The History of the Name “JESUS”

By Ruben Barrett

 

 

 

The name Jesus is an anglicized form of the Latin Iesus, which itself is derived from the Greek name Iesous.  Iesous was the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic name Yeshua, which itself was the later Aramaic form of the Hebrew name Yehoshua.[1]

 

BIBLICAL USAGE

We can follow the development of this name by looking at references to Joshua the son of Nun, the successor to Moses.  Joshua was originally named Hoshea (Num. 13:16), but Moses changed it to Yehoshua (YHWH is salvation[2]) which has the Divine Name attached as a prefix.  Yehoshua was the common name for Joshua, but in later Biblical times the name was shortened to the form Yeshua.  This is evidenced in Nehemiah 8:17 where, in reference to Joshua, the Hebrew text[3] reads Yeshua in place of Yehoshua.  The Septuagint[4], an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, renders Joshua’s name as Iesous in the Nehemiah passage as well as throughout the book of Joshua.  In transliterating to Greek, there is no “sh” sound, and this kind of noun requires an “–s” ending.  Iesous was the result.  In the New Testament there are two references to Joshua, Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8.  In both of these places the Greek[5] uses the form Iesous, which most translations render as Joshua.  The King James Version, however, mistakenly translates it as Jesus in both cases.  But in all other cases it does refer to Jesus[6].

 

POST-BIBLICAL USAGE

As Christianity spread from the Middle East into Europe, Latin became the dominant language.  Messiah’s Greek name was transliterated as Iesu, Ihesu or Iesus but pronounced the same as the Greek form.  The letter “j” was a later development in the English language, not appearing in use until the Middle Ages[7].  Eventually his name was written in this manner, first as Jesu, then later as Jesus.

 

SUMMARY

Jesus grew up and lived in a cultural crossroad and multilingual society.  He most certainly knew Hebrew, since it was the written language of Scripture and was used in synagogue and temple services.  He also spoke Aramaic, since the New Testament gives examples of its use.[8] He probably spoke Greek as well, though we don’t know to what extent.  Among Hebrew and Aramaic-speaking people, including his mother and those at home, he was called Yeshua.  Among Greek-speaking people he was called Iesous.  In today’s Messianic and Hebrew roots movements there is a call to return to the original name that Jesus grew up with (Yeshua), while some Sacred Name groups argue that His name was really Yahshua[9].  But neither the Jewish translators of the Septuagint nor the writers of the New Testament saw fit to record Joshua’s name any other way but Iesous.  If they wanted to show the Divine Name (Yah) they could have written Iasous (IasouV).  But they did this for neither Joshua nor Jesus.  Referring to Jesus today as Yeshua is perfectly acceptable, especially in Jewish culture, but it is not mandated.  On the contrary, the Scriptures are full of examples of people who went by more than one name or had both Hebrew and foreign names[10].  Today we shorten names, accept nicknames, and use aliases.  The Biblical pattern seems to be acceptance of name changes and variations.  In other words, they were just like us.  A fitting name, Yeshua means “salvation”[11] for “he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21) and is referred to in the New Testament as “the name that is above every name” (Philippians 4:3).