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Portions borrowed from JesusIsaJew.org

Question:

What does Jesus Christ's Name in the Bible mean and Why does He seem to have so many names?

Answer:  JESUS: Derived from the Hebrew "Joshua" (Y'shua) or "Je-Hoshua" meaning: JEHOVAH IS SALVATION.

The answer to this question is a relatively simple one. Christ's given name, Jesus, means "the LORD saves" (or "the LORD is salvation"). It is a Hebrew name which has been transliterated into Greek as Iesous (IhsouV: pronounced "ee-ay-SUS"). The English "Jesus" comes from the Latin transliteration of the Greek name into the Latin Iesus. Now Greek has no "y" sound, but the Latin "i" is both an "i" and a "j" (i.e., it can have a consonantal force in front of other vowels), the latter of which is properly pronounced like the English "y" (which explains the German Jesu, "YAY-su"). That is why we spell Jesus as we do, taking it straight from Latin, but we pronounce the name with a soft "j" sound because that is just what we do in English with the consonantal "j" [did I say this was simple?].

All this only explains the name as we have it in English and how that has been derived from the Greek through Latin. The name itself is, as I said, a Hebrew name. If you recall, the name of Moses' successor in the KJV is "Jesus", not "Joshua", and that is an entirely understandable thing, since their names are indeed identical in Hebrew (and also in Greek; cf. Heb.4:8, where only the context tells the Greek reader that we are talking about Joshua and not Jesus, although most English version now translate them as if they were spelled differently). The Hebrew name is Yehoshu'ah (ivwvhy: pronounced "ye-hoe-shoe-ahhh") which also occurs in a shortened alternative form, not an uncommon thing for Hebrew names, Yeshu'ah (ivwy: pronounced "yay-shoe-ahh"). Both forms are rendered in the Septuagint by the same Greek name, Iesous (the same spelling as discussed above) The New Testament takes many of its spelling conventions from the Septuagint and this unquestionable another such (i.e., Iesous was a well-established way to render the name in Greek by the time of the 1st century). Both the longer and shorter Hebrew forms are derived from two roots, being a compilation of the poetically shortened version of the divine name (Yah instead of YHVH) and the verb "to save" (yash'ah). The meaning is the same for both: "the LORD saves" (or "the LORD is salvation"). This etymological rendering is completely consistent with what the angel who announces Jesus’ coming birth tells Joseph: "You shall call His name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins" (Matt.1:21).

Incidentally, the fact that Joshua's name is really identical to that of Jesus is not a coincidence, but reflects the fact that Joshua is a type of Christ. For Joshua led the people into the land, just as Jesus leads us into the holy of holies by His blood, giving us an eternal inheritance as Joshua gave a temporal one (there are also many parallels between the coming in to the promised land and the 2nd Advent and restoration of Israel - Jesus is the ultimate Joshua, and Joshua a type of the coming Messiah). I believe this important to point out because for those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus through the wilderness of sin in which we now dwell, we can be assured not only of our deliverance from the devil’s world and from this body of sin in which we now abide, but also our deliverance into an eternal inheritance (that puts the best of this present world to shame), and into an eternal body incapable of sin. For Jesus has indeed "saved us from our sins" through His blood, and will indeed return for us to deliver us into the incalculable riches of eternity.

Pronunciation:

The first letter in the name Yeshua ("Jesus") is the yod. Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with yod are mispronounced by English speakers because the yod in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today. All proper names in the Old Testament were transliterated into English according to their Hebrew pronunciation, but when English pronunciation shifted to what we know today, these transliterations were not altered. Thus, such Hebrew place names as ye-ru-sha-LA-yim, ye-ri-HO, and yar-DEN have become known to us as Jerusalem, Jericho, and Jordan; and Hebrew personal names such as yo-NA, yi-SHAI, and ye-SHU-a have become known to us as Jonah, Jesse, and Jesus.

