The Bible is a story about two different lords, the LORD God and the lord Messiah. The Bible carefully distinguishes between these two lords in two very different and important ways.

First, by the NT use of the most quoted and alluded to Psalm, 110.1.

Second, by the NT defining the lordship of Jesus as the anointed one of God, i.e., the lord Messiah. And as we all know you cannot have an anointed God.

1. Psalm 110:1

In Ps 110:1 David sees YHWH speaking to David’s my lord and commanding him to: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Hebrew word for the 2nd lord is adoni, which is never used for God in the OT! This is verified by the Greek translation of the Hebrew l’adoni [to my lord] as to kyrio mou, which again is never used for God. This is why it’s wrong to capitalize Lord when used for Jesus. For example, in the OT translators capitalize adoni, my lord, only at Ps 110:1.

Also note that to “sit at the right hand” connotes conferred authority in a royal setting, I.e., a person who has been told to sit in a place of honor. The person granted this privilege is clearly subordinate to the other person who has given him this honor to sit at his right hand. This simple common sense understanding is spelled out to us by The NET Bible: “To sit at the right hand of the king was an honor (see 1 Kgs 2:19). The Lord’s invitation to the Davidic king to sit down at his right hand reflects the king’s position as the Lord’s vice-regent.” The noted Bishop N.T. Wright, in his Preface to How God Became King: Getting to the heart of the Gospels, 2012. “Jesus, through his Ascension, was seated at the right hand of the Father. In ancient Jewish thought, with echoes of Daniel 7, this could only mean that, from that moment, Jesus was the Father’s right-hand man….The Father’s accredited and appointed agent.”

Similarly, when the Apostles ask Jesus “grant us to sit, one at your right hand” in Mar 10.37 no one at the time would have confused the Apostles with Jesus! The same was true when Peter preached: “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah” (Acts 2.36). NOTE you cannot be made YHWH, I.e., God! And “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10.38), the Apostles were not talking about one and the same God, let alone the same person!

In Matthew 22 Jesus himself quotes Ps 110:1 when he asks the Pharisees: 43 He asked them, “Then how can David by the Spirit call him ‘Lord’ when he says, 44 ‘The Lord told my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’? The Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew (known as the state of the art in theology) notes that: “Underlying the two uses of kyrios [by Jesus in Mat 22.44] are two different Hebrew words: The first is the tetragrammaton (the personal name Yahweh, which was not spoken by the Jews, who substituted the word adonay). The second is adoni, my lord. David calls his son not Yahweh but adoni, my lord: Yahweh [the Lord] said to my lord.”

So, it would be unthinkable, if not blasphemy, to even suggest David said: YHWH says to Adonai, i.e., God says to God! Adonai is always God and adoni is never God!

2. The lord Messiah

It’s first important to remind ourselves where the title Messiah came from and what it means. Any standard Bible dictionary or commentary shows that Messiah is a translation of the Hebrew mashiach, meaning an anointed one. This is the Greek for christos, from whence we get the English word Christ. In the OT when God anointed a person he received a measure of His Holy Spirit. This meant that he became the special agent of God and empowered as a king, priest or prophet. These men were recognized and respected by Israel as the mouthpiece, spokesmen for God. As a result the OT shows that there were many messiahs, e.g., kings and priests (even the patriarchs are called the anointed ones, Ps. 105:15; 1 Chron. 16:22).

The OT also teaches that one day God would raise up a unique messiah, far greater than all the others. In this promised Messiah God would combine the offices of prophet, priest and king (see Deut. 18:15, 18; Ps 2; 45; 89; 110). The NT writers identified Jesus from Nazareth as that seminal, uniquely procreated son, who is said to be priest and king of the coming kingdom. Note that in Acts 2:36 after Peter quotes Psalm 110:1 he says to the crowd: “Therefore, let all the people of Israel understand beyond a doubt that God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah!” NOTE the anointed lord and not anointed God!

Throughout the letters of Paul the title lord is used in reference to Jesus as the Messiah hundreds of times. Romans 1:7 To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Messiah, Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:10a Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our lord Messiah Jesus, that all of you be in agreement.

Phillipians 2:11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus the Messiah is lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul further distinguished between the two lords by identifying the Father as God alone and Jesus as our lord or my lord Messiah. Romans 15, ISV 5 Now may God, the source of endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other as you follow the Messiah Jesus, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you might glorify the God and Father of our lord Jesus, the Messiah.

Phillipians 3:8b I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

The significance of these examples lies in the fact that in Hebrew, the Divine Name never appears with possessive pronouns (my, our). Therefore, it would be a grammatical impossibility and incomprehensible for a Jew to say or write my Yahweh or our Yahweh. The point is when the NT calls Jesus lord they mean he was the LORD’s Messiah (as Luke 2:26 puts it), meaning the Messiah of the LORD God and not the impossible Messiah, YHWH-God!