In Paul the ambiguous term Christ— “Messiah”—is replaced with the word Kyrios—“Lord”, which in the Greek Old Testament replaces the name of God that can no longer be pronounced, and thus the identification of Jesus with God, his true divinity, is quite clearly expressed. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, in substituting the word “Lord” for the name of God, had carried the biblical faith in God unambiguously into the pagan world and for the first time had brought the monotheistic character of this faith to light completely, in contrast to the many gods with their individual names.
