Trinitarians sometimes make the claim that the word "Lord" is a term which does by itself signify that "Jesus is God." This claim is simply false. There are numerous characters in the Bible who are called "Lord." The word "Lord" is simply a term used to refer to someone with higher authority.
The following examples show how the word is used in Scriptures to refer to an array of different individuals:
Abraham is Sarah's Lord
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" (Genesis 18:12; cf. 1 Peter 3:9).
Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him "Lord" (1 Peter 3:6).
Two Angels are Lot's Lords
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he arose to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the earth, and said, "My Lords, turn aside, I pray you, to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise up early and go on your way."
The Philippian Jailer calls Paul and Silas "Lords."
"Lords, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:31).
There are numerous characters in Scripture who are called "Lord." And as we can see, it has nothing to do with deity. You may also note how Trinitarians traditionally refrain from translating the word as "Lord" in verses like Acts 16:31 above. However, this is misleading since it is the exact same Greek word that is used to refer to the Lord Jesus. The word was quite simply used to refer to anyone who had authority over someone else.
The word "Lord" in the Hebrew Scriptures
Understanding the use of the English word "Lord" in the Old Testament is a bit more complicated than it is in the New Testament. The reason for this is that most English Old Testament Bibles use the word "Lord" to translate the tetragrammaton "YHWH," that is, "Yahweh." Jews, not wishing to pronounce the divine name used the term "Adonai" in place of "YHWH." Adonai is the word we translate as "Lord" in English Bibles. So when you see the word "LORD" with all capital letters in English Bibles, it translates both the Hebrew "Adonai" used by Jews in place of "YHWH." Some English Bibles do not capitalize all the letters. Adonai is a special Hebrew word used only to refer to Yahweh God. Another Hebrew word "Adoni" is the normal Hebrew word for "Lord." This distinction is very important. But there is a reason for the difference in the one vowel between these two words. When referring to someone other than God as "Lord" the word "Adoni" was always used. This one letter makes a very significant difference just as the one letter between "He" and "She" makes a big difference in English. Jesus tells us that these "jots and tittles" of the Old Testament are indeed very significant (Mt 5:18). The Hebrew word "Adoni" occurs nearly 200 times in the Old Testament. In each and every single occurrence, it is a reference to a human superior and not a reference to God. And indeed, this is also the very same word used at Psalm 110:1 in reference to the Messiah, "The LORD said to my Lord," that is, "Adonai said to my Adoni." Adonai is simply a Jewish replacement of "YHWH" and it is translated into English as "LORD" and in some Bibles as "Lord."
