Names for God and Jesus in the New Testament

Following is an abbreviated list of a very thorough project conducted by Jason Dulle on the names of God and Jesus in the New Testament. The full article is posted on his blog, link at the end of this.

  • God is called “Father” 254 times, and “God” 1236 times (when one excludes references to “Son of God” and “kingdom of God,” otherwise 1352). “Father” and “Lord” combined are only used of God 425 times. The only author to use another term more than “God” is John. In His Gospel and second epistle he uses “Father” more than “God.”
  • Jesus addressed God directly as “Father” 19 times, versus as “God” only 3 times.
  • “Father” is used nearly twice as often in John, as in all three Synoptics combined.
  • John’s favorite appellation is “Father,” while Mark’s and Luke’s is overwhelmingly “God.” Interestingly, however, John uses “God” far more than “Father” in his first epistle.
  • Outside the Gospels, the NT authors only use “Father” 78 times, but use “God” more than 1000 times. Clearly this was their preferred term for God, whereas Jesus’ preferred term was “Father” (although not by much: 174 times He called God “Father,” and 161 times He called Him “God”)

via Names for God and Jesus in the NT « Theosophical Ruminations.

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