Jesus being called “Lord” in the New Testament is an indicator of high christology.
"Psalm 110, which is among the most frequently cited/alluded to Psalms in the NT, but has no trace of quotation or allusion elsewhere in second-temple Jewish literature". (Larry Hurtado)
Psalm 110:1 was not a Second Temple messianic proof-text. The NT utilised Psalm 110:1 to indicate that (i) Jesus is superior to David, Jesus being David's Lord, as recorded in the gospels and (ii) Jesus is superior to all things (except God the Father) because God the Father has made all else to worship Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:26-28, Philippians 2:9-11, Acts 2:34-38).
Yahweh said to "my lord" (adoni in the Masoreric text (MT) written circa a.D. 7th - 11th century).
Psalm 110:1 was the only OT "adoni'' text applied to Jesus in the NT compared to thirteen OT "adonai" texts applied to Jesus in the NT Pauline corpus.
I cannot find the sentence "the lord said to my lord" in any of the Pauline texts. I realised that Paul never quoted it. He did allude to it in 1 Corinthians 15:25 ("until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet").
It's most likely that the reason why Paul was avoiding to quote Psalm 110:1 fully was the fact that it did noy feature his own belief which was Jesus being given "the titles above all titles" (which every Jew of old up to this day knows to be "adonai") by God in Philippians 2:9.
Both the one adoni text Psalm 110:1 and the thirteen adonai texts can help us to understand the significance of Jesus being called Lord in the New Testament.
In Second Temple Judaism, the second lord in Psalm 110:1 was deemed as angel based on its royal-priest function linked to the priest Melchizedek, who according to Qumran Jews was an angelic figure in another psalm (Psalm 82) who rules over other gods (angels) who were royalties (being addressed as princes). In the Pentateuch, angels were addressed as adoni (my lord) and held priestly functions (bearer of the divine name/forgiveness of sins).
In Psalm 110:1 we have Yahweh speaking to an exalted angelic figure, “YHWH says to my lord, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Jesus Christ, in his risen status, is equal to angels according to Scripture. Luke 20:36 says that humans at the resurrection will become "equal to angels" (iso angeloi). Acts 2:34-35 quoted Psalm 110:1 applying to Jesus the psalm when he "ascended into heaven" (which was obviously in his risen state). In Psalm 110:1, the human Jesus in his immortalised state is now enthroned in heaven, ruling until the day when he will defeat his enemies. After ruling to defeat His enemies, Jesus will rule anew to dwell with his people in the new heavens and new earth to fulfill Luke's words that his (Jesus') kingdom "has no end".
constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ ( 1 Corinthians 1:3)
When Jesus here is called “our Lord” it could certainly mean “our Yahweh.” Such a phrase does exist in the Hebrew Bible.
The Hebrew has Adonai with possessive adjective ["our Adonai" = our + my lords] which refers to "Our YHWH" in Nehemiah 8:10. (see https://biblehub.com/text/nehemiah/8-10.htm).
Scholars correctly identified that kyrios language identifies Jesus with Yahweh. This makes sense in regard to the multiple instances where Jesus is called “our Lord.”
Psalm 110:1 has two figures: Yahweh and an exalted divine figure, one who was equal to the angels (the gods of ancient Israelite) as to immortality. The reason why Jesus could assume the role of being Lord even to all angels is because in his risen state he is equal to them. Think about it. Why would a man rule over an angel? An angel is obviously more powerful than men. Only someone angelic can relate to angels. Jesus, whilst being a man, is also equal to angels due to his immortalisation by God. It seemed that "angel" does not only refer to the function of being a messenger but also to being immortal. An angel is therefore in our modern language just an "immortal agent" . We have evidence that some Jews in the Second Temple period believed that humans did become gods/angels (e.g. Enoch, Elijah, Moses).
1 Corinthians 8:6 should be read "one Adonai, Jesus Christ" because kurios in the Hebrew text (Deut. 6:4) was equivalent to Adonai. (...Adonai is one). Both the titles kurios and Adonai are substitutes of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH). Paul believed that God gave the name above all names/ the title above all titles to Jesus. Jews of old prior to the advent of Jesus already had the titles kurios/Adonai as substitute names for their God. For instance, the LXX had an anarthrous kurios (kyrios without the definite article) for YHWH, treating kurios as a proper name. The Masoretic text (MT) following a very ancient tradition used Adonai instead of YHWH in some texts.
A human king was called Adonai in the OT but it did not indicate that he is YHWH. Adonai by itself addressed to a human king cannot mean the king is YHWH. Adonai that is used to YHWH in OT texts and these texts being applied to Jesus certainly does equate Jesus with YHWH since its application in the NT requires to conflate them. But the text was not applied to Jesus. It only shows that Adonai can be applied to humans. OT YHWH texts that were applied to Jesus had Adonai in it.
Paul's avoidance of fully quoting the Greek text of Psalm 110:1 where it would have Jesus as adoni in Hebrew was motivated by his belief that Jesus was Adonai (1 Corinthians 1:2, 8:6, Romans 10:9-13). adoni being always a non-deity title, was avoided by Paul because it was not the title that's above all titles . Paul consistently used OT "adonai" texts to Jesus.
"195 times YHVH and adoni are quite clear and adoni is never GOD. Jews carefully knew the difference. Adoni is always the non-Deity title."
(Anthony Buzzard)
Scholars and interpreters who take OT YHWH texts seriously in their reconstruction of early christology are doing a very great job. The earliest New Testament records regarded OT YHWH texts as chief reference from the Hebrew Bible to understanding Jesus. We should follow suit.
