Did Paul call Jesus “Lord” in the Jewish YHWH-sense (as a substitute for God’s name)?

“Yes, after all…
  • E.g. Paul swaps “Lord [i.e. YHWH]” in OT quotes with “Lord [i.e. Jesus]”
  • E.g. Paul uses verses about God to describe “Lord” Jesus
  • Paul habitually called Jesus “Lord” in religious contexts

      In his letters (about religious matters), Paul habitually attributes to Jesus the title “lord.” After all, categorized by whether there is dispute over Paul's authorship…
      • …it is used about 180 times in the undisputed letters.
      • …it is used about 50 times in the disputed letters.       This is relevant for two reasons:
      A) Unless Paul was intending it as a YHWH-substutition, such a frequent use of the honorific title is unprecedented and inexplicable.
      B) Paul was not an inept communicator. Christians regularly referred to God as “Lord” Given the frequency and religious contexts in which Paul called Jesus “Lord”, Paul would have rightly expected readers to interpret him as using it in the YHWH-substitution sense. (And yet despite the obvious “risks” he continued to do so without worry, as if that is precisely what he intended.) This is exacerbated since Paul calls Jesus, not simply Lord, but “the” Lord.

  • The Jerusalem church did

      The church lead by the apostles in Jerusalem publicly maintained that Jesus was properly designated as κύριος in the YHWH-sense. [Full article forthcoming.] Right?
      • Pauline churches inherited “Lord” (Jesus) from them.
      • Paul’s calling Jesus “Lord” (in the YHWH-sense) is a Jewish-Christian tradition he relayed
      • Early Christians in general called Jesus “Lord” in a YHWH sense.       This is relevant because the Jerusalem church's teachings-traditions and Paul's teachings-traditions largely matched.[Forthcoming]

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