The second sound in Yeshua's name is called tse-RE, and is pronounced almost like the letter "e" in the word "net". Just as the "Y" sound of the first letter is mispronounced in today's English, so too the first vowel sound in "Jesus". Before the Hebrew name "Yeshua" was transliterated into English, it was first transliterated into Greek. There was no difficulty in transliterating the tse-RE sound since the ancient Greek language had an equivalent letter which represented this sound. And there was no real difficulty in transcribing this same first vowel into English. The translators of the earliest versions of the English Bible transliterated the tse-RE in Yeshua with an "e". Unfortunately, later English speakers guessed wrongly that this "e" should be pronounced as in "me," and thus the first syllable of the English version of Yeshua came to be pronounced "Jee" instead of "Yeh". (It is this pronunciation which produced such euphemistic profanities as "Gee" and "Geez".)

Since Yeshua is spelled "Jeshua" and not "Jesus" in most English versions of the Old Testament (for example in Ezra 2:2 and 2 Chronicles 31:15), one easily gets the impression that the name is never mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet 'Yeshua' appears there twenty-nine times, and is the name of at least five different persons and one village in the southern part of Yehudah ("Judah").

In contrast to the early biblical period, there were relatively few different names in use among the Jewish population of the Land of Israel at the time of the Second Temple. The name Yeshua was one of the most common male names in that period, tied with Eleazer for fifth place behind Simon, Joseph, Judah, and John. Nearly one out of ten persons known from the period was named Yeshua.

The first sound of the second syllable of Yeshua is the "sh" sound. It is represented by the Hebrew letter shin. However Greek, like many other languages, has no "sh" sound. Instead, the closest approximation, the Greek sigma, was used when transcribing "Yeshua" as "Iesus". Translators of English versions of the New Testament transliterated the Greek transcription of a Hebrew name, instead of returning to the original Hebrew. This was doubly unfortunate, first because the "sh" sound exists in English, and second because in English the "s" sound can shift to the "z" sound, which is what happened in the case of the pronunciation of "Jesus".

The fourth sound one hears in the name Yeshua is the "u" sound, as in the word "true". Like the first three sounds, this also has come to be mispronounced but in this case it is not the fault of the translators. They transcribed this sound accurately, but English is not a phonetic language and "u" can be pronounced in more than one way. At some point the "u" in "Jesus" came to be pronounced as in "cut," and so we say "Jee-zuhs."

The "a" sound, as in the word "father," is the fifth sound in Jesus' name. It is followed by a guttural produced by contracting the lower throat muscles and retracting the tongue root- an unfamiliar task for English speakers. In an exception to the rule, the vowel sound "a" associated with the last letter "ayin" (the guttural) is pronounced before it, not after. While there is no equivalent in English or any other Indo-European language, it is somewhat similar to the last sound in the name of the composer, "Bach." In this position it is almost inaudible to the western ear. Some Israelis pronounce this last sound and some don't, depending on what part of the dispersion their families returned from. The Hebrew Language Academy, guardian of the purity of the language, has ruled that it should be sounded, and Israeli radio and television announcers are required to pronounce it correctly. There was no letter to represent them, and so these fifth and sixth sounds were dropped from the Greek transcription of "Yeshua," -the transcription from which the English "Jesus" is derived.

So where did the final "s" of "Jesus" come from? Masculine names in Greek ordinarily end with a consonant, usually with an "s" sound, and less frequently with an "n" or "r" sound. In the case of "Iesus," the Greeks added a sigma, the "s" sound, to close the word. The same is true for the names Nicodemus, Judas, Lazarus, and others.

English speakers make one final change from the original pronunciation of Jesus' name. English places the accent on "Je," rather than on "sus." For this reason, the "u" has been shortened in its English pronunciation to "uh."


The real meaning of speaking "in His name".

When we speak in His Name, we represent our Lord and King. We speak for Him. As a wife is authorized to write checks on her husband's account, so we draw on the resources of God by speaking or acting in His Name.

