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Yeshua: Name Above All Names! ~ I know those are fighting words for some people (either for or against), but I am hoping for a serious discussion on the topic. I am posting this in the Bible Study Hall because I am studying it, and seeking prospective. I am not inviting argument or dogma.
Before I continue, it may be helpful to understand a little about where I am coming from.
I am not a "Sacred Names" person. In fact, I only recently began to understand what that actually means.
I have been a foreign missionary for 40 years. I have spread the gospel in 52 countries, and have spent the last 25 years with the very poor in the Philippines.
I believe in home fellowships (rather than religious institutions) as I believe people grow better and are better ministered to in smaller groups.
I live in a country where:
The other day, my friend Alan B. got some kind of computer generated form letter asking for a donation. We have all seen these. Throughout the letter it used his name in different ways, like, "Dear Bro. Allen", now notice that Alan is spelled Allen. At one point it talks about the friendship he has with the ministry. He stated that they were obviously not friends, "because friends and family know how to spell my name."
Not long after I married my wife, I mistakenly called her by the name of my late wife, who had died 10 years prior to that. To my surprise she just said, "I know you love me, because I know you loved her too!" Big mistake! I am sure we have all heard jokes or seen TV shows that were based on a slip of the tongue like this.
I have used my middle name most of my life and when someone uses my first name, I know right away they do not know me - they are a stranger.
Now I will confess that when I usually just read the Bible, I use mainly a KJV, but below I have quoted from the Aramaic Bible in Plain English (and others) for emphasis. The three verses I will start with are:
Philippians 2:9-11
Because of this, God has also greatly exalted him and he has given him The Name which is greater than all names, That in The Name of Yeshua, every knee shall bow, which is in Heaven and in The Earth and which is under The Earth, And every tongue shall confess that Yeshua The Messiah is THE LORD JEHOVAH to the glory of God his Father.
Acts 4:10-12
“Let this be known to you and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Yeshua The Messiah, the Nazarene, him whom you have crucified, whom God has raised from among the dead, behold, in it and by him this man stands before you whole. This is the stone which you builders have rejected, and he is The Head of the corner. And there is no salvation in any other man, for there is no other name under Heaven given to the children of men by which it is necessary to receive life.”
Romans 10:9
And if you will confess with your mouth our Lord Yeshua, and you will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall have life.
For the administration of the end of time, that all things which are in Heaven and in Earth would be made new again by The Messiah.
From a natural prospective, my friend Alan says when people spell his name Allen, it does not mean he does not know they are talking to him, and if they ask something, maybe he will answer or oblige. Likewise, I was saved "in the name of Jesus" and I am sure the Lord understood the thoughts and intentions of my heart. Nonetheless, I am sure if I were to write a letter addressed to Allen and give it to my friend Alan, it would hurt him and he would consider it much less than if I would have properly addressed him Alan.
The point is, if the Lord's name is Yeshua, why would someone, who knows and loved him intimately, call him Jesus? Likewise, is it proper to continue to call Yeshua as Jesus, even if in our ignorance he saves us calling him Jesus? Finally, it is a fairly well established fact that Jesus is derived from a secular Roman Catholic Tradition, so why would we continue to use this today?
For those people who pray "in Jesus name" please do not feel you must defend yourself with unrelated information. Stay on topic! Please read the points in my post carefully, and address them.
If any here believe you must be saved "in Yeshua's name only" - well, that is not what I am talking about. Stay on topic! Please read the points in my post carefully, and address them.
Point One
Yeshua, Joshua, Jesus - Greek and Hebrew
I will used the English Transliteration of the Hebrew - Yeshua - as that is what most believing Jews use. The New Testament word we see as Yeshua or Jesus is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word Yeshua. I will not get into a study of slight variations of Yeshua, or variations of the transliteration into English. Just that Yeshua is a much closer transliteration of the Hebrew than Jesus (there is no J sound in either Hebrew or Greek!).
It can be proven that the Greek name in our New Testament is the transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua. Look at the Greek Old Testament, translated hundreds of years before the New Testament was penned, and you will see the same name, the Hebrew Yeshua transliterated into the Greek.
For those that do not know a Transliteration from a Translation...
A translation find a word in the new language that has the same meaning. For example, the Tagalog "itlog" and the English "egg".
A transliteration seeks to write the same sounds in a different set of writing symbols (try writing your name in Chinese or Japanese for example). Our example, Yeshua is the English way of writing an Old Testament Hebrew name! The writers of the New Testament did this, they wrote Yeshua, the sound, into Greek letters, as close as possible. It is not always exact, so it is important to always start with the original name.
