Luke1:6

“Theos” is the standard Greek word for God, from which we get words like theology and theocracy. One could say that it simply means “god.” However, I have looked into the usages and implications of the names given to deities in order to try to help you, my reader, better understand what was being communicated. It seems to me that this word for “god” focused on ownership and control of things in a general kind of way. For all ancient people’s other than the Jews, each god-figure had a realm in which he or she was supposedly in control. The Jews of Jesus day took this pagan word and filled it with their own meaning based on the picture the Old Testament paints of the true God. We know He has control and ownership over all things, and that such control and ownership come first from the fact that He created all things. In the paraphrase column this simple word GOD is rendered THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS.

The Greek word for “Lord” is similar to their word for “god” in that they both point to entities that control things. However, this word seems to have no connection to creation; it is simply about power. You must show proper respect to those with power because, if you don’t, they can hurt you. This term was also applied to men and was similar to our English word “sir.” The Greek-speaking Jews of Jesus’ day used this word similarly, i.e. to express complete power. One difference is that the God of the Bible is not just Lord in the big-picture kind of way, He is more personal and wants to be the Lord over your life as an individual. I have chosen to use the English word “Lord” in the translation column since this is more of a title, not a name; therefore it did not function the way names did. However, in the paraphrase column I express the meaning more fully.

This is added so the reader will be absolutely sure that these two individuals are indeed on the right side of this conflict.