Jesus was called many things when He walked the Earth. Across cultures and languages, believers have called upon Him as Jesus, Yeshua, Iesous, and more. Each variation shaped by language, geography, and time. In today's teaching, we will check out the roots of Jesus name, and see if there is any significance in which name we choose when we call on Him.
In the old times, it was of critical importance to address a person properly. If you insulted a Lord, it could have ended in death! So in this teaching, we will explore the historical roots, linguistics, and spiritual significance of the name of our Lord and Savior and see why understanding His name can enrich our appreciation of who He is without becoming a source of division within the Body of Christ.
A History Lesson
First off, in the time when Jesus walked this Earth, Hebrew was the spoken language in this time amongst people in the Jewish faith. (Not Greek or English as some may argue). Greek was spoken by most of the world at this stage, but it was mainly only in Gentile nations where this was spoken. However, the disciples and everyone who walked with Jesus (The Jews) referred to his name by his Hebrew name "Yeshua". This is the original name of Jesus.
If you ever do a study on Hebrew, you will find it is an incredibly complex and layered language and the scribes who translated Hebrew into various other languages had to somehow translate words, but also try and keep the original phonetics as close as possible.
Looking at the developement of language in that time, Hebrew was the starting point, then Greek/Aramaic, then Latin became the biggest language spoken, until finally, English started dominating (Even though English back then was very different back then!).
So these translations would have gone from Hebrew/Aramaic to Greek, then from Greek to Latin and then eventually to English.
So how did 'Jesus' come about?
Jesus is a product of the order of translations that I mentioned above. The original Hebrew word is:
Ἰησοῦς - Jehoshua - G2424 (Strongs) - "Yehovah's Salvation"
"Jehoshua" in Hebrew is pronounced "Yeshua".
The next order of translation is from Hebrew to Greek. The Greek transliteration for this is:
Ἰησοῦς - Iesous.
Where the confusion starts to arise, is that the Greek language at that time did not have a "Ya" or "Sha" sound, so the authors instead made Yeshua into "Iesous", replacing the "Ya" with "Ie", "Sh" into "S" and "Ua" into "Ous".
Iesous turned into Iesus with later versions of Greek, and Iesus then morphed into Yesus when English started taking off. Eventually we ended up with Jesus.
Does it Matter What Name We Use?
Some may say it does not matter what we call our Lord and Saviour, as long as we know Him personally, and I would agree! God speaks many languages, just like some of us. There is a reason God waited for Alexandre the Great to conquer the known world, because once Alexandre completed his conquest, he unified all languages to Greek, causing the Gospel to spread like lightning.
One thing to note is that when you do study the Hebrew word of Yeshua, there are some cool things to see. Yeshua means "Yehovah's Salvation", or in other words, "God's Salvation". There is an even cooler find when you write Torah in Hebrew, and then add Yeshua, you actually end up with the word First Fruit! If you are unclear on what first fruits are, we have a teaching on God's Festivals here.
So while the Hebrew name for God's Son, Yeshua, does have more meaning, it makes no difference to your salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, believing that Jesus / Yeshua / Iesous / Yesus died and rose again to pay for our sins.
It is important to not be legalistic and be set on 'It is only this way or the high way' mentality. As long as the core doctrine is correct (Believing in Jesus's death & resurrection, His divinity, repentance, etc.) then these peripheral things are just going to cause strife in the Church. This is exactly what Paul said to avoid!
2Ti 2:23 Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
2Ti 2:24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
A good way to understand the core doctrine, is to read the Nicene Creed. This is a unifying statement from ALL the major denominations of Christianity, supporting the way to get saved:
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
It is OK to share information and your opinion, but do it out of love and avoid causing strife in the congregation. These name changes are all over the Bible, and also unavoidable. All Bibles translated from the original texts have some kind of name change.
Conclusion
Jesus' name has always been a hot topic, Jesus, Yeshua, Iesous, or Yesus? Languages may change, pronunciations may shift, and cultures may differ, but the Person does not change. The power is not in the syllables themselves, but in the One whom those syllables point to,the Son of God who came in the flesh, died for our sins, and rose again in victory.
What began in Hebrew meaning “Yehovah’s Salvation” spread through Greek, Latin, and English until today the name of Christ is spoken in thousands of languages across the world. Salvation is for all peoples, all tongues, and all nations.
At the same time, studying the Hebrew roots of Yeshua can deepen our appreciation. The name reveals some cool things by God's design (Like the meaning of the Word and the link to the Torah), but Scripture is clear that we are saved by grace through faith, not by pronunciation, vocabulary, or linguistic tools.
This is why the Apostle Paul repeatedly warned believers to avoid unnecessary quarrels and divisions. When name debates become tests of righteousness, they move from education into legalism, and this can give the enemy a foothold.
The Nicene Creed reminds us what truly defines Christian faith: belief in the divinity of Christ, His incarnation, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His return, and the forgiveness of sins through Him. These are the pillars. Everything else (language preferences, transliterations, cultural expressions), are secondary.
What matters most is not how we pronounce His name, but that we know Him, trust Him, and live in obedience to Him so He knows us.
Be Blessed!
Note - We have a similar teaching on the name of God the Father, which you can read here.