It is a (so far) undisputed fact that no believer or church father prior to the fourth century referred to the Son of God's name as anything other than Yeshua or a transliteration of Yeshua. Even in non-Greek text (other languages) they would start with the Hebrew Yeshua, and transliterate it into their language.
Point Two
The Understanding of Joseph and Mary
We know that Mary was from a priestly Hebrew family (Elizabeth was the her relative and married to a high priest!). Joseph was at least a devote Hebrew. Yeshua/Jesus was able to read and speak Hebrew, according to what is recorded in the Scriptures, because he was Hebrew!
For behold, you shall conceive and you shall give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Yeshua.
Luke 1:31
“And she shall bring forth a Son, and she shall call his name Yeshua, for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21
Yeshua has the meaning the Angel said we should call him, saviour. Jesus has no meaning at all in any language. The angel of God said we shall call his name Yeshua. God commanded it in the original Scriptures. Because Yeshua has the meaning of saviour.
The angel of God did not say we should call him Jesus, which has no meaning at all in any language.
It is illogical to think anything but that the Angel was speaking to both Joseph and Mary in Hebrew. Our Greek New Testament clearly records for us the name Yeshua, Hebrew, written in Greek letters.
Point Three
The Roman Catholic Tradition
In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor realized that, by fighting the followers of Yeshua, he was losing. If you can't beat them, join them! He made "Christianity" the State Church, declared that all Roman Citizens were "Christians", started building big and expensive buildings, and appointed scholars as priests within his church. The "Holy Roman Catholic Church" was born and staffed with people loyal to Rome. He also decreed the scriptures should be translated in to Latin so that everyone could read them... So the scholars whom he appointed as priest, set out to do this translation. Now notice that these scholars were political appointees. They were not Hebrews who understood that Yeshua the Hebrew name of the Hebrew Son of God, should be transliterate into Latin, like it had been done in the three centuries before than.
Instead, they took the Greek Transliteration of Yeshua, and transliterated that into Latin. That set up a Roman Catholic Tradition that continues and exist until today. The Hebrew was transliterated into Greek, the Greek into Latin, the Latin into older English, then into Germane English (where the J sounds like Y as in German), and finally the J in English pronunciation. It was all based on the false traditions of the Roman Catholic Church (secular) Scholars appointed by the Roman Emperor.
This Roman Catholic Tradition Continues today every time anyone says the word Jesus instead of the name Yeshua. The early church fathers (true believers) ALL transliterated the name Yeshua into whatever local language they were writing.
The fact that we have beautiful songs about "Jesus", or that Jesus was printed in some English Bibles as far back as 1729 (in Daniel Case's secretly published New Testament) is totally beyond the point. Why would a current tradition justify the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church in transliterating a transliteration instead of just transliteration the Hebrew Yeshua like ALL early believers did?
Point Four
The Name Is Important
Besides the three verses I opened with above, there are other verses that show the importance of the name.
I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1
The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
Isaiah 49:1-2
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Psalm 139:1-24
The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:3
I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Revelation 3:5
...and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Philippians 4:3
Knowing a person's name shows relationship. If you met my friend Alan, a beloved brother in the Lord, you may go home and write in your diary that you met a wonderful man named "Allen" today. However, if you got to know Alan once or twice a week for the next year, you would at some point start writing "Alan" and you did something. You would know his name because you had a relationship with him.
Right now you could sit down with paper and pen and start writing a list of all the people who are important to your personal life. Why? Because the more you know them, the more you know their name. But most of those people were once strangers. Even the guy who marries the girl next door was once a stranger to her as a baby.
We need to know the name of the Lord also. Set it in your mind, what is the NAME of the LORD. Not what does God understand, but what is the NAME God said we should call the Lord?
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12
The scripture excludes all others, "NO other name!" The Scripture alone make it clear how important is the name of Yeshua that every disciple used for 300 years, in any language!
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name."
Psalm 91:14
Matthew 7:21-24
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
Then I will tell them plainly, 'I NEVER KNEW YOU. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man...
When you know someone closely, you both know and use their Name! What is the name of the Lord, for the scriptures are clear that names matter!
Conclusion
According to the Scriptures
At this point I have no other conclusion than to accept what the early believers (and ALL Disciples) did in all languages. They called the Son of God Yeshua, transliterated into their language, because that is his name and they loved him so much.
What a privilege to speak the name of our risen Lord in the Language of his Birth, transliterated into our language, just as the Apostles and the early disciples did.
Note: If you were newly saved or became Born Again in Jesus name, remember that God looks on the thoughts and intentions of the Heart. However, we also have to consider what we are teaching to others in our own lives and actions. Are we teaching them to follow the man made, unbelieving traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, or are we teaching them to follow the example laid down in the Scriptures and followed by all believers for 3 centuries?
Before I continue, it may be helpful to understand a little about where I am coming from.
