Curious Insight into the Daily Gospel Reading on the Memorial of Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian (16/9/2025)

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke:

Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city,
a man who had died was being carried out,
the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming,
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst,”
and “God has visited his people.”
This report about him spread through the whole of Judea
and in all the surrounding region.

- Luke 7:16

This note is curious of "Logical Bible" (an exegesis podcast):

The original Greek (see the highlighted word above "Lord") uses this title that is typically reserved in the Septuagint, or the Greek translation of the Old Testament for Adonai (a title rendered אֲדֹנָי‬‎ for the Creator, the God of Israel, alone in place of His sacred name.).   Here, it is important to recall that in the Masoretic texts that "Adonai" [tr. 'Lord'] is exclusively used for God.

This exclusion is lost when we enter the Greek-speaking world because κύριος is also used in more mundane contexts such as for "master of a household."

What is curious is the adoption of the Greek term for Jewish religious purposes: following the end of the Babylonian Captivity but before the time of Christ and the early Church, the Jews had developed a practice of avoiding the use of יהוה (tr. YHWH) which they disguised out of reverence for the Second Commandment.  In Greek Hebrew Bible, called the "Septuagint" (of the 70 Books), therefore, we have κύριος (Lord), as also produced in this NT passage, which the Jewish scribes of Alexandria substituted in place of יהוה (tr. YHWH) which they disguised out of reverence as stated above.  Other terms were inserted in translations of the Hebrew Bible, but κύριος was possibly the most widely used in both the translations and oral readings of the Scriptures.

 As you can see in Paul's letters, the use of the term "lord" in the linguistic form of "kyrios" becomes more widely adopted with increasing theological significance.

But my point is that this term, which the Hellenes had used without spiritual significance, always had a religious connotation within Judaism leading up to the time of Christ.

There is considerable debate over the centuries about Luke's use of the term "Lord" and the names of God and how they might inform our reading of the New Testament sources.  More to come!  God bless!