{"id":1040,"date":"2026-04-14T13:47:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/?p=1040"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:47:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:47:51","slug":"the-more-excellent-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/?p=1040","title":{"rendered":"The More Excellent Name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From A Brief Word of Exhortation<\/a><\/em>, Volume 1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heb. 1:4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will discuss Heb. 1:4 in this Lesson and find out what the word \u201cname\u201d means in both the Old and New Tes\u00adtaments and even find out what it means to pray in the name of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer of Hebrews describes the Son as \u201chav\u00ading become so much better than the angels.\u201d  Here we en\u00ad\u00adcounter the first use of the word, \u201cbetter,\u201d which is one of the writer\u2019s fav\u00adorite words. It is used 13 times in He\u00adbrews. \u201cBetter\u201d (kreitton<\/em>), means \u201cmore worthy, more excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer uses the phrase, \u201chaving become,\u201d which raises a question. Hasn\u2019t Jesus always been better than the angels? Heb. 2:6-8 quotes from Ps 8:4-6 which declares that the son of man was made a little lower than the angels, then God put all things under his feet, that is, under his authority. The writer equates the son of man in the psalm with Jesus. In the Jewish thought of the time, the angels ruled over the earth (under God\u2019s authority, of course). By taking on flesh and entering the world which is administered by the angels, Jesus, like us, took a lower position of authority under the angels. But after his resurrection, all au\u00adthor\u00adi\u00adty was given to him, so now he has become better than the angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer says that Jesus has become so much better than the angels because he obtained a more ex\u00adcel\u00adlent name than they. \u201cMore excellent\u201d (diaphoros<\/em>) means \u201cexcellent, sur\u00adpass\u00ading.\u201d Jesus has a name that surpasses the angels. The writer will spend the rest of chapter 1 proving his point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why does Jesus\u2019 name surpass the angels? What is so excellent, so special about his name? The answer lies in what \u201cname\u201d means in both the Old and New Testaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In English, \u201cname\u201d can mean label (My name is Clayton), reputation (the family name), or authority (Stop, in the name of the law). <\/a>\u201cName\u201d means all of those in both the Hebrew and Greek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hebrew and the Greek words both mean \u201clabel\u201d in Gen. 11:29 and Luke 1:63. They both mean \u201creputation\u201d in Prov. 22:1 and Rev. 3:1. And they both mean \u201cauthority\u201d in Esth. 8:10 and Acts 16:18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in both the Hebrew and Greek, \u201cname\u201d takes on one more meaning: character. This is what they mean in Ps. 111:9 and Matt. 6:9. God\u2019s label is not holy and awesome; his character is. The writer of the Epistle is not referring to Jesus\u2019 label, but to his authority and char\u00adacter. Jesus has a more excellent authority and character than the angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing that name means these things helps us to understand other passages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given me\u201d (John 17:6). Jesus did not come to tell us that God\u2019s label is Yahweh. He came to manifest God\u2019s character, to show us who God really is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be\u00adcome the children of God, to those who be\u00adlieve in His name\u201d (John 1:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment\u201d (1 John 3:23). Be\u00adlieving in the name of Jesus is not to believe that his label is Jesus. To believe in the name of Jesus is to be\u00ad\u00adlieve in who he really is, to believe in the real Jesus, the Jesus proclaimed by the Bible, not the Jesus pro\u00adclaimed by the cults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter to the Jewish leaders: \u201cNor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved\u201d (Acts 4:12). No one else has been given the authority to save men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him\u201d (Col. 3:17). Doing all in the name of Jesus does not mean we say, \u201cIn the name of Jesus,\u201d every time we do something. It means to do everything in the authority and character of Jesus, as if we were Jesus himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing all in the name of Jesus includes praying in the name of Jesus: \u201cAnd in that day you will ask Me noth\u00ading. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will re\u00adceive, that your joy may be full\u201d (John 16:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praying in the name of Jesus does not mean we add the state\u00adment, \u201cWe pray all this in the name of Jesus,\u201d or some\u00adthing similar, to the end of our prayers. There is no prayer in the Bible that ends this way. I did a Google search on the prayers of the early Church, and the first written prayer that ends with the statement, \u201cIn the name of Jesus,\u201d is a prayer in Latin from the middle of the fifth century (450 AD), four hun\u00addred years after Jesus told the disciples to pray in his name. This means that by the middle of the fifth century, people had forgotten what praying in the name of Jesus really means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praying in the name of Jesus means to pray as if we have the character and authority of Jesus, as if we were Jesus him\u00adself. And if we pray as if we were Jesus himself, we will ask for the things that Jesus would ask for, so of course the Father will grant us our request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Luke 11:1-4, one of the disciples asks Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus responds by giving them a model prayer, which we now call \u201cThe Lord\u2019s Prayer\u201d or \u201cThe Our Father.\u201d Notice that the prayer does not end with the statement, \u201cWe pray all of this in Jesus\u2019 name,\u201d or something similar. Jesus did not teach us to end our prayers with that statement. That is a tradition developed by men. Praying in the name of Jesus means pray\u00ading in the authority and char\u00adacter of Jesus, as if we were Jesus himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice also that the prayer starts with, \u201cOur Father.\u201d Jesus said that we will ask him nothing. Instead, we should ask the Father in his name. There is no example of prayer being dir\u00adected to Je\u00adsus anywhere in the New Testament. In the book of Acts, the only time people spoke to Jesus after he ascended to heaven is when he appeared to them. We do not have to take our re\u00adquests to Jesus. We can take them directly to the Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus, therefore, has a more excellent name than the angels because he has a more excellent character and authority than the angels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From A Brief Word of Exhortation, Volume 1: Heb. 1:4 We will discuss Heb. 1:4 in this Lesson and find out what the word \u201cname\u201d means in both the Old and New Tes\u00adtaments and even find out what it means … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-epistle-to-the-hebrews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1041,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions\/1041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/claytonhowardford.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}