A Good Word: κύριος — Lord

The title “Lord” (κύριος) is rather innocuous today. We apply this title to anything resembling authority. The British have a formal title, “Lord” and a “House of Lords” in their government. Movies and popular culture are full of lords and ladies, dark lords and sith lords. There is even a popular New Zealand singer who goes by the name “Lorde” because of her interest in the aristocracy (the “e” was added at the end to make the word more feminine).

In biblical times, it was also prominent with a larger range of potential referents. A sampling of referents and nuances include: showing simple respect (i.e., “sir”; Genesis 19:21) (this is likely the intention of some who address Jesus as κύριος early in his ministry, e.g., John 4:49), a wife’s address to her husband (Genesis 18:12), a daughter’s address to her father (Genesis 31:35), owners of property (Exodus 21:29), masters of slaves (Luke 12:36), and a title for deity (Genesis 2:22; John 20:28). In fact, the Greek Old Testament uses κύριος for the name of God, Yahweh. Non-biblical texts reveal that κύριος was increasingly being applied to emperors in the first century. (2) Most pointedly, it was applied to the emperor Nero who was called “the lord of the entire world.” (3)

Although the range of referent-types was quite broad, context helped narrow the particular meaning. In the context of the Roman world, when the title was applied to an emperor, it suggested a supreme lord. In the Roman world, the living emperor was The Lord. In the New Testament, there are several places where writers add modifiers to place Lord Jesus as a direct challenge to Lord Caesar. This is nowhere more explicit than in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6: “Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (NRSVue). Paul explicitly mentioned earthly lords which would include Caesar. But Jesus is superior. Jesus is the only real supreme Lord. Thus, whether we recognize it or not, Jesus is Lord.

I wish to consider two further personal observations about κύριος. First, unlike today where although the title “Lord” is applied widely and is generally uncontroversial, for the first Christians, acknowledging Jesus as Lord had serious consequences. In addition to the positive confession, it meant going against family, society, and empire and confessing that Caesar was not lord! The early church father Polycarp was on trial for being a Christian. To avoid execution, all he needed to do was to confess “Caesar is Lord” and burn incense to the emperor; however, he refused and was killed.(4)

Second, “Lord” (κύριος) is not simply a title. It represents a relationship. For one to call another Lord, that person is making the confession is acknowledging the superiority of and his or her submission to that person. For the Lord to accept this, he is accepting a relationship to care for those who call him Lord. It is a reciprocal relationship.

In a time when confessing Jesus as Lord is nothing more than a simple verbal statement, let us consider the context in which our Lord lived. Accepting Jesus as Lord is not a collection of words but an acknowledgment that He is supreme over all and that we voluntarily submit to Him. This means no one or nothing else is our Lord. Thus, we can understand how Paul can say, “Therefore I want you to understand that … no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3; NRSVue). Let us say it: “Jesus is Lord!”

(1) Although the Old Testament was primarily written in Hebrew, all references here reflect the Greek translation often referred to as the Septuagint. This was a common source for New Testament authors. The verse references are the same for the Hebrew and English.
(2) See for example, Augustus referred to as “Lord” in Arthur S Hunt (ed. and trans.), The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, part 8 (Egypt Exploration Fund, 1911), no. 1143.4.
(3)W. Dittenberger (ed.), Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, 3rd ed., vol 2 (Ares, 1915), no. 814.30-31 [A.D. 67].
(4) Martyrdom of Polycarp 8.2; ch. 15.

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