God vs Lord
Especially in the religious sense, God and Lord are used interchangeably at times, therefore knowing the difference between God and Lord becomes very important. Both God and Lord are nouns. According to the Oxford English dictionary, God is “(In Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.” As a word, it seems to have Germanic origin. God is, in fact, a word that is much connected with English language as there are many phrases that are used every day with the word God in them. For example, for God’s sake, God bless, God damn you, etc. On the other hand, the religious definition of Lord is ” (Lord) a name for God or Christ.” It also carries the meaning “master or ruler.” Keeping this information in the memory, this article attempts to explain the difference between God and Lord as much as possible.
What does God mean?
It is important to note that the word God comes from the root from which the words ‘gold’ and ‘good’ came. This only goes to prove the fact that God is as good and pure as the gold. Philosophers were particular that this term referred to the instrumental cause of this universe, namely the Almighty, the omnipotent and the Supreme Absolute.
As a matter of fact the word god is used to represent lesser beings as well like god of death, god of love, god of wealth and the like. In many instances, you would find mythological beings too referred to by the word god.
What does Lord mean?
The word lord, on the contrary, has the other meaning namely ‘the one who rules over the others’. Hence, this word can be applied to God or a human being for that matter. In short it can be said that any human being who has the ability to rule over others is called a Lord. For example, a king of a kingdom is addressed as ‘lord’ by his ministers and subjects.
England too had lords who ruled over other jurisdictions. The usage ‘lord of Israel’ was coined by the Jews way back in 3rd century BC to refer to the ‘god of Israel’. In fact, they used the term, ‘ Adonai’ to be more precise. The word ‘Adonai’ means ‘lord’ in Hebrew. Probably this is the reason the translators while translating the Old Testament used the word ‘lord’ wherever there was the use of the proper name of God in the Hebrew language.
The word ‘lord’ is used in other senses too. In some countries, it is used to address the head of the judiciary or the judge. In the mythologies of a few countries, it is used as a prefix of any god for that matter. Sometimes the word is used as a mere title too.
What is the difference between God and Lord?
• Both God and Lord are nouns.
• When one write god with a capital G, as in God, that refers to the almighty God believed in Christianity. God with simple g is used for any other god.
• Lord can be applied to God or a human being.
• In some countries, Lord is used to address the head of the judiciary or the judge.
• In the mythologies of a few countries, the word Lord is used as a prefix of any god for that matter.
• Lord is sometimes used as a mere title too.
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