# G2962 - kyrios **Strong's:** [G2962](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2962/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** koo'-ree-os **Part of speech:** masculine noun **LXX equivalents:** [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/) (the Tetragrammaton, almost universally rendered *kyrios* in LXX); also אֲדוֹן (*adon*, H113) and אֲדֹנָי (*adonai*, H136). **NT occurrences:** ~717 ## Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG) 1. **Master, owner, one having power and authority**, the literal social sense (master of slaves, owner of property, head of household). 2. **Sir, polite address**, common honorific in Greek koine (cf. [John 4:11](/codex/john-4-11/) the Samaritan woman addressing Jesus). 3. **The Roman emperor / civic ruler**, formal title (e.g., [Acts 25:26](/codex/acts-25-26/)). 4. **The God of the Hebrew Bible (LXX usage)**, substituting for the unspeakable Tetragrammaton; this is the dominant biblical-theological sense. 5. **The Lord Jesus Christ**, Christological appropriation that identifies Jesus with YHWH. ## Theological force, Jesus is *kyrios* The single most concentrated piece of NT Christology hangs on this word. Three load-bearing facts: 1. **The pre-Christian LXX rendered YHWH as *kyrios***, established for ~250 years before the NT was written. 2. **NT writers freely apply OT YHWH-passages to Jesus**, using the same word *kyrios*. Examples: - [Romans 10.13](/codex/romans-10-13/) applies [Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/) ("everyone who calls on the name of the LORD [YHWH] will be saved") directly to Jesus. - [1 Peter 3:14-15](/codex/1-peter-3-14-15/) applies [Isaiah 8:13](/codex/isaiah-8-13/) ("sanctify the LORD of hosts") to Christ. - [Hebrews 1:10-12](/codex/hebrews-1-10-12/) applies [Psalm 102:25-27](/codex/psalms-102-25-27/) (addressed to YHWH) to the Son. 3. **The earliest Christian confession is "Jesus is *kyrios*"** ([Romans 10:9](/codex/romans-10-9/); [Philippians 2:11](/codex/philippians-2-11/); [1 Corinthians 12:3](/codex/1-corinthians-12-3/)). This is not "Jesus is master", in the LXX-saturated context of first-century Jewish Christianity, this confession identifies Jesus with YHWH. The shift between senses (5) and (4) happens silently across the NT, the same word, but the same God. Larry Hurtado (*Lord Jesus Christ*, 2003), Richard Bauckham (*Jesus and the God of Israel*, 2008), and Gordon Fee (*Pauline Christology*, 2007) develop this *kyrios*-Christology pattern as the foundational claim of NT theology. ## Notable verses ### Christ as kyrios in the highest sense - **[John 20.28](/codex/john-20-28/)**, Thomas: *ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου*, "My Lord and my God" - **[Romans 10:9](/codex/romans-10-9/)**, "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (*kyrios*)" - **[Romans 10.13](/codex/romans-10-13/)**, "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED" ([Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/) applied to Jesus) - **[Philippians 2:9-11](/codex/philippians-2-9-11/)**, "every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is *kyrios*" - **[1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/)**, "for us there is one God, the Father… and one Lord, Jesus Christ" - **[1 Corinthians 12:3](/codex/1-corinthians-12-3/)**, "no one can say 'Jesus is *kyrios*' except by the Holy Spirit" - **[Acts 2:36](/codex/acts-2-36/)**, "God has made Him both *kyrios* and *Christos*" - **[Acts 10:36](/codex/acts-10-36/)**, "He is *kyrios* of all" ### Kyrios applied to Father / God - **[Matthew 11:25](/codex/matthew-11-25/)**, "Father, *kyrios* of heaven and earth" - **[Acts 4:24](/codex/acts-4-24/)**, "*kyrios*, You who made the heaven and the earth" ### Kyrios as polite address (lower sense) - **[John 4:11](/codex/john-4-11/)**, Samaritan woman: "*kyrie*, You have nothing to draw with" (Sir / Lord, ambiguous) - **[Matthew 13:27](/codex/matthew-13-27/)**, "*kyrie*, did You not sow good seed?" (master of estate) ### LXX background, kyrios = YHWH - **[Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/) (LXX 109:1)**, "the *kyrios* said to my *kyrios*", the OT text Jesus quotes in [Matthew 22:43-45](/codex/matthew-22-43-45/) to demonstrate Messiah's divine status - **[Isaiah 6:1](/codex/isaiah-6-1/)**, "I saw the *kyrios* sitting on a throne", applied to Christ in [John 12:41](/codex/john-12-41/) - **[Joel 2:32](/codex/joel-2-32/)**, applied to Christ in [Romans 10:13](/codex/romans-10-13/) ## Patristic / scholarly note The early creeds make *Kyrios* the central Christological confession. The Apostles' Creed: "Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord." The Nicene Creed: "and in one Lord Jesus Christ." Tertullian (*Against Praxeas* 13) and Athanasius use *kyrios* throughout to defend Christ's deity. Larry Hurtado's *One God, One Lord* (1988) and *Lord Jesus Christ* (2003) trace the historical emergence of *kyrios*-devotion to Jesus as the centerpiece of earliest Christian worship, already in place within 20 years of the resurrection. Richard Bauckham's *Jesus and the God of Israel* develops the "divine identity" Christology in which the NT identifies Jesus *with* YHWH (rather than as a second deity), preserving Jewish monotheism. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ ## See also - [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/), LXX equivalent; the Tetragrammaton rendered *kyrios* - [G2316 - theos](/codex/g2316-theos/), paired in [John 20.28](/codex/john-20-28/) (*kyrios mou kai theos mou*) - [G3686 - onoma](/codex/g3686-onoma/), "the name of the *kyrios*" pattern - [G5547 - christos](/codex/g5547-christos/), "Christ", paired with *kyrios* ([Acts 2:36](/codex/acts-2-36/))