Did Jesus have a last name?
Family names as we know them were not how people were identified in the New Testament world, and "Christ" only looks like one because of long habit. So the honest answer is no — but the reason why is more interesting than the answer, because each of His names says something about who He is.
"Jesus" Is a Personal Name, Not a Family Name
The word "Jesus" belongs to Him alone as a person, and it was chosen for Him rather than inherited. One writer draws a clean line between the two kinds of words we use for Him:
William John HockingThe name expresses what a person is; the title describes what a person does. "Savior" is a title of the Lord: "unto you is born... a Savior" (Luke 2:11). But His personal name is "Jesus," meaning Jehovah the Savior (Matt. 1:21).
Far from being unusual, the name itself was ordinary in His day:
The Bible TreasuryThe meaning of the name of "Jesus" is deep — "Jehovah a Saviour," and faith lays hold of those glories as being His: personally JEHOVAH, — in action, the SAVIOUR. Yet the name (as we see in Acts 7:45, and Heb. 4:8) was a name not uncommon among the Jews, but rather one of their national ones — "Joshua."
"Christ" Is an Office That Became Used Like a Name
This is where the confusion starts. "Christ" was never a surname; it was a description of a position, and everyday speech gradually flattened it into a label:
J. N. Darby"Christ" has become in the parlance of the present day a simple name; in earlier days this was not the case. "Christ" (Greek), or "Messiah" (Hebrew), means "the Anointed," who, according to the promise of God, was expected. This word therefore expresses more than merely the name of a person... since, in our opinion, the designation of the office and the name should not be confounded, in order to retain the force of the word, we have written "Christ" when it is used as a proper name, and "the Christ" when it designates the office of the Messiah, the Anointed.
What That Title Actually Claims
Anointing in the Old Testament marked a person out for a particular office. He fills all of them:
A J PollockIn the Old Testament we get three classes of persons anointed: the king for the kingly office; the priest for the priestly office; and the prophet for the prophetic office. The Lord was THE Anointed, to carry out the will of God, anointed to be the Saviour, the Revealer of the Father, THE Prophet; THE Priest; THE King... not a King among kings, but a King OF kings. All that the world will ever know of blessing flows from THE Anointed One.
How People Actually Identified Him
Instead of a surname, people used a town or a father: "Jesus of Nazareth," "the son of Joseph," "the carpenter, the son of Mary." His neighbours in Capernaum used exactly that shorthand to dismiss His claim — "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?" (John 6:42, ESV). One commentator shows how much rides on getting the relationship right:
William KellyHe was the son of Mary — truly and properly man; else His work had not availed for man. He was not son of Joseph except legally; but this He was, in order that He should be Messiah according to the law. Had He been really son of Joseph, as of Mary, He had not been Son of God, or a Divine Person; but this was the foundation of all, and without it the Incarnation were a falsehood, and the Atonement a nullity.
The Name He Kept After He Rose
The village address that people used to sneer at Him is the one He used of Himself when He spoke from heaven to Saul, who was hunting Christians down:
The Bible Treasurythe answer from heaven is, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting." Thus was the present glory of the Lord Jesus, and for our sakes His having become poor, made known to the chief of sinners, for in that Name is salvation, the forgiveness of sins, as the angel said to Joseph, "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
The Name That Outranks Every Other
Whatever names we carry, His will one day be the only one that matters:
Norman AndersonHe has conferred upon Him such dignity and honour in setting Him where He is (Eph. 1:21-22) that when the moment for His display arrives, He shall be set forth, publicly, invested with it. Then, as the heavens open and He is manifested — and the Name of Jesus, which He had borne in His lowliness, shall be sounded forth throughout the universe — every knee shall bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal beings, and every tongue shall own His Lordship to the glory of God the Father.
Summary
- Name. "Jesus" is His personal name, given by God and meaning "Jehovah the Saviour" — a common Jewish name, the same as "Joshua."
- Title. "Christ" is not a surname but an office — "the Anointed" — which ordinary speech later wore down into something that sounds like a family name.
- Office. As the Anointed One He is Prophet, Priest and King, and every blessing the world will ever know flows from Him in that place.
- Address. People placed Him by town and by father — "of Nazareth," "son of Joseph" — though commentators note He was Joseph's son only legally, which is precisely what keeps Him the Son of God.
- Exaltation. The lowly name He carried on earth is the one He owned from heaven and the one before which every knee will bow.