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What's in a Name?by Phil Maxwell 10/97The first step in getting acquainted with someone is learning their name. Most of us are actually somewhat sensitive about our names, quickly correcting anyone who mispronounces or misspells it. One can know someone's name without knowing them, but it would be quite extraordinary to know someone well without knowing their name. Linguistically speaking, the meaning of proper names is to identify a particular person, place, or thing. Thus, unlike other words, proper names aren't translated from language to language. Rather, names are transliterated, which is to say that spellings and pronunciations are applied that most accurately reflect the original language of the name. If one travels abroad, their name doesn't change at each border crossed, even if there is a different form of the same name native to the language of that country. The name actually given to our Lord and Savior by His Father, God Almighty, and declared by an angel to Joseph and Mary was "Yahshua," not "Jesus." Even most dictionaries and encyclopedias concur that the origin of the name "Jesus" is from the Greek "Iesous" (i-ee-soos), which is assumed to be a transliteration of the true given name of the Lord. Though spellings and pronunciations vary (Y'shua, Yeshua, Yashua, Yehoshua, etc.), this is not generally a point of controversy amongst Bible scholars. "Iesous" actually sounds more like some of the names of pagan gods commonly worshipped in ancient Greek and Roman cultures than it does "Yahshua," from which it is supposedly derived. Makes one wonder, doesn't it? This is not to say that there was some evil conspiracy involved in contriving the name "Jesus", as it seems to be more a result of a series of more or less reasonable transliterations from Hebrew to English through Greek and Latin. Whereas the original written renditions of His name were based on the verbal enunciation of it 2,000 years ago, the processed was reversed in the generations that followed, up to and including our own. As is commonly the case when transliterating or transcribing names from one language to another, the Greek alphabet was incapable of precisely rendering a true phonetic representation of His Hebrew name, and the same problem was exacerbated when Latin renditions were introduced from the Greek. To my knowledge, there isn't any direct primary source references for the Hebrew spelling of the Messiah's name, but it was, nonetheless, a common Hebrew name that sounded nothing like "Jesus". Be that as it may, as a simple matter of courtesy and respect, we choose to address and refer to our Lord and Savior as Yahshua the Messiah rather than Jesus Christ. I hope the reader doesn't object to this (as many do) for we endeavor not to be offended at the use of the name Jesus. Nonetheless, if we must choose between appeasing other people by conforming to their will and ways rather than our own conscience before God and granting minimal respect to the One with a "name above all names," to whom we owe a debt we can never repay, the choice is easy. |