We can't take this privilege lightly. He "has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light" through identification with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection life. But only when we, who are "born of the Spirit", choose to "walk in the Spirit", are we truly authorized in the power of the Spirit to draw resources from the heavenly account.

His names not only tell us who God is, they also in reminds us who we are in Him. Since He is our Shepherd, we are His sheep. Since He is our wonderful Father, we are His precious sons and daughters. Since He is our mighty King, we are His protected and privileged subjects. Since He is the whole Vine, we are branches filled with His very life. And since He is our Bridegroom, we are His beloved bride and may delight in Him forever.

By our union with Jesus Christ at the cross, He lives His life in us and shares with us His character as well as His Name. No matter what happens in the world, our lives our bound to Him in an eternal love relationship. Knowing His names will open the door of our hearts to all that He longs to give us in Himself:

The CHRIST: is equivalent to the Hebrew 'Messiah' (Meshiach), "The Anointed One."

LOGOS: "The Word of God" John l; Rev. 19:13.

SOPHIA: "The Wisdom of God," referring to Christ, refers back to Proverbs (I Cor. 1,2)

ALPHA AND OMEGA: The First and the Last, The Beginning and The End (Rev. 1).

Father, Son, Holy Spirit: Christian orthodoxy has always understood God to be One God in Three Persons (Elohim). In The NT each person of the godhead is called "God" and "Lord" at least once.

Names for the Holy Spirit: Counselor; Comforter; Baptizer; Advocate; Strengthener; Sanctifier; Spirit of Christ (not the same as the spirit of Christ); Seven-Fold Spirit (Rev.); Spirit of Truth; Spirit of Grace; Spirit of Mercy; Spirit of God; Spirit of Holiness; Spirit of Life. Symbolized in OT and NT by (l) breath or wind; (2) fire; (3) water; (4) oil; (5) light; (6) a dove.

Other NT Titles for Jesus: Shepherd of the Sheep; Master; King of kings; Lord of lords; Bishop and Guardian of our Souls; Daystar, Deliverer, Advocate, Last (or Second) Adam, Ancient of Days, Branch, Chief Cornerstone, Immanuel, First Born, Head of the Body, Physician, Rock, Root of Jesse, Stone, Potentate; Chief Apostle; Great High Priest; Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (or Author and Finisher); Lamb of God; Lamb Slain before the Foundation of the World; Lord God Almighty.

The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ

Most Study Bibles have notes which give references to the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is what the Scofield Study Bible Notes say:

(1) In the intimations and explicit predictions of the O.T.

(2) Christ Himself affirmed His deity.

(3) The N.T. writers ascribe divine titles to Christ (John 1:1; 20-28; Acts 20:28; Rom. 1:4; 9:5; 2 Thess. 1:12; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1:8; 1 John 5:20).

(4) The N.T. writers ascribe divine perfections and attributes to Christ (e.g. Mt. 11:28; 18:20, 28:20; John 1:2, 2:23-25; 3:13; 5:17; 21:17; Heb. 1:3, 11, 12 with Heb. 13:8; Rev. 1:8,17,18; 2:23; 11. 17; 22:13).

(5) The N.T. writers ascribe divine works to Christ (John 1:3. 16:17, Col. 1:16, 17; Heb. 1:3).

(6) The N.T. writers teach that supreme worship should be paid to Christ (Acts 7:59, 60; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 13:14, Phil. 2:9, 10; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5, 6; 5. 12, 13).

(7) The holiness and resurrection of Christ prove His deity (John 8:46; Rom. 1:4).

Philippians 2 is the great Chapter on the kenosis or self-emptying of the Lord Jesus Christ when He became a man. His equality with the Father as the Son of God is stated here.

Note also John 5:18 "This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God."

A well-known NT passage of mine is Romans 9:5 "...to them (the Jewish race) belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Messiah (who is) God who is over all, blessed for ever. Amen."

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