StrongerBible

onoma

ὄνομα

GreekG3686name, authority, ...

Appears 233 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 1:21Mat 1:23Mat 1:25Mat 6:9Mat 7:22 (3×)Mat 10:2Mat 10:22Mat 10:41 (2×)Mat 10:42Mat 12:21Mat 18:5Mat 18:20Mat 19:29Mat 21:9Mat 23:39Mat 24:5Mat 24:9Mat 27:32Mat 28:19Mrk 3:16Mrk 3:17Mrk 5:9 (2×)Mrk 5:22Mrk 6:14Mrk 9:37Mrk 9:38Mrk 9:39Mrk 9:41Mrk 11:9Mrk 11:10Mrk 13:6Mrk 13:13Mrk 14:32Mrk 16:17Luk 1:5 (2×)Luk 1:13Luk 1:26Luk 1:27 (2×)Luk 1:31Luk 1:49Luk 1:63Luk 2:21Luk 2:25Luk 6:22Luk 8:30Luk 8:41Luk 9:48Luk 9:49Luk 10:17Luk 10:20
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Word studyOH-no-mahnoun

What onoma means

a name: the word by which a person, place, or thing is identified, which in the New Testament regularly stands for the person's whole self, their authority, and their publicly known standing.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

In Greek as in Hebrew, a name is rarely just a tag. It represents the person who bears it, which means that to speak, act, pray, or trust in someone's name is to deal with that person themselves, invoking their authority and presence. That one insight unlocks most of what the New Testament does with this word.

The practical naming uses are what one would expect: a priest is called Zechariah, an angel names the child to be born, a man in the Gerasene tombs says his name is Legion, and lists of the apostles record their names. At this level the word is transparent: it simply identifies.

The deeper and more theologically freighted use is the cluster of expressions built around acting or trusting in someone's name. Baptizing into the name of Jesus, praying in his name, gathering in his name, receiving someone in his name, performing deeds in his name, and believing in his name all rest on the same logic: the name stands for the whole person and his authority, so these actions are being done in relation to, under the power of, and in alignment with the person himself. This is especially concentrated in the Johannine writings, where Jesus tells his disciples to pray in his name and promises that the Father will send the Spirit in his name.

A third range covers the name as a person's publicly recognized standing: the name that is exalted, inherited, or profaned, the name that is blasphemed among the nations, the name above every name that God gave to the exalted Christ. Here the name is something more like honor and distinction, the worth that others recognize in a person.

Nuances

1athe name a person, place, or thing is given and called by: a literal personal or place identifier.
Mat 1:21Mat 1:23Mat 1:25Mrk 3:16Mrk 3:17Mrk 5:9 (2×)Luk 1:5 (2×)Luk 1:13Luk 1:26Luk 1:27 (2×)Luk 1:31Luk 1:59
1bthe name as the person's authority and presence: acting, praying, baptizing, gathering, or trusting in someone's name means engaging with that person's own power and self.
Mat 6:9Mat 7:22 (3×)Mat 18:5Mat 18:20Mat 21:9Mat 23:39Mat 24:5Mat 28:19Mrk 9:37Mrk 9:38Mrk 9:39Mrk 9:41
1ca name as public standing, honor, or distinction: a reputation earned, exalted, profaned, or inherited.
Mat 10:22Mat 12:21Mat 19:29Mat 24:9Mrk 6:14Mrk 13:13Luk 1:49Luk 6:22Luk 21:12Luk 21:17Jhn 10:3Jhn 12:28

What scholars say about onoma

BDAG treats onomα under three main headings: (1) the name by which a person, animal, or thing is called; (2) the name as a means of expressing the nature of the one named, which includes the idiom of acting, praying, or baptizing in or into someone's name (the name standing for the whole person); and (3) renown or reputation. This three-way range is reflected in the standard commentaries and widely accepted. The "in the name of" formula has attracted the most attention. Hugo Gressmann and the Religionsgeschichte school connected it to ancient Near Eastern name-theology, a line that Oscar Cullmann and Lars Hartman (in his study of early Christian baptism) developed for baptismal texts in particular. Hartman argued that the baptism formula "into the name of Jesus" (Acts 8:16; 19:5) is not identical in meaning to the fuller "in the name of" expression and carries a dedicatory or ownership nuance ("belonging to Jesus"). David Noel Freedman and others in the TDNT article on onoma detail how the LXX rendered the Hebrew shem with this word, carrying the name-for-person logic from the Old Testament into the New. The Johannine use of "in my name" for prayer (John 14-16) has been read by Raymond Brown and others as belonging to the same logic: praying in Jesus's name is praying as his representative in reliance on his person, not as a verbal formula. The Revelation uses, particularly the mark and name of the beast (13:17), draw on the same idiom in an inverted key: bearing a name signals loyalty, ownership, and the authority of the one named.

Sources

  • BDAG (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 3rd ed., s.v. ὄνομαlexicon
  • LSJ (Liddell-Scott-Jones), A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. ὄνομαlexicon
  • H. Bietenhard, "ὄνομα, ὀνομάζω, ἐπονομάζω, ψευδώνυμος," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 5:242-281dictionary
  • Lars Hartman, 'Into the Name of the Lord Jesus': Baptism in the Early Church (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1997)monograph
  • Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John XIII-XXI, Anchor Bible 29A (Garden City: Doubleday, 1970), 633-638commentary
  • Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 2nd ed., §33.128, §12.1lexicon
  • Moises Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDNTTE), 2nd ed. (2014), s.v. ὄνομαdictionary

All attested forms of ὄνομα

dative n s

ὀνόματι, ὀνόματί

Mat 7:22, Mat 7:22, Mat 7:22, Mat 12:21, Mat 21:9, Mat 23:39, Mat 27:32, Mrk 5:22

accusative n s

ὄνομα, ὄνομά

Mat 1:21, Mat 1:23, Mat 1:25, Mat 10:41, Mat 10:41, Mat 10:42, Mat 18:20, Mat 28:19

nominative n s

ὄνομα, ὄνομά

Mrk 6:14, Mrk 14:32, Luk 1:5, Luk 1:26, Luk 1:27, Luk 1:27, Luk 1:49, Luk 1:63

genitive n s

ὀνόματος, ὀνόματός

Act 3:16, Act 4:30, Act 5:41, Act 8:12, Act 10:43, Act 15:26, Act 21:13, Rom 1:5

accusative n p

ὀνόματα

Mrk 3:17, Rev 3:4, Rev 13:1, Rev 17:3, Rev 19:12, Rev 21:12, Rev 21:14

nominative n p

ὀνόματα, ὀνόματά

Luk 10:20, Php 4:3, Rev 11:13, Rev 21:12, Mat 10:2

genitive n p

ὀνομάτων

Act 1:15, Act 18:15