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Background

Referring to God as Jehovah is a known practice by Jehovah's Witnesses as written by Raymond Franz in In Search of Christian Freedom in 1991:

The fact remains that today no religious group of any size uses the name "Jehovah" with such intense frequency as does that of Jehovah's Witnesses. That name predominates throughout their literature. Among Jehovah's Witnesses it has become almost strange to speak of "God" without prefacing the term by saying "Jehovah God", while the term "Lord" is quite rare in their expressions. They read "Lord" in the Bible but hardly ever use it in their own speech extemporaneously. It is almost a liturgical form for them in most prayers to initially address these to "Jehovah" or "Jehovah God".

However, the above was written after his expulsion, and thus may not carry any significant doctrinal weight.

Question

Are there other denominations or religions that understand God's personal name as the form "Jehovah"?

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  • The Wikipedia page on "Jehovah" can give you a lot of background information.
    – user32540
    May 10, 2018 at 15:14
  • Related: Do reformed theologians call "God the Father" Jehovah?
    – user32540
    May 10, 2018 at 15:58
  • Are you referring only to the exact form "Jehovah", or any form of the tetragrametron, eg. Yehovah Yahweh or Hebrew YHVH? Are you referring specifically to using the term regularly in everyday speech, or just to recognizing it as God's personal name? Please edit your question or comment to let us know.
    – Bit Chaser
    May 10, 2018 at 15:58
  • @disciple edited accordingly
    – isakbob
    May 10, 2018 at 16:08
  • FWIW, God's name in the form "Jehovah" was in common use in early 1900's and before that. It can be found in places like King James bible (Psalm 83:18) and more frequently in the ASV (published 1901), besides places like older movies from the time such as "The Green Pastures" (1936) and some anti-Jewish propaganda from 1920s. Karaite Jews such as Nehemiah Gordon hold that "Jehovah" is actually the correct pronounciation (see e.g. this YouTube video starting at 45m34s, where he discusses 5 ancient manuscripts having God's name written with full vowels).
    – user19845
    May 12, 2018 at 23:31

2 Answers 2

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Matt Slick answers the question, What is the real name of God? YHWH, Jehovah, Yahweh? on his site. He says,

The real name of God is YHWH, the four letters that make up His name found in Exodus 3:14. However, there is no correct pronunciation for the name of God because the letters are only consonants, no vowels.

There is no Christian group that I know of that would disagree with that statement. The answer to your specific question is that essentially all Christian groups believe that the Hebrew word transliterated as YHWH or YHVH, and commonly represented in English as Jehovah, is God's personal name.

Two closely related questions are, how should the name be spelled and pronounced; and when should the name be used in addressing or talking about God? Until recently, the word rarely used. Early Christians often used the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, which substituted the Greek word Kyrios for God's personal name, and the Jews came to believe the name should not be used outside of the Temple.

In modern times many Christians are becoming aware of God's original name, and have come to believe it is appropriate to use it in worship. Jehovah's Witnesses are one of the first groups to do so, and have made it an important part of their practice. Many other Christians use a form of the name, either Jehovah, Yehovah, or Yahweh to affirm their personal attachment to God, but there are few or no doctrinal statements about using the name.

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  • Do you have a link for a group or groups that use Yehovah? I've never seen this form of the name before.
    – isakbob
    Dec 5, 2018 at 21:41
  • Here's a reference claiming that neither Jehovah nor Yehovah is the correct pronunciation. I've also seen Jehovih, but that's rare. [The Yehovah Deception](yrm.org/yehovah-deception/). Notice the J/Y overlaid graphic, and the quote "The decision to hide or replace the Tetragrammaton with the invalid vowel points from Adonai is what led to “Yehovah” (“Jehovah” in English). Except for a few outliers, nearly all scholarship confirms this basic fact." I agree with them as a probability, but calling it a "deception" is absurd.
    – Bit Chaser
    Dec 5, 2018 at 23:13
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The Associated Bible Students of Central Ohio (formerly known as the original Bible Students founded by Charles Russell) actively promote the name Jehovah in their worship. This article is entitled ‘JEHOVAH the ALMIGHTY GOD’: http://www.biblestudents.com/topics/Jehovah.html

Another article they have published is entitled ‘JEHOVAH OUR GOD IS ONE’: http://www.biblestudents.com/htdbv5/r5747.htm

Another religious denomination who use the name Jehovah is The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). They believe that the first offspring of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother was the spirit, Jehovah, who was born of the Virgin Mary as Jesus. Jehovah is the name by which he was known in heaven before he came to earth. The LORD in the Old Testament is understood to be the pre-mortal Jesus, Jehovah.

"JEHOVAH: The covenant or proper name of the God of Israel. It denotes “the eternal I AM” (Ex. 3:14; John 8:58). Jehovah is the premortal Jesus Christ and came to earth as a son of Mary (Mosiah 3:8; 15:1; 3 Ne. 15:1–5). Usually, when the word Lord appears in the Old Testament, it means Jehovah."

"JEHOVAH IS CHRIST: Jehovah was known to the ancient prophets (Ex. 6:3; Abr. 1:16). The Apostle Paul taught that Christ was the Jehovah of the Old Testament (Ex. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:1–4). The brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon saw the premortal Christ and worshiped him (Ether 3:13–15). Moroni also called Christ Jehovah (Moro. 10:34). At the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw the resurrected Jehovah (D&C 110:3–4)."

I believe that some Mennonite communities also use the name Jehovah in their worship, but it’s very difficult to track down details of their beliefs.

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