One of the most frequent email questions I get concerns the name “Jesus.” More specifically, the question goes something like this: “Isn’t the name ‘Jesus’ a pagan invention? Shouldn’t we say “Yeshua” or Yahshua” instead?” I’m not sure what motivates people who assign importance to this. I’m sure many are NOT trying to sound superior or more in tune with Jesus or God. But having fielded a number of these emails, I’m also sure that IS the motivation for some. The question is frankly silly, since the same person (the man of Nazareth who was crucified, buried, and resurrected per the New Testament) is the referent of any of these name options. But is “Jesus” a pagan name? Isn’t “Yeshua” or “Yahshua” more accurate?
On one level, since Jesus was Jewish his name would have been “Yeshua” or “Yehoshua” in Hebrew or Aramaic. I would hope that the Jesus Tomb fiasco would have taught us this much. But, on another level, so what? Since the New Testament was written in Greek, and Christians take the New Testament as inspired, it was GOD’s choice to have the name of the Son of God rendered in GREEK, which looks like this:
Some thoughts on the Greek name, now.
First, languages are different, and so proper names are not going to be pronounced the same way. Wow. Profound.
Second, languages and language pronunciation (the sounds a speaker makes when air flows through or is stopped in/by the throat, mouth, lips and teeth) has no theology – a language can’t be pagan or orthodox. It just is.
Third, there is no magic in the Hebrew pronunciation of the name of the New Testament messiah. It matters not that we call the name of the man from Nazareth something that contains the syllable “Yah” (an abbreviation of the divine tetragrammation, YHWH). If there was, God should have decided to give us the New Testament in Hebrew or Aramaic. It would also have helped if he’d given us a Hebrew text where the tetragrammaton (YHWH) had vowels so we’d know how it was pronounced.
Fourth, “Yahshua” is actually not correct, if we’re going with Hebrew, given the vowel pointing in the Hebrew text. The forms of this name/word that appear in the Hebrew text as pointed by the Masoretic scribes is “Yeshua” or “Yehoshua” (that is, for those who understand pointing) the vocal shewa is the pointing associated with the yodh in this name. The “a” sound of “Yah” gets a vocal reduction because of the accent on the final syllable. If you’re still awake after that, “Yah”shua is a contrived attempt to place the abbreviated form of the tetragrammation (Yah; which does occur in the Hebrew Bible) in place of the “Yeh” that actually occurs in this name.
Fifth, the problem for Greek is that there is no “H” in the language. Greek makes the “h” sound via what’s called a rough-breathing mark – but that mark only appears on vowels at the beginning of words. For example, the word for “sin” in Greek is “hamartia” but the Greek word begins with an alpha (“a”). A rough-breathing mark above the alpha tells the speaker/reader to pronounce the first syllable as “ha” not “a”. Yehoshua (“Yahshua”) has an “h” in the middle, which Greek CANNOT REPRESENT because of the rules of its language/alphabet. As such, “Iesous” (pronounced yay-soos) is the Greek spelling – and this corresponds precisely to “Yeshua” (which you notice has no “h” in the middle – only an “sh” which was one letter [“shin”] in Hebrew/Aramaic). Greek has so “sh” letter in its alphabet, so its spelling MUST use “s” [sigma].
Iesous is a perfectly acceptable and understandable GREEK rendering of the Hebrew Yeshua/Yehoshua. It isn’t “pagan” — it’s a different language.
I think that although it seems silly to us, it is well worth you posting this discussion here, since it is somewhat popular among the uninformed (I was one of them about 4 ot 5 years ago). This is interesting to me because just recently, back in April, I discussed this matter with someone over Youtube. He was arguing the same thing – that Jesus is a pagan name and that Yeshua is his name etc… With the basic-intermediate knowledge I have of Hebrew/Greek, I simply pointed to him to Matthew chapter 1, where the names are transliterated into Greek. I showed him the patterns (as you discuss here) of how the Greek “I” is actually used for the Hebrew “Yod” and so forth.
I told him that even if there is a pagan name (some mention that it really comes from Ie-Zeus – Cheif god of Greek Pantheon as I recall) of Iesous, it does not follow that the name itself comes from pagan origins. I remember one of the first comments I had read on the internet about this over 3 years ago ( here: http://yahushua.net/pagan_name.htm ). Although I agree partially with what he attempts to explain, he ignores how all the other names in the NT are transliterated. The author says that the issue isn’t if Jesus is a pagan name, or that it isn’t how of it is transliterated from Greek to English or Latin to English, but rather how it is transliterated from Hebrew into English ( Y’shua ) – and that this is the way it should appear in our English bibles.
I disagree – for the reasons I mentioned as well as what Micheal portrays here.
Next time I encounter such a individual, I will redirect them here.
@blop2008: thanks – and you should add that the writers of the NT, who wrote in Greek, knew the difference between the Greek letter sigma (in Iesous twice) and the Greek letter zeta (the first letter in “Zeus” – which ends with a sigma).
Michael here is the fallacy of the entire argument. “Yeshua” or “Yehoshua, or “Yahushua” is ALREADY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH!
There is no need to translate the name from Hebrew to Aramaic, to Greek, to Latin, to Old English, to Modern English, then to Jesus.
We can argue semantics until the end of time, but in doing so we are missing the true ministry of JESUS which is love. Do you think for a second that when you meet your Maker some day that his main concern is gonna be whether or not you pronounced his Son’s name correctly? I seriously doubt it. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be more worried about what is in your heart. We are straining out gnats and swallowing camels. John 13:34-35 says “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” It doesn’t say that all men will know that I am his disciple if I say his name right. So let’s stop sweatin the little things and get back to loving each other. That’s really the only thing that matters.
I think the “who cares” of all this is really *my* point.
I just remember from the word of Yahweh where names are important. It was then, still is now. There is power in a name, so would you rather call our Messiah by the name that Yahweh gave Him or by the name man gave Him.
“If anyone confess with their mouth and believe in their hearts that Yeshua is Messiah, he shall be saved”. Yahweh will not hold you accountable for what you don’t know, but now that you know, what will you do with it? Man’s traditions can be a killer.
I’m not sure what your first sentence means. You second sentence assumes what it needs to prove.
All i know is there is so much more to the name Jesus than what we all think. I’m not going to use some Hebrew word for Him because im not Hebrew… And second how are people supposed to know how to pronounce that? im just sayin. I mean at first i read Yeshua or Yahshua and was like, “Alright… how do i say this…” Listen. Jesus Christ is the same person as Yeshua or whatever. I know who my Redeemer and Savior is. There is so much more to Him than His name, I think that’s just what people should realize. Jesus or Yeshua, He knows your heart. Personally, I call Him both… but I prefer Jesus
Thanks for posting this. I have noticed the “I’m holier than thou because I call Jesus Yeshua” thing happening a lot lately.
Infocyde: It’s not always a holier than thou thing. Passages talk about praying in his name. It would be awesome to know how to say it. And then, I wonder what he would prefer. What’s so wrong with that?