Notes on the Name of Jesus

TINK: Things I Never Knew

These days, much discussion, arguing, and studying has emerged concerning God’s name. Growing up, the only name we ever knew was Jesus. For most mainstream Christians, this is still the only name they have been taught.

A few years ago, I begin to study the Hebrew roots of our Christian faith. This journey has been eye-opening, to say the least, and life-changing. Early on in my studies, I began to notice this alternate use of Yeshua in place of Jesus. I googled it and found out it’s the Hebrew name for Jesus. Oh. Ok. That makes sense. I didn’t dig much further at that time. However, when I began to study the Hebrew language, and the letters, and the meanings of letters, and the root words…I realized that there was much more to this Hebrew name for Jesus.

First, I had it completely backward. Yeshua is not the Hebrew name for Jesus. And Jesus is not necessarily the English name for Yeshua.

You might say that “Jesus” is an English transliteration of a Greek transliteration of His Hebrew name, Yeshua. Phew! That sounds complicated!

Let’s break it down a bit. When the name Yeshua is translated into Greek, it isn’t translated as we think. It’s not like taking the Hebrew word for apple and then substituting the Greek name for apple into the text. In this instance, it isn’t really based on meaning at all. Since Greek had to equivalent to the Hebrew letter “shin”, it was replaced with the Greek “sigma” and the masculine ending was added. They actually translated it phonetically (by how it is pronounced) as closely as possible. This gave them the name “Iesous” (ee-Yay-soos). The “oos” ending on a Greek name indicates a masculine subject.

From Iesous, the name got phonetically translated once again into the Latin “IESVS” and then from Latin to English “Iesu”. The letter J was not invented until somewhere around the 1500s. The J was added to distinguish from the vowel “i”. The first 1611 editions of the King James Versions still contained the name as “Iesu”. This is how we arrive at the name “Jesus”. And that was the simple explanation.

The question is…..does any of this matter?

Hear me out: I do not believe that God is snubbing His Holy nose at anyone using the name Jesus. Many miracles, healings, and deliverances have happened when calling on that name. And it can be argued that His name gets translated several different ways in different parts of the world. I do not believe we are less Godly because we do not use His original name. That’s because it is our faith in who is behind that name that truly matters.

That aside, there are some reasons that I began to call Him Yeshua. First, that is His name. His mother would have called Him Yeshua, or the shortened Aramaic form of Yeshu. One of the most well-known verses of Christiandom, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Should actually read, “and thou shalt call his name Yeshua: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Second, His Hebrew name is the same name we know as Joshua (Originally Yehoshuah). Think about what you know about Joshua from the Old Testament. Moses is credited with leading their deliverance from Egypt but Joshua is the one who led the crossing over the Jordan and into the Promised Land.

Third, the name Yeshua (Yehoshua, Joshua) literally means Yah is Salvation.

As in Psalms 68:4

“Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name YAH, and rejoice before him.”

“Yah” is a shortened form of His divine name YHVH. We also see this in the word “Hallelujah” which means “Praise Yah”.

Realize that when Jesus said that He came in His father’s name, He was referring to this same name “Yah”, since the name Yeshua literally includes His father’s name. Yeshua means “Yah saves”

Recently, I was sitting in a service and they sang the song, “Salvation is Your Name” and it dawned on me. We do not give enough attention to that name. Yeshua, our Savior’s true Hebrew name, literally means “Salvation”. It’s not that there is anything wrong with calling Him “Jesus”. It’s just that there are so many things right about calling Him “Yeshua”. Selah

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