I am not a "Sacred Names" person. In fact, I only recently began to understand what that actually means.
I have been a foreign missionary for 40 years. I have spread the gospel in 52 countries, and have spent the last 25 years with the very poor in the Philippines.
I believe in home fellowships (rather than religious institutions) as I believe people grow better and are better ministered to in smaller groups.
I live in a country where:
- Most people are Roman Catholic.
- Jesus means a statue nailed to a cross.
- Jesus is the names of TWO different cult leaders, who both claim to be the incarnate son of god.
- Jesus is the name of my neighbour, and many men and boys.
- I can never go to the Mall without seeing an American "missionary" from the "Church of Jesus Christ" (LDS).
The other day, my friend Alan B. got some kind of computer generated form letter asking for a donation. We have all seen these. Throughout the letter it used his name in different ways, like, "Dear Bro. Allen", now notice that Alan is spelled Allen. At one point it talks about the friendship he has with the ministry. He stated that they were obviously not friends, "because friends and family know how to spell my name."
Not long after I married my wife, I mistakenly called her by the name of my late wife, who had died 10 years prior to that. To my surprise she just said, "I know you love me, because I know you loved her too!" Big mistake! I am sure we have all heard jokes or seen TV shows that were based on a slip of the tongue like this.
I have used my middle name most of my life and when someone uses my first name, I know right away they do not know me - they are a stranger.
Now I will confess that when I usually just read the Bible, I use mainly a KJV, but below I have quoted from the Aramaic Bible in Plain English (and others) for emphasis. The three verses I will start with are:
Philippians 2:9-11
Because of this, God has also greatly exalted him and he has given him The Name which is greater than all names, That in The Name of Yeshua, every knee shall bow, which is in Heaven and in The Earth and which is under The Earth, And every tongue shall confess that Yeshua The Messiah is THE LORD JEHOVAH to the glory of God his Father.
Acts 4:10-12
“Let this be known to you and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Yeshua The Messiah, the Nazarene, him whom you have crucified, whom God has raised from among the dead, behold, in it and by him this man stands before you whole. This is the stone which you builders have rejected, and he is The Head of the corner. And there is no salvation in any other man, for there is no other name under Heaven given to the children of men by which it is necessary to receive life.”
Romans 10:9
And if you will confess with your mouth our Lord Yeshua, and you will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall have life.
For the administration of the end of time, that all things which are in Heaven and in Earth would be made new again by The Messiah.
From a natural prospective, my friend Alan says when people spell his name Allen, it does not mean he does not know they are talking to him, and if they ask something, maybe he will answer or oblige. Likewise, I was saved "in the name of Jesus" and I am sure the Lord understood the thoughts and intentions of my heart. Nonetheless, I am sure if I were to write a letter addressed to Allen and give it to my friend Alan, it would hurt him and he would consider it much less than if I would have properly addressed him Alan.
The point is, if the Lord's name is Yeshua, why would someone, who knows and loved him intimately, call him Jesus? Likewise, is it proper to continue to call Yeshua as Jesus, even if in our ignorance he saves us calling him Jesus? Finally, it is a fairly well established fact that Jesus is derived from a secular Roman Catholic Tradition, so why would we continue to use this today?
For those people who pray "in Jesus name" please do not feel you must defend yourself with unrelated information. Stay on topic! Please read the points in my post carefully, and address them.
If any here believe you must be saved "in Yeshua's name only" - well, that is not what I am talking about. Stay on topic! Please read the points in my post carefully, and address them.
Point One
Yeshua, Joshua, Jesus - Greek and Hebrew
I will used the English Transliteration of the Hebrew - Yeshua - as that is what most believing Jews use. The New Testament word we see as Yeshua or Jesus is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word Yeshua. I will not get into a study of slight variations of Yeshua, or variations of the transliteration into English. Just that Yeshua is a much closer transliteration of the Hebrew than Jesus (there is no J sound in either Hebrew or Greek!).
It can be proven that the Greek name in our New Testament is the transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua. Look at the Greek Old Testament, translated hundreds of years before the New Testament was penned, and you will see the same name, the Hebrew Yeshua transliterated into the Greek.
For those that do not know a Transliteration from a Translation...
A translation find a word in the new language that has the same meaning. For example, the Tagalog "itlog" and the English "egg".
A transliteration seeks to write the same sounds in a different set of writing symbols (try writing your name in Chinese or Japanese for example). Our example, Yeshua is the English way of writing an Old Testament Hebrew name! The writers of the New Testament did this, they wrote Yeshua, the sound, into Greek letters, as close as possible. It is not always exact, so it is important to always start with the original name.
It is a (so far) undisputed fact that no believer or church father prior to the fourth century referred to the Son of God's name as anything other than Yeshua or a transliteration of Yeshua. Even in non-Greek text (other languages) they would start with the Hebrew Yeshua, and transliterate it into their language.
Point Two
The Understanding of Joseph and Mary
We know that Mary was from a priestly Hebrew family (Elizabeth was the her relative and married to a high priest!). Joseph was at least a devote Hebrew. Yeshua/Jesus was able to read and speak Hebrew, according to what is recorded in the Scriptures, because he was Hebrew!
For behold, you shall conceive and you shall give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Yeshua.
Luke 1:31
“And she shall bring forth a Son, and she shall call his name Yeshua, for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21
Yeshua has the meaning the Angel said we should call him, saviour. Jesus has no meaning at all in any language. The angel of God said we shall call his name Yeshua. God commanded it in the original Scriptures. Because Yeshua has the meaning of saviour.
The angel of God did not say we should call him Jesus, which has no meaning at all in any language.
It is illogical to think anything but that the Angel was speaking to both Joseph and Mary in Hebrew. Our Greek New Testament clearly records for us the name Yeshua, Hebrew, written in Greek letters.
Point Three
The Roman Catholic Tradition
In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor realized that, by fighting the followers of Yeshua, he was losing. If you can't beat them, join them! He made "Christianity" the State Church, declared that all Roman Citizens were "Christians", started building big and expensive buildings, and appointed scholars as priests within his church. The "Holy Roman Catholic Church" was born and staffed with people loyal to Rome. He also decreed the scriptures should be translated in to Latin so that everyone could read them... So the scholars whom he appointed as priest, set out to do this translation. Now notice that these scholars were political appointees. They were not Hebrews who understood that Yeshua the Hebrew name of the Hebrew Son of God, should be transliterate into Latin, like it had been done in the three centuries before than.
Instead, they took the Greek Transliteration of Yeshua, and transliterated that into Latin. That set up a Roman Catholic Tradition that continues and exist until today. The Hebrew was transliterated into Greek, the Greek into Latin, the Latin into older English, then into Germane English (where the J sounds like Y as in German), and finally the J in English pronunciation. It was all based on the false traditions of the Roman Catholic Church (secular) Scholars appointed by the Roman Emperor.
This Roman Catholic Tradition Continues today every time anyone says the word Jesus instead of the name Yeshua. The early church fathers (true believers) ALL transliterated the name Yeshua into whatever local language they were writing.
The fact that we have beautiful songs about "Jesus", or that Jesus was printed in some English Bibles as far back as 1729 (in Daniel Case's secretly published New Testament) is totally beyond the point. Why would a current tradition justify the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church in transliterating a transliteration instead of just transliteration the Hebrew Yeshua like ALL early believers did?
Point Four
The Name Is Important
Besides the three verses I opened with above, there are other verses that show the importance of the name.
I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1
The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.
Isaiah 49:1-2
If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Psalm 139:1-24
The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:3
I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Revelation 3:5
...and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Philippians 4:3
Knowing a person's name shows relationship. If you met my friend Alan, a beloved brother in the Lord, you may go home and write in your diary that you met a wonderful man named "Allen" today. However, if you got to know Alan once or twice a week for the next year, you would at some point start writing "Alan" and you did something. You would know his name because you had a relationship with him.
Right now you could sit down with paper and pen and start writing a list of all the people who are important to your personal life. Why? Because the more you know them, the more you know their name. But most of those people were once strangers. Even the guy who marries the girl next door was once a stranger to her as a baby.
We need to know the name of the Lord also. Set it in your mind, what is the NAME of the LORD. Not what does God understand, but what is the NAME God said we should call the Lord?
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:13
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12
The scripture excludes all others, "NO other name!" The Scripture alone make it clear how important is the name of Yeshua that every disciple used for 300 years, in any language!
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name."
Psalm 91:14
Matthew 7:21-24
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
Then I will tell them plainly, 'I NEVER KNEW YOU. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man...
When you know someone closely, you both know and use their Name! What is the name of the Lord, for the scriptures are clear that names matter!
Conclusion
According to the Scriptures
At this point I have no other conclusion than to accept what the early believers (and ALL Disciples) did in all languages. They called the Son of God Yeshua, transliterated into their language, because that is his name and they loved him so much.
What a privilege to speak the name of our risen Lord in the Language of his Birth, transliterated into our language, just as the Apostles and the early disciples did.
Note: If you were newly saved or became Born Again in Jesus name, remember that God looks on the thoughts and intentions of the Heart. However, we also have to consider what we are teaching to others in our own lives and actions. Are we teaching them to follow the man made, unbelieving traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, or are we teaching them to follow the example laid down in the Scriptures and followed by all believers for 3 centuries?