The Name of Jesus

Today I want to address an issue that has arisen in recent times, causing confusion and doubt and alarm among many well-meaning and sincere believers. It is the mistaken idea that, if you believe in the name of Jesus, and not Yeshua, you are believing in a pagan god.

The notion that you need to address our Abba Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit by only using their Hebrew names (and not the names used in other languages) for you to worship the only true living God, is without grounds.

Let me give a practical example here. If someone you know has the name of Jean, this person will be addressed as ‘Jeen’ in England and as ‘Je-ahn’ in France. The pronunciation of the name does not alter the identity of the person bearing that name in the slightest. Consider that Myriam (Old Testament Hebrew) is Maryam in Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke); Mary in English; and Maria in Afrikaans. All are transliterations of the original. This has to do with language, not identity.

Where then does the name Jesus come from? The name ‘Yeshua’ is the Aramaic form of the Paleo-Hebrew (the ancient Hebrew used in Israel and Judah) word ‘Yahushua’, which means ‘Saviour’. When the New Testament was written in Greek (the few Hebrew versions of books in the New Testament unfortunately do not exist today), the writers faced two major problems:  There is no ‘J’ sound in Greek; and names that end in ‘a’ are feminine in gender. Male gender is indicated by having an ‘s’ at the end. The front part of the name Yeshua therefore was written as ‘Iē’ to be pronounced as ‘Ee-ye’; and an ‘s’ added to the end, so that the whole name became ‘Iēsous’. This was just a sensible and logical manner to find the closest-sounding Greek pronunciation of the original Hebrew word. The name was then transliterated as Jesus in the English translations; Isus in Croatian; JeZiS in Czech; Jezus in Dutch; Isa in Turkish (to name but a few examples) – all referring to Yeshua our Saviour.

And our beautiful, faithful Jesus honours them all. We have heard testimonies of believers from deliverance ministries that demons flee at the name of Yeshua and of Jesus; that when people cry out to Jesus specifically for help in dire circumstances, He responds! I have not up to today heard of one testimony of an encounter with Jesus where He instructed His followers to start calling Him Yeshua from now on. Millions are still being saved in that precious name of Jesus.

Yeshua was also not an exclusive name in the time of Jesus, it was quite commonly used, in fact archaeologists have unearthed the tombs of 71 Yeshuas from the period of Jesus’ death.

This certainly does not mean that you are in the wrong when you do use God’s Hebrew names. Not in the least. But carefully examine your heart – what is your motive in doing so?

Points to ponder: Do you use the Hebrew names out of personal sincere conviction and preference? Or are you perhaps using God’s Hebrew names because you think that the other language names for Him denote a pagan entity? Do you judge other believers as unenlightened or uneducated or wrong when they do not use the Hebrew names?