This post comes out of my study of Matthew 1:21, in preparation for Christmas Eve service. As I was looking at this verse, specifically Matthew recording the angel telling Joseph what to name Jesus, I was reflecting on the name that is given. And, while these reflections seem Biblical and important, they didn’t seem particularly helpful in the context of my Christmas Eve sermon. So, I suppose those of you poor unfortunate souls who clicked on this are stuck with what didn’t make it off the chopping block!

    In all seriousness though, this is both an important and an encouraging idea, and It is in response to a trend that has become popular in recent years. It has become popular in certain circles today to only refer to Jesus by His Hebrew name, and really emphasize His Jewishness. There are folks who will only refer to Him as “Yeshua”, and to be fair, that is probably what his parents, siblings, friends, and disciples knew Him as and called Him.

And, that Jewish name is a significant one. “Yeshua” is the name that translators of the Old Testament have translated “Joshua”. It connects our Savior to Israel’s history, and to God’s saving work on their behalf. Yeshua, after all means, “God saves” or “God is salvation”. However, many will go a step further, and actually claim that using the English word “Jesus” to refer to our Lord who would have been known as “Yeshua” is actually blasphemous. To which I say, “Huh?” 

Likely, they are right that the Lord was referred to as Yeshua. Most Jews would have had a Hebrew name, and some also had a Gentile name (Saul, Paul, or John, Mark). Chances are, Jesus who spent all but a few early years of His life in the Hebrew speaking world was known by His Hebrew name. 

In reality though, we have zero evidence of that. The only name we have recorded for the Messiah is the Greek transliteration, which using our alphabet looks like “Iesous”, and is transliterated again into English as “Jesus”. “Yeshua” doesn’t show up in the text once.

Why does this matter? For this reason: The Lord purposely inspired the New Testament to be written in Greek. Why? For the same reason that the Holy Spirit’s first act among the newly inaugurated church was to translate the Gospel into Gentile languages(Acts 2). Greek was spoken by the whole known world at the time of Christ. And Jesus’ New Covenant work is all about opening up the doors to the whole world. He is bringing those who were once far off near by His own blood. He isn’t distinguishing between Jew and Gentile, religious background or not. He is offering Himself freely to all who will come. 

In other words, Jesus doesn’t care by which name you are referring to Him, as long as you are looking to Him, and Him alone for salvation. Using Mohammed’s name, or Buddha's name, or another deity’s name won’t work. And using an unbiblical conception of Jesus, even by the “right” name won’t work. But the Jesus who comes to be God with Us, who was born of a virgin, who lived a sinless life, died for your sins, and rose again? His name is as sweet whichever language you know it in. Call on that name, and you will be saved.