is great and that he will overlook their sins, since he recognizes their imperfections and fleshly weakness. But Jesus’ half-brother Jude spoke of such as being “ungodly men, turning the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for loose conduct and proving false to our only Owner and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 4) Such ones’ profession of Christianity is meaningless. Their service is unacceptable to God, just as the wise writer of Israel said: “The sacrifice of the wicked ones is something detestable. How much more so when one brings it along with loose conduct.”—Prov. 21:27.

Under the Law, the same viewpoint was expressed against loose conduct. God has not changed on this matter. Loose conduct was legislated against, and the penalty for most of such practices was death. (Lev. 18:6-29; 19:29; 20:14) David appealed to God not to take his life away with “bloodguilty men, in whose hands there is loose conduct.”—Ps. 26:9, 10.

Through his prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jehovah warned Israel of his judgments against them for loose conduct practiced both in a physical and a spiritual way.—Jer. 13:26, 27; Ezek. 16:27, 43, 58; 22:9; 23:21-49; 24:13.

LORD

The Greek and Hebrew words rendered “lord” (or such related terms as “sir,” “owner,” “master”) are used with reference to Jehovah God (1 Ki. 22:17; Ezek. 3:11), Jesus Christ (Matt. 7:21), one of the older persons seen by John in vision (Rev. 7:13, 14), angels (Gen. 19:1, 2; Dan. 12:8), men (1 Sam. 25:24; Acts 16:16, 19, 30) and false deities. (1 Cor. 8:5) Often the designation “lord” denotes one who has ownership or authority and power over persons and/or things. (Gen. 24:9; 42:30; 45:8, 9; 1 Ki. 16:24; Luke 19:33; Acts 25:26; Eph. 6:5) It appears as a title of respect addressed to prominent persons, public officials, prophets and kings. (Gen. 23:6; 42:10; Num. 11:28; 2 Sam. 1:10; 2 Ki. 8:10-12; Matt. 27:63) Sarah applied the title to her husband (Gen. 18:12), children to their fathers (Gen. 31:35; Matt. 21:28, 29), and a younger brother to his older brother. (Gen. 32:5, 6) When used in addressing strangers, “lord” or “sir” served as a title of courtesy.—John 12:21; 20:15; Acts 16:30.

JEHOVAH GOD

Jehovah God is the “Lord of heaven and earth,” being the Universal Sovereign by reason of his Creatorship. (Matt. 11:25; Rev. 4:11) It is at his direction that people are gathered or harvested for life. So petitions for more workers to assist in the harvest must be made to him as the “Master [Lord] of the harvest.”—Matt. 9:37, 38.

JESUS CHRIST

Christ Jesus referred to himself as “Lord of the sabbath,” indicating that the Sabbath was at his disposal for doing the work commanded by his heavenly Father. (Matt. 12:8; compare John 5:19; 10:37, 38.) That work included healing the sick. (Compare Matthew 8:16, 17.) Therefore, just as the priests remained guiltless by doing divinely authorized work on the Sabbath, Jesus’ performance of healings on that day was no violation of the Sabbath law. On the same basis, when Jesus’ disciples plucked heads of grain on the Sabbath to satisfy their hunger, they were not breaking the sabbath law.—Matt. 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-11.

While Christ Jesus was on earth, persons besides his disciples called him “Lord” or “Sir.” (Matt. 8:2; John 4:11) In these cases the designation was primarily a title of respect or courtesy. However, to his apostles Jesus showed that calling him “Lord” involved more than this. Said he: “You address me, ‘Teacher,’ and, ‘Lord,’ and you speak rightly, for I am such.” (John 13:13) As his disciples, these apostles were his learners or pupils. Thus he was their Lord or Master.

Especially after Jesus’ death and resurrection did his title “Lord” take on great significance. By means of his sacrificial death he purchased his followers, this making him their Owner. (John 15:13, 14; 1 Cor. 7:23; 2 Pet. 2:1; Jude 4; Rev. 5:9, 10) He was also their King and Bridegroom to whom they were subject as their Lord. (Acts 17:7; Eph. 5:22-27; compare John 3:28, 29; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 21:9-14.) In rewarding his Son’s faithfulness to the point of dying a shameful death on a stake, “God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) Acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as Lord means more than simply calling him “Lord.” It requires that an individual recognize Jesus’ position and follow a course of obedience. (Compare John 14:21.) As Jesus himself said: “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will.”—Matt. 7:21.

Jehovah God also granted immortality to his faithful Son. Therefore, although many men have ruled as kings or lords, only Jesus Christ, the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” has immortality.—1 Tim. 6:14-16; Rev. 19:16.

Since Jesus has the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:17, 18), he is in position to release mankind from the common grave (John 5:28, 29) and from the death inherited from Adam. (Rom. 5:12, 18) He is therefore also the ‘Lord over the dead,’ including King David, one of his earthly ancestors.—Acts 2:34-36; Rom. 14:9.

A TITLE OF RESPECT

The fact that Christians have only the “one Lord” Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:5) does not rule out their applying “lord” (or, “sir”) to others as a title of respect or courtesy. The apostle Peter even cited Sarah as a good example for Christian wives because of her obedience to Abraham, “calling him ‘lord.’” (1 Pet. 3:1-6) This was no mere formality on Sarah’s part. It was a sincere reflection of her submissiveness, for she spoke of him as such “inside herself.” (Gen. 18:12) On the other hand, since all Christians are brothers, it would be wrong for them to call one of their number “Leader” or “Lord,” viewing that one as a spiritual leader.—Matt. 23:8-10; see ADON; ADONAY; AXIS LORDS; JEHOVAH; JESUS CHRIST; KYRIOS.

LORD’S DAY

In Biblical usage the word “day” may denote a period of time far longer than twenty-four hours. (Gen. 2:4; John 8:56; 2 Pet. 3:8) Contextual evidence indicates that the “Lord’s day” of Revelation 1:10 is not a particular twenty-four-hour day. Since it was “by inspiration” that John came to be “in the Lord’s day,” the reference could not be to some particular day of the week. It would not have been necessary for John to have been inspired to come to a specific day of the week. Therefore, the “Lord’s day” must be that future time, during which events that John was privileged to see in vision would occur. This included such happenings as the war in heaven and the ouster of Satan, the destruction of Babylon the Great and the kings of the earth and their armies, the binding and abyssing of Satan, the resurrection of the dead and Christ’s thousand-year reign.

The context points to Jesus Christ as the Lord whose “day” it is. Immediately after coming to be “in the Lord’s day,” John heard, not the voice of Almighty God, but that of the resurrected Son of God. (Rev. 1:10-18) Also, the ‘day of the Lord’ mentioned at 1 Corinthians 1:8; 5:5 and 2 Corinthians 1:14 is that of Jesus Christ.

LORD’S EVENING MEAL

A literal meal, commemorative of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ; hence, a memorial of his death. Since it is the only