The Name of Jesus

Apokalupto: The name of Jesus.

Apokalupto: The name of Jesus.

To see my thread on what Christ means, visit: Topic: Religion

Jesus is called by many names and titles but today we are going to focus on the name JESUS specifically.

The New Testament tells us why He was named Jesus. In the gospel of Matthew a reason is assigned.

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: *for* he shall save his people from their sins.

Asterisks mine.

The word “for” after JESUS: “For he shall save his people from their sins” is something we use to assign a reason. It’s like saying “because.” "Call Him Yah-Saves *because* He will save His people from their sins."

The Greek word being translated into English as "for" is "gar"
Strong's Dictionary's the Greek and Hebrew Testaments says
G1063 γάρ gar conj. (properly) assigning a reason. {(used in argument, explanation or intensification; often with other particles)}

English: jesus
Greek: iesous (Ἰησοῦς)
Hebrew: ieshua (shortened form) found in Ezra 3:2

The reason why the NT doesn't spell His name ieshua (yeshua) is because it was translated from Greek, (Ἰησοῦς iesous jesus ) not Hebrew.

Question 1:

Why does the Greek spelling not have the "sh" in it?

Answer: Greek does not have an "sh" sound, the closest to that is "s", neither does it have the letter aitch.

Question 2:

Why does the Greek have an "s" at the end of the name?

Answer: Greek uses case endings for grammatical purposes, that means certain letters have to go at the end of words in order for the reader to understand how it works in a sentence. For this reason in Greek the name varies in spelling depending on how it's being used grammatically, as well as for other names and words.

e.g you would see these spelling of his name in the Greek NT.

Ἰησοῦς iesous
Ἰησοῦν iesoun
Ἰησοῦ iesou

etc

The OT Greek Septuagint translates Joshua’s from Hebrew into Greek in the