Why wasn't Jesus named Immanuel instead of Jesus?
The angel told Joseph to name the child Jesus, and in the very next breath Matthew quotes Isaiah's promise that He would be called Immanuel — yet nobody in the Gospels ever addresses Him that way. Is this a contradiction in the text, or do the two names belong together? (Older translations spell it "Emmanuel"; it is the same word.)
The Objection Stated
One writer meets the question head-on, and notes that the wording of the two passages is not identical. Isaiah says the child will be given that name; Matthew says people will call Him by it.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinSome have seen a difficulty in this: the child was to be named Immanuel, and instead of that name He is named Jesus… How easy it would have been for Matthew to make everything fit, so that every word matched the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit guided his hand as he wrote. The prophecy in the Old Testament says, "call His name Immanuel." Here it says, "They shall call His name." … He is Immanuel, and as such Jehovah the Saviour, so that in reality both names mean the same thing.
What a Name Does in Scripture
Behind the puzzle lies an assumption we bring from modern life — that a name is simply a label chosen by parents. Scripture works differently.
Frederick W. GrantNames in Scripture are significant things. They are not put on people, as they are today, for their prettiness, or because they run in the family. God did not think it beneath Him to step in and change or give a name… There was a reason for the name. Most often it was the expression of what the person was, or would be — as with Abraham, Israel, Peter, and others like them; and this is especially so with the names of God or of Christ.
So "Immanuel" is not a missing label. It is a statement of who the child is — which Matthew supplies by translating it for us: God with us.
The Name Jesus Carries the Same Person
The name actually given is not a lesser name. It also announces God's presence, but under a new character.
James BoydWhat does Jesus mean? Jehovah the Saviour. The Jews had known Jehovah as Lawgiver, but now they were to know Him in an entirely different character: they were to know Him as Saviour. But Jehovah was their God, and now He was with them in the Person of Jesus. He was Immanuel, God with us. God here on earth as a Man among men, so that He could come near to men; One whose terror would not make men afraid, whose hand would not be heavy on them.
Why "Jesus" Was the Name Spoken
If both names say God has come, the chosen one adds something the other does not: the reason He came.
Samuel RidoutIn the first chapter of Matthew the Spirit of God quotes the prophecy from Isaiah where our Lord's birth from the virgin is foretold… And so Joseph, in giving a name to the blessed One who was born, does not call Him "Immanuel," but Jesus. How beautifully that reminds us of the purpose for which He came, and the basis on which He stayed here as God's representative among men! Jesus, "Saviour," is His name; and that too is the witness that it was God with us, "Immanuel."
Immanuel Was Not Owned Because He Was Not Wanted
Matthew's phrasing — they shall call Him — points to people confessing the name. That confession never came from the nation, and one writer traces the refusal to the very greatness of the name.
The Bible TreasuryThe Jews refused Him as Messiah because He was infinitely more. Had He been only the Messiah of their own thoughts and wishes, they were willing to make Him their King. But He was Immanuel, God with us; He was Jehovah the Saviour, for He shall save His people from their sins. Living among us, and veiled in flesh, the glory of His Person could not be entirely hidden.
A Name Still Waiting to Be Used
Commentators differ in emphasis here. Some treat both names as simply interchangeable; others read Matthew's "they shall call" as looking ahead to a day when Israel will say it.
Edward DennettIt has already been pointed out that the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem fulfilled this prophecy. Not that the birth by itself contained the whole accomplishment: it was rather its pledge and guarantee. The meaning of the name, as God Himself interprets it, is "God with us"… the Immanuel name of our blessed Lord will only be realised when His glorious throne is set up on earth.
- Name — In the Bible a name states what someone is, not merely what he is called; so Immanuel is a description of the child, and Matthew even translates it for us.
- Same — Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. If Jehovah has come to save, then God is with us. The two names carry one Person.
- Purpose — The name spoken over the cradle adds the reason for the coming: He will save His people from their sins.
- Refusal — He was not hailed as Immanuel because He was more than the nation wanted; they would take a Messiah of their own imagining, not God among them.
- Pledge — His birth guaranteed the name rather than exhausted it; commentators who read Matthew's "they shall call" as future expect the full confession when His throne is established.