Christ the Lord in the NT

The first argument from the New Testament in proof of the divinity of
Christ, is derived from the fact that He is everywhere called Lord;
the Lord; our Lord. It is admitted that the Greek word kurios means
owner, and one who has the authority of an owner, whether of men or
things. The Lord of a vineyard is the owner of the vineyard, and the
Lord of slaves is the owner of slaves. It is also admitted that the
word is used with all the latitude of the Latin word Dominus, or the
English Master or Mister. It is applied as a title of respect, not
only to magistrates and princes, but to those who are not invested
with any official authority. It is, therefore, not merely the fact
that Jesus is called Lord, that proves that He is also God; but that
He is called Lord in such a sense and in such a way as is consistent
with no other hypothesis. In the first place, Christ is called Lord in
the New Testament with the same constancy and with the same
preeminence that Jehovah is called Lord in the Old Testament. This was
the word which all the readers, whether of the Hebrew or Greek
Scriptures, under the old economy were accustomed to use to express
their relation to God. They recognized Him as their owner, as their
Supreme Sovereign, and as their protector. He was in that sense their
Lord. The Lord is on our side. The Lord be with you. The Lord He is
God. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Thou Lord art good.
Thou Lord art most high forever. O Lord, there is none like unto thee.
I will praise the Lord. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. O Lord, thou art
my God. The religious ear of the people was educated in the use of
this language from their infancy. The Lord was their God. They
worshipped and praised Him, and invoked his aid in calling him Lord.
The same feelings of reverence, adoration, and love, the same sense of
dependence and desire of protection are expressed throughout the New
Testament in calling Jesus Lord. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. Lord, save me. Joy of thy Lord. Lord, when saw we thee a
hungered? He that judgeth me is the Lord. If the Lord will. To be
present with the Lord. Them that call on the Lord. Which the Lord
shall give me in the last day. Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour.

Jesus Christ, therefore, is Lord to Christians in the same sense that
Jehovah was Lord to the Hebrews. The usage referred to is altogether
peculiar; no man -- not Moses, nor Abraham, nor David, nor any of the
prophets or Apostles, is ever thus prevailingly addressed or invoked
as Lord. We have but one Lord; and Jesus Christ is Lord. This is an
argument which addresses itself to the inward experience, rather than
to the mere understanding. Every believer knows in what sense he calls
Jesus Lord; and he knows that in thus recognizing Him as his owner, as
his absolute sovereign, to whom the allegiance of his soul, and not
merely of his outward life, is due; and as his protector and Saviour,
he is in communion with the Apostles and martyrs. He knows that it is
from the New Testament he has been taught to worship Christ in calling
him Lord.

But in the second place, Jesus Christ is not only thus called Lord by
way of eminence, but He is declared to be the Lord of lords; to be the
Lord of glory; the Lord of all; the Lord of the living and the dead;
the Lord of all who are in heaven and on earth, and under the earth.
All creatures, from the highest to the lowest, must bow the knee to
Him, and acknowledge his absolute dominion. He is in such a sense Lord
as that no man can truly call Him Lord but by the Holy Ghost. If his
Lordship were merely the supremacy which one creature can exercise
over other creatures, there would be no necessity for a divine
illumination to enable us to recognize his authority. But if He is
Lord in the absolute sense in which God alone is Lord; if He has a
right in us, and an authority over us, which belong only to our Maker
and Redeemer, then it is necessary that the Holy Spirit should so
reveal to us the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, as to lead
us to prostrate ourselves before Him as our Lord and our God.

In the third place, Christ is called Lord, when that word is used for
the incommunicable divine names and titles Jehovah and Adonai. It is
well known that the Jews from an early period had a superstitious
reverence, which prevented their pronouncing the word Jehovah. They
therefore, in their Hebrew Scriptures, gave it the vowel points
belonging to the word Adonai, and so pronounced it whenever they read
the sacred volume. When they translated their Scriptures into Greek,
they uniformly substituted kurios, which answers to Adon, for Jehovah.
In like manner, under the influence of the LXX., the Latin Christians
in their version used Dominus; and constrained by the same wide spread
and long-continued usage, the English translators have, as a general
thing, put Lord (in small capitals) where the Hebrew has Jehovah. In
very many cases we find passages applied to Christ as the Messiah, in
which He is called Lord, when Lord should be Jehovah or Adonai. In
Luke i. 76, it is said of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ,
that he should go before the face of the Lord; but in Malachi iii. 1,
of which this passage declares the fulfilment, the person speaking is
Jehovah. The day of Christ, in the New Testament, is called "the day
of the Lord;" in the Old Testament it is called "the day of Jehovah,
the great day." Romans x. 13, quotes Joel ii. 32, which speaks of Jehovah,
and applies it to Christ, saying, "Whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved." Rom xiv. 10, 11, quotes Isaiah xlv. 23,
"We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is
written, As I live, saith the Lord (Jehovah), every knee shall bow
to me," etc. This is common throughout the New Testament, and
therefore Christ is there set forth as Lord in the same sense in
which the Supreme God is Lord. The meaning of the word as applied
to Christ being thus established, it shows how constant and familiar
is the recognition of his divinity by the sacred writers. They
acknowledge Him to be God every time they call Him Lord.
(Hodge v 1 p 495-ff)