. It simply invites us to examine how religious beliefs developed, how ancient Hebrew Scripture was interpreted, and how the order in which writings were composed differs dramatically from the order in which we read them today.
Here’s an experiment I encourage every serious student of Scripture to try.
Instead of beginning with Matthew, read the earliest surviving Christian writings in their approximate historical order, beginning with 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians, and Philemon, followed by Mark, Matthew, Luke, Acts, and John. These are the principal writings relevant to this discussion, not a complete chronological listing of the New Testament. Some dates and the precise order remain debated.
Then go back to the Tanakh and examine the Hebrew passages being quoted.
You may discover that the first Christian writings you have been reading were never the first Christian writings actually written.
And perhaps the most revealing question isn’t simply “Is there power in the name?”
It’s this: Whose name did the original Hebrew Scriptures tell us to call upon?
📜 Read the texts. Examine the dates. Follow the history. Let Scripture speak for itself.