If His name was Yeshua, why do we call Him Jesus? | GotQuestions.org

Today's question is, if His name was Yeshua, why do we call Him Jesus?

In this video I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective.

Afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end.

Some people claim that our Lord should not be referred to as Jesus.

Instead, we should only use the name Yeshua.

Some even go as far as to say that calling Him Jesus is blasphemous.

Others go into great detail about how the name Jesus is unbiblical, because the letter J is a modern

invention, and there was no letter J in the Greek or Hebrew.

Yeshua is the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is Joshua.

Iesus is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is Jesus.

Thus, the names Joshua and Jesus are essentially the same.

Both are English pronunciations of the Hebrew and Greek names for our Lord.

For examples of how the two names are interchangeable, see Acts 7 .45 and

Hebrews 4 .8 in the KJV.

In both cases, the word Jesus refers to the Old Testament character Joshua.

Changing the language of a word does not affect the meaning of the word.

We call a bound and covered set of pages a book.

In German, it's called a Buch.

In Spanish, it's a Libro.

In French, it's a Livre.

The language changes, but the object itself does not change.

As Shakespeare said, that which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.

In the same way, we can refer to Jesus as Jesus or Yeshua or Yisau,

Cantonese, without changing His nature.

In any language, His name means the Lord is salvation.

As for the controversy over the letter J, it is much ado about nothing.

It is true that the languages in which the Bible was written had no letter J, but that doesn't mean the Bible never

refers to Jerusalem, and it doesn't mean we cannot use the spelling J -E -S -U -S.

If a person speaks and reads English, it is acceptable for him to spell things in an English.

Fashion.

Spellings can change, even within a language.

Americans write Savior without a U, while the British write Savior with a U.

The addition of a U, or subtraction depending on your point of view, has nothing to do with whom we're talking

about.

Jesus is the Savior with a U, and He is the Savior without a U.

Jesus and Yeshua and Iesus are all referring to the same person.

The Bible nowhere commands us to only speak or write His name in Hebrew or Greek.

It never even hints at such an idea.

Rather, when the message of the gospel was being proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, the apostles spoke in the

languages of the Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and

Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of

Libya near Cyrene, Acts 2, verses 9 -10.

In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was made known to every language group in a way they could readily

understand.

Spelling did not matter.

We refer to Him as Jesus because, as English -speaking people, we know of Him through English translations of

the Greek New Testament.

Scripture does not value one language over another, and it gives us no indication that we must resort to

Hebrew when addressing the Lord.

The command is to call on the name of the Lord with the promise that we shall be saved in Acts 2,

verse 21.

Whether we call on Him in English, Korean, Hindi, or Hebrew, the result is the same.

The Lord is salvation.

Want to learn more?

Subscribe so you don't miss the next video!

Visit GotQuestions .org for more great content.

And check out the details section below this video, there is one book I recommend, along.

With several related articles.

If you'd like to learn about Bible Munch, or if you're interested in Bite -sized devotionals, subscribe to Bible Munch on YouTube, it's linked right here.

Now remember,.

Got questions?

The Bible has answers, and we'll help you find them!