The word lord in English versions of the New Testament is usually the translation of the Greek work kyrios, which typically means “lord”, “master”, or “owner”. It means someone with power and/or authority. Slaves would call their owners “lord”, and subjects would call their king “lord”. People would call their God “lord”.
I wanted to do a quick study, so I searched the gospels in an English version for “Lord,” with a capital “L” and followed by a comma, which would find most situations where a person addressed another as “Lord” to their face. (I could have done a more thorough study with all the verses containing the Greek word kyrie, but I was hoping I could see a pattern with a limited set of verses.) So, I got a list of verses from the gospels, and set out to ask three questions, “Who called Jesus, ‘Lord’?” and “Who did Jesus call ‘Lord’?” and “Who else was called, ‘Lord’?” Here is what I found:
1. Who called Jesus, “Lord”?
- The twelve disciples of Jesus
- Other disciples of Jesus
- A leper
- A centurion
- A Canaanite woman
- The father of an epileptic
- Two blind men
- A man healed of blindness
- Disciples of John the Baptist
- Martha
- Zacchaeus
- A random person asking who could be saved
- People who heard Jesus’s sermon about the Bread of Life
A lot of different people called Jesus, “Lord”. In John 13.13, Jesus reveals His perspective towards those who called Him “Lord”. At the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “You call me, ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am.” He was saying that “Lord” was an appropriate title for him.
2. Who did Jesus call “Lord”?
Nobody. Even when He was in the presence of earthly authority figures like Pilate, King Herod, or the high priest, He did not call any of them “Lord”. Nor did He use any other honorific with them. In addressing God, Jesus called Him “Father”.
3. Who else (besides Jesus) was called, “Lord”?
This question was more complicated to answer than the other two, but what I found was fascinating. The those who were called “Lord”, other than Jesus, can be divided into two groups, a) God and b) characters in stories that Jesus tolda) There were two verses where God addressed as Lord.
- Simeon addressed God as “Lord”
- God was addressed as “Lord” in an Old Testament quote
To analyze these stories told by Jesus, I have made a simple chart with a row for each story, and in each row you can see the people who called someone “Lord” and the person who was addressed as “Lord.” Take a look at the chart. I am not going to explain my reasoning for my interpretations, because this is a quick study.
People who call someone “Lord” | Person addressed as “Lord” |
| Matt 7.21, 22 – People claiming to be disciples of Jesus | Jesus |
| Matt 18.26 - Unforgiving servant of a king in a parable (The servant represents people Jesus’s audience.) | His king (The king represents God.) |
| Matt 25.11 – Five foolish maidens waiting for a bridegroom in a parable (Maidens represent unwatchful disciples.) | The bridegroom (The bridegroom most likely represents the Son of Man.) |
| Matt 25.37, 44 - Sheep and goats separated by the Son of Man in a parable (Sheep and goats represent people of the nations.) | The Son of Man |
| Luke 13.25 – People outside a door in a parable (They are people who wanting to be saved.) | Householder (Most likely the house represents the Kingdom of God, and the householder is the King.) |
| Luke 19.16 – Three servants in a parable of a nobleman who had gone to become king (The servants represent disciples of Jesus). | The nobleman who has become king (Most likely the nobleman/king represents Jesus.) |
In each story the people saying “Lord” can be people in general, but in each case they include people in the audience that Jesus is telling the story to. In each story the person called “Lord” is either a king, the Son of Man, or Jesus. The Son of Man is a title that Jesus uses for Himself. In one story, the king clearly represents Jesus, and in another the king clearly represents God, and in the third he could be either Jesus or God. So, condensing all this, in the stories that Jesus tells, the people in the stories (which include people in His audience) call God and Himself, “Lord”.
In summary, looking at all the verses where someone addresses someone else as “Lord” in the gospels, the addressees are either God or Jesus.
Going back to the two questions that I started with, based on the limited scope of my short study, I would say that the answer is that Jesus perceived Himself as either being God or in the same class as God. Because of the texts they chose to portray Jesus, the gospel writers perceived Jesus in the same way.
Whenever I do a Bible study to find an answer a particular question, God frequently shows me something else apart from what I was looking for. In this study I looked at six stories that Jesus told, that I originally selected because they had one thing in common, they each contained the the word “Lord” followed by a comma. But as I examined the stories, they were all actually similar in other ways. In each story, one or more people have arrived at a turning point in their lives where they are standing before an authority figure, the one they call “Lord”. In each story, the Lord makes--or has already made--a decision about their future. Their future will either be inside with Him, or on the outside apart from Him, based on criteria important to Him.
Whether He is called, “Lord,” doesn’t really matter to Him. What is important is this: Does He know you? Do you spend time with Him? Are you accepting forgiveness and extending forgiveness? Are you helping the helpless? Are you doing what He told you to do? These are the kinds of things that are important to Him.
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