9 神的自我显现——「耶和华是我的名」Self-disclosure- This is My Name
《简明神学》Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs，巴刻（J. I. Packer）著/張麟至译，更新传道会，2007年。
9 神的自我显现——「耶和华是我的名」
Self-disclosure - This is My Name
神又对摩西说：“你要对以色列人这样说：‘耶和华你们祖宗的神，就是亚伯拉罕的神、以撒的神、雅各的神，打发我到你们这里来。’耶和华是我的名，直到永远，这也是我的记念，直到万代。”（出三15）
在现代的世界里，人的名字不过是一个辨识他的符号而已，好像一个数字一样，改换了也不会损失。然而圣经上的名字，却有其背景与源远流长的传统；在这传统里，人的名字有其意义，说明他是怎样的一个人。神将祂的名字向以色列显明，旧约圣经不断地大书特书此事；诗篇也一再地将赞美归给神的名（诗八1；一一三1-3；一四五1-2；一四八5，13）。“名字”在此指神自己，祂用话语与行为将自己启示出来。神自我启示的核心，即为祂的名字——现代学者所用的Yahweh一词，素来译作“耶和华”，许多英文旧约圣经译本则译为大写字母的LORD。神授予权给以色列，让他们以此名呼求神。
当神从荆棘火焰中——这荆棘不断焚烧，却没有焚毁——对摩西讲话时，神将此名启示给他。神一开始就标明祂自己是向列祖守约的神（参创十七1-14）；接着，摩西问神，他要怎样告诉这些百姓神的名字（因为古人认为，只有名字叫得对，祷告才蒙垂听），神首先说，“我是自有永有的”（或以未来式作“自在自然的”），然后又简缩为“自有的”，最后自称为“耶和华（希伯文作Yahweh，其发音与‘自有’相似）你们祖宗的神”（出三6，13-16）。此名宣告出神永恒的、自存的、自决的、自主的实存——那种超然存在的模式，正是焚烧荆棘所要象征的。我们可以说，神自己无穷的生命借着这三维度的荆棘表明了出来。神说：“耶和华是我的名，直到永远。”也就是说，神的百姓应当永远思念神是那位存活的、掌权的、有能的、不受捆绑的、不受限制的王，正是荆棘火焰所要表明的那一位（出三15）。
后来摩西要求看见神的荣耀（那可称颂之神的自我显现；出卅三18-卅四7），而神在回答中如此宣告说：“耶和华，耶和华，是有怜悯有恩典的神，不轻易发怒，并有丰盛的慈爱和诚实；为千万人存留慈爱，赦免罪孽、过犯和罪恶；万不以有罪的为无罪，必追讨他的罪，自父及子，直到三四代。”（出卅四6-7）在荆棘火焰中，神回答了祂怎样存在的问题；在此祂则回答了祂怎样行事的问题。神在此所揭示自己所具的基本道德属性，也常常在后面的经文中回响（尼九17；诗八六15；珥二13；约四2）。祂的道德属性是祂的名字的一部分，也就是说，是祂本性的揭露，为此神要永受称颂。
最后，神称自己是“耶和华……名为忌邪者”（出卅四14），以此结束对自己荣耀之道德属性的启示。这点强调正回应了祂在第二条诫命里的禁令（出廿5）。这种忌邪或忌妒是是因立约而有的：那是互许爱情者的美德：一边定意去尊荣对方、服事对方，他也要求对方对他完全忠心。
新约圣经借着道成肉身之神子耶稣的言行，将父神的心思、看法、做法、计划和目的，完全地启示了出来（约十四9-11；参一18）。
主祷文里的“愿人都尊祢的名为圣”（太六9）也表达了人的愿望：第一位格之神要受所当受的尊荣与赞美，一如我们由他自显的荣耀中看出，祂的确是配得称颂的。
神当得到祂的名字所代表的一切尊荣；亦即祂在创造、在天命，与在恩典荣耀的自显中，所启示之一切当得的荣耀。
SELF-DISCLOSURE
THIS IS MY NAME
God
also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your
fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me
to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from
generation to generation. EXODUS 3:15
In
the modern world, a person’s name is merely an identifying label, like a
number, which could be changed without loss. Bible names, however, have their
background in the widespread tradition that personal names give information,
describing in some way who people are. The Old Testament constantly celebrates
the fact that God has made his name known to Israel, and the psalms direct
praise to God’s name over and over (Pss. 8:1; 113:1-3, 145:1-2, 148:5, 13).
“Name” here means God himself as he has revealed himself by word and deed. At
the heart of this self-revelation is the name by which he authorized Israel to
invoke him—Yahweh as modern scholars write it, Jehovah as it used to be rendered,
the LORD as it is printed in English versions of the Old Testament.
God
declared this name to Moses when he spoke to him out of the thornbush that
burned steadily without being burned up. God began by identifying himself as
the God who had committed himself in covenant to the patriarchs (cf. Gen.
17:1-14); then, when Moses asked him what he might tell the people that this
God’s name was (for the ancient assumption was that prayer would be heard only
if you named its addressee correctly), God first said “I AM WHO I AM” (or, “I
will be what I will be”), then shortened it to “I AM,” and finally called
himself “the LORD (Hebrew Yahweh, a name sounding like “I AM” in Hebrew), the
God of your fathers” (Exod. 3:6, 13-16). The name in all its forms proclaims
his eternal, self-sustaining, self-determining, sovereign reality—that
supernatural mode of existence that the sign of the burning bush had signified.
The bush, we might say, was God’s three-dimensional illustration of his own
inexhaustible life. “This is my name forever,” he said—that is, God’s people
should always think of him as the living, reigning, potent, unfettered and
undiminished king that the burning bush showed him to be (Exod. 3:15).
Later
(Exod. 33:18-34:7) Moses asks to see God’s “glory” (adorable self-display), and
in reply God did “proclaim his name” thus: “The LORD, the LORD, the
compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness,
rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished...” At the
burning bush God had answered the question, In what way does God exist? Here he
answers the question, In what way does God behave? This foundational
announcement of his moral character is often echoed in later Scriptures (Neh.
9:17; Ps. 86:15; Joel 2:13; John 4:2). It is all part of his “name,” that is,
his disclosure of his nature, for which he is to be adored forever.
God
rounds off this revelation of the glory of his moral character by calling
himself “the LORD, whose name is Jealous” (Exod. 34:14). This echoes, with
emphasis, what he said of himself in the sanction of the second commandment
(Exod. 20:5). The jealousy affirmed is covenantal: it is the virtue of the
committed lover, who wants the total loyalty of the one he has bound himself to
honor and serve.
In
the New Testament, the words and acts of Jesus, the incarnate Son, constitute a
full revelation of the mind, outlook, ways, plans, and purposes of God the
Father (John 14:9-11; cf. 1:18). “Hallowed be your name” in the Lord’s prayer
(Matt. 6:9) expresses the desire that the first person of the Godhead will be
revered and praised as the splendor of his self-disclosure deserves. God is to
be given glory for all the glories of his name, that is, his glorious
self-revelation in creation, providence, and grace.