ὄνομα

G3686 is the ordinary Greek noun for a name or designation. Context can use a name to identify a person, distinguish people with the same or different names, report what someone is called, list names, or speak about a reputation. Other settings connect a named person with authorization, allegiance, prayer, proclamation, baptism, persecution, salvation, or worship. Those effects arise from the phrase, speaker, referent, and argument; authority, character, presence, and ownership are not automatic definitions of every token.

The governed corpus is broad. It includes personal naming in Gospel narratives and letters, people known by more than one name, names recorded in heaven or in the book of life, a reputation for being alive in Revelation 3:1, false claimants who come in Jesus' name, suffering because of a name, the divine name, and the name of Jesus in mission and worship. Each occurrence requires the interpreter to identify whose name is in view, what grammatical construction surrounds it, and what action or status the passage assigns.

Matthew 6:9 asks that the Father's name be hallowed within the prayer for God's kingdom and will. John 14:13 links requests in Jesus' name with the Father's glory in the Son. These passages rule out using the name as a verbal mechanism that guarantees a desired outcome, but the noun alone does not supply a complete theology of aligned prayer. Matthew 18:20 belongs to Jesus' instruction about correction, witnesses, communal agreement, and restoration; it is not merely a minimum-attendance slogan, nor does the phrase erase due process or accountability. Matthew 28:19 places the singular name within the baptismal commission, where the full wording and wider canon, not noun number alone, support doctrinal synthesis.

Acts 4:12 identifies Jesus as the person through whom salvation comes in Peter's defense following the healing. The statement should be taught in its Christological and narrative setting without turning it into contempt for cultures, ethnic groups, Jewish people, or neighbors of other faiths. John 20:31 similarly relates life in Jesus' name to believing the Gospel's testimony about Jesus as Messiah and Son of God. In both texts, name directs attention to the named person; it is not an independent spiritual object.

Philippians 2:9 says God bestowed the name above every name, and verse 11 climaxes with every tongue confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. Interpreters debate how precisely to identify the bestowed name and how the Isaiah background functions. The passage strongly presents Jesus' universal exaltation, but this lexical record must not declare one debated identification, including the divine name rendered as YHWH, to be settled by G3686 itself. The movement from self-emptying obedience through death to divine exaltation also resists using the name of Jesus to sanctify status seeking or domination.

Revelation uses names for reputation, identification, allegiance, claims to life, inscription, commerce, worship, and promised belonging. These images should remain in their literary settings. A written name must not be converted automatically into a numerological system or a human claim of ownership over another person. Across the corpus, invoking Jesus' name does not excuse coercion, deception, refusal of medical care, financial exploitation, spiritual intimidation, concealment of abuse, or resistance to lawful investigation. Named authority remains accountable to the character and commands of the named Lord, to evidence, and to protection of people at risk.

The governed BSB witness has 230 tokens in 214 verses across nineteen books, while the selected artifact reports 229 forms. Uses range from ordinary personal names and reputation to divine and Christological name language, authorized action, prayer, proclamation, baptism, suffering, record, allegiance, and apocalyptic inscription.