If His name was Yeshua, why do we call Him Jesus?
The angel told Joseph what to call the child, and that name was spoken in Hebrew — yet every book of the New Testament hands it to us in Greek. So which is His name: the sound Mary used at home, or the form written by the men God inspired?
A Greek form of a Hebrew name
"Jesus" is not a different name from "Yeshua." It is the same name carried across languages, and Scripture itself shows the link.
Edward DennettAs can be seen from Hebrews 4:8, Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, or Jehoshua, which means "Jehovah is salvation," or "whose salvation is Jehovah." There is therefore ample justification for the common observation that the name Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. If so, what a subject for contemplation, yes, and for adoration, is brought before our souls! A child born into the world, of lowly parentage in man's esteem, is declared, divinely declared, to be Jehovah the Saviour!
One word, two English spellings
The proof is visible in your own Bible. Hebrews 4:8 speaks of the man who led Israel into Canaan, and the Greek text there uses the very word normally printed as "Jesus."
Samuel Ridout"For if Joshua" (not "Jesus," it is simply the Greek form of the word) "if Joshua had given them rest," that is, when he brought them into the land of Canaan, "then would he not have spoken of another day."
Translators write "Joshua" when the son of Nun is meant and "Jesus" when the Son of God is meant — one Greek word behind both.
Why the New Testament came in Greek
The choice of language was not an accident of history. Greek spread across the world before the gospel went out into it, and the Spirit of God used the tongue people already shared.
Morrish Bible DictionaryGod so ordained it that by the rise of the Greek empire this language was spread over Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and the countries next to them, and it is a language still understood by learned people of all nations... It was therefore, on every ground, the most suitable language in which to make known the gospel of God, and the truths needed for building up the saints. Not only was the New Testament written in Greek, but the Old Testament was also translated into the same language, and that version was quoted by both the Lord and His apostles.
Translation does not weaken the word
If moving a name from Hebrew into Greek robbed it of power, then the Lord Himself would have handed His hearers a weakened Bible when He quoted the Greek Old Testament.
Walter ScottNow the important fact we bring before our readers is this: the Lord, the apostles, and early Christian writers reverently turned over the pages of this old translation, reading it, quoting it, and referring to it as the word of God... Is there any difference in principle between an English and a Greek translation? The question is a simple one. Have we got the very words of God whether expressed in Greek, English, or French? We have.
An ordinary name in Israel
The Hebrew form was in wide use, and it belonged to other men besides Him. That ordinariness was part of His lowliness — and it later became a target.
William KellyThe name (Jeshua), Nehemiah 8:17, was very common among the Jews of the time. In Colossians 4:11 mention is made of a Jesus, surnamed Justus, one of the circumcision. One of the Lord's ancestors according to the flesh bore the same name (see Luke 3:29). The Talmud, in order to get rid of the original meaning of "the name" (James 2:7), although it uses "Jeshua" of everyone else who bore it, regularly speaks of the Lord by the clipped name Jesu.
Note the irony: the objection has historically run the other way. Enemies of Christ shortened the Hebrew form to strip out the meaning; the Greek form kept it.
What the name declares
The weight of the name is not in its syllables but in who bears it and what the angel said He would do.
J. N. DarbyHis name is called Jesus — Jehoshua, that is, Jehovah the Saviour, for He shall save His people. Who is He, and whose people, given the explanation of such a name? Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
The name every knee will bow to
This name was earned in the lowest place, and it is the name Scripture says the universe will confess.
Hamilton SmithThe name of Jesus expresses the fame of this lowly Man... Over the cross it was written, "This is Jesus." Men in their scorn said, "Let Him now come down from the cross." Had He done so, He would have left the name of Jesus behind Him. He would still have been the Creator, the mighty God, but never again would He have been JESUS — the Saviour.
Summary
- Given — the name was announced by an angel with its meaning attached: He would save His people from their sins.
- Meaning — Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, or Jehoshua, "Jehovah is salvation"; the same word appears in Hebrews 4:8 for Joshua son of Nun.
- Shared — Jeshua was a common name in Israel, borne by others including a "Jesus surnamed Justus"; what makes it holy is the Person, not the sound.
- Carried — God spread Greek through the world and had the New Testament written in it, and the Lord Himself quoted the Greek Old Testament as the word of God.
- Confessed — a translated name is still God's word; before this name, in whatever language it is spoken, every knee will bow.