|
Q. Did Jesus have a last name?
A. No. Although many people refer to Him as Jesus Christ, the Greek word translated as "Christ" is cristos (Greek: Χριστός , Strong's
Concordance # G5547), which means "anointed" and was commonly used to refer to the prophesied "messiah" or savior. It would be more proper grammatically to say the phrase, Jesus, the Christ.
"You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus." ( Luke 1:31, NIV)
In fact, the word Jesus is a transliteration (taking the way a word is pronounced in one language and spelling it according to the way it sounds when written with the letters of the new language). "Jesus" is a transliteration (first into Latin, then to
English) of the Greek word IhsouV, Strong's Concordance # G2424, pronounced "ee – ay – sooce’". That Greek word, in turn, is derived from the Hebrew or Aramaic word Yehowshuwa. That same Hebrew word in the Old Testament was
transliterated as "Joshua".
It is most interesting to me that the name of the God of the Old Testament, first mentioned in Exodus 6:2 is, in the way it was written in Hebrew YHWH, since Hebrew does not print the vowels as we do in English. If you write God’s name as it was written
in the Old Testament (we would pronounce it Yahweh, or Jehovah) add the Hebrew word we would pronounce yasha (which means "salvation, or "to free") and you get the word Yehowshua.
This clue to the identity of Jesus as the same God who wrote the 10 commandments with His finger, who dealt with the nation of Israel over all those generations, the same God who created "heaven and the earth" ( Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3), is
hidden from many people who read of Jesus of the New Testament and the God from Mt. Sinai and do not realize they were the same person.
Answer Given By: Clay Willis
|
