The name of God – The name of Jesus Christ
Hello brothers and sisters,
I would like to invite you to read this article up to the end. May God bless you, brother Daniel
Question
My friend consistently brings up the fact that it makes him angry when people call Yahweh by the name “Jesus.” He says that the name Jesus was never used in the Old Testament and that man gave Yahweh the name Jesus. Therefore we are wrong to call the Son of God “Jesus,” because it was NOT what God called him. My friend said we need to call him Yahweh or Yeshua, but not Jesus. I tried to show him where the angels called Him Jesus in the New Testament, but my friend won’t accept this as true because he believes the Bible has been rewritten many times and the original manuscripts did not use the name Jesus. How would you answer this?
Answer
As for Evangelical Out reach https://www.evangelicaloutreach.org, “No Scripture Identifies Yeshua as Messiah Yeshua people are trying to build a case with no proof from the New Testament. Again, the New Testament was not written in Hebrew but rather in Greek and translated directly into English for our English speaking society to read. So Almighty God wanted the known Greek speaking inhabited world at that time of the first century to know the name of Messiah, which brings salvation, healing and power over demons, to be “Iesous” (or Jesus in English) and not “Yeshua.” Yeshua meaning Jesus real nameIf God wanted the Jewish writers of the New Testament to use Yeshua they would have but they didn’t. To say Yeshua means “salvation” is not a clear connection to the Savior from Nazareth. It doesn’t identify the one who shed his blood on the cross of Calvary, rose from the dead and is coming back again, as the NT identifies Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus has the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:9). It, therefore, should be used unashamedly in our English speaking society in spite of all the lies and fabrications being spread around by Messianic Jews. It is also noteworthy to consider that Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews (Phil. 3:5), yet wasn’t off on some strange fictional concept that Iesous (Greek for the English equivalent Jesus) was inferior or of pagan roots like some Hebrews of our day that claim to believe in the Messiah of Christianity. Have Messianic Jews Reintroduced DEADLY Galatianism? Find Out! No Bible Verse Tells Us Messiah’s Name Is Yeshua I like to ask the Yeshua people the following: Would you please give us a Bible verse from the Hebrew Scriptures that tells us Messiah’s name is Yeshua? None have ever done so or ever will since Yeshua is never found in the OT or NT in reference to Messiah. Messiah is never identified by name in the Hebrew Old Testament Scriptures.”
Some facts
The name corresponds to the Greek spelling Iesous, from which, through the Latin Iesus, comes the English spelling Jesus. The Hebrew spelling Yeshua (ישוע) appears in some later books of the Hebrew Bible.
Let’s set aside this person’s skepticism about the reliability of the New Testament. That’s another question for another day. He is incorrect when he says the name Jesus was not used in the Old Testament. But before addressing that, let’s begin with the revelation of the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament.
Yahweh is the pronunciation of the covenant name of God, YHVH ( Yehovah is another pronunciation, of which Jehovah is the Anglicized form). The covenant name YHVH was revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai when, prior to the exodus of God’s people from Egypt, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Moses asked His name and God answered.
Exodus 3:13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Exodus 3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
So is it more accurate and appropriate to call Jesus by the name Yahweh?
Old Testament vs New Testament
We must remember that the Bible is a book of progressive revelation. In ancient days, God spoke through His prophets and prophesied of the Messiah to come. During His earthly ministry, Jesus gave further revelation of God’s purpose and plan in redeeming man and restoring all things. And, after Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, God sent the Holy Spirt to inspire the writing of words of God we have in the New Testament, thereby giving further revelation and completing the Holy Scriptures.
With full revelation, we understand the Great I AM who spoke to Moses to be a Triune God — one God in three distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. All three Persons are co-eternal, co-equal and co-existent in the one Godhead. Therefore, when God revealed His name as Yahweh to Moses, it was a revelation of the name of our Triune God. We understand God’s triune nature, but prior to Jesus’ incarnation it was not possible for the people of Israel to comprehend this. In fact the Shema, a prayer that is the “centerpiece” of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services, proclaims that “God is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.
That is precisely what God revealed to Moses, and exactly what He wanted His people, Israel, to understand at that time.
Remember that God was preparing His people to recognize their coming Messiah, the “seed” that was promised in the garden, the One who would come and rescue fallen man (Genesis 3:15). From the beginning in the garden, and continuing throughout the Old Testament, we read of God revealing more and more of His purpose and plan of redemption and more and more about who He is…including His name.
When Jesus was born, the second Person of the Trinity took on flesh. Since Jesus is one with the Father, it is not wrong to call Jesus by the name, Yahweh, but it fails to recognize the further revelation which God has given.
In the Gospel of Matthew we read of an angel proclaiming that the incarnated Son of God was to be named Jesus:
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Jesus is not a translation of the name Yahweh.
Jesus is actually an English name that derives from the Hebrew name Yeshua (also Yehoshua or Joshua), not Yahweh. To call the second Person of the Trinity by the name Yahweh, rather than Jesus, fails to acknowledge His incarnation and atoning work. The name “Jesus” tells us of His mission and His works, and it’s very clear from the apostle Peter’s words that it is accurate and appropriate for us to use this name:
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead.…Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:10, 12 )
Yeshua or Jesus?
The Hebrew name Yeshua means God is Salvation. Etymology (the study of the history of words, their origins and how their meanings have changed over time) tells us how the name Jesus came to be. The Hebrew/Aramaic name of Yeshua was translated as the Greek name Iesous. Then it was translated into Latin as Iesus, and from the Latin Iesus came the Anglicized name of Jesus. While the Anglicized name “Jesus” is found in the Hebrew Scriptures as Yehoshua or Joshua, it should be noted that this name is found only of men, never in reference to God. Yahweh is the name of God found in the Old Testament.
So what name should we use for the Son of Man? Yeshua or Jesus? Technically either form of the name is correct. They are simply the same name, in two different languages, for the Nazarene who was born of Mary in Bethlehem. Now, this should raise another question. Do both names clearly reveal Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and our Savior? And, which name magnifies the Lord above all?
Yeshua is the name the Jews use to refer to the man Jesus of Nazareth. They believe him to have been nothing more than a good man and a prophet. Therefore the name Yeshua does not proclaim Jesus as the Messiah of Israel or the Lord and Saviour of mankind. Remember, there were other men named Yeshua in the Bible….and they were nothing more than mere mortal men.
If a Christian desires to use the Hebrew name, Yeshua, it is certainly acceptable. However, it would be good to include one of Jesus’ titles so He is clearly identified as the Son of God. Call Him Yeshua Ha Mashiach, which is translated into English as Jesus the Messiah. “Yeshua” coupled with the title “Ha Mashiach” leaves little doubt of Jesus’ Lordship. Another Hebrew title that could be coupled with the name Yeshua is, Ha Moshia. Yeshua Ha Moshia is translated as Jesus the Saviour and that clearly proclaims Jesus to be the promised Redeemer.
“…call his name JESUS…” (Matthew 1:21)
In the English language, the name of Jesus is universally recognized as the name of our King (Mashiach in Hebrew) and of our Lord (Yahweh in Hebrew) and of our Saviour (Moshia in Hebrew). Just as it is suggested to add His titles to the Hebrew name Yeshua, Christians would do well to add His full title to the English name Jesus and call Him the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeshua Ha Mashiach = Jesus the Messiah
Yahweh = the Great I AM, our Lord our God
Yeshua Ha Moshia =Jesus our Saviour
The Lord Jesus Christ = I AM is our Saviour, our King
By whichever name you call Him…to Him alone be all the glory, now and forever!
What this means is Joshua and Jesus are the same name. One name is translated from Hebrew into English, the other from Latin ( lesus ) into English. It is interesting to note, the names “Joshua” and “Isaiah” are essentially the same names as Yeshua in Hebrew. They mean “Savior” and “the salvation of the Lord.”
Must We Call Jesus Yeshua?
GotQuestions.org gives a practical illustration to answer the question:
“In German, our English word for book is ‘buch.’ In Spanish, it becomes a ‘libro;’ in French, a ‘livre.’ The language changes, but the object itself does not. In the same way, we can refer to Jesus as ‘Jesus,’ ‘Yeshua,’ or ‘YehSou’ (Cantonese), without changing His nature. In any language, His name means ‘the Lord is Salvation.'”
Those who argue and insist we call Jesus Christ by his correct name, Yeshua, are concerning themselves with trivial matters that are not essential to salvation.
English speakers call him Jesus, with a “J” that sounds like “gee.” Portuguese speakers call him Jesus, but with a “J” that sounds like “geh,” and Spanish speakers call him Jesus, with a “J” that sounds like “hey.” Which one of these pronunciations is the correct one?