Question 1

What does "God" mean in the King James Bible?

Accepted Answer

In the KJV, "God" means "higher power." The personal name. God revealed a personal name -- YHWH -- which ancient Hebrews considered so sacred they stopped pronouncing it. This was not a title but an identity: 'I AM THAT I AM.' The generic word 'God' replaced a specific, personal, revealed name with a category label. It would be like calling your spouse 'human' instead of their name.

Question 2

Why did the word "God" disappear from modern English?

Accepted Answer

Hebrew Elohim ('the supreme power/the Mighty One') and YHWH ('I AM/the self-existent One') were collapsed into generic English 'God,' which carries baggage from Germanic paganism (from Proto-Germanic guth, 'that which is invoked'). The word was at peak usage around 1611 and declined by still used but genericized (ongoing).

Question 3

What modern word replaced "God"?

Accepted Answer

"God" was replaced by: "higher power" (though this vague and impersonal; elohim was the specific creator who spoke the cosmos into existence); "the divine" (though this abstract concept; yhwh was a personal name revealing personal character -- 'i am'); "the man upstairs" (though this casual and spatial; god was not located 'up' but was the ground of all existence).

What Does “God” Mean in the Bible?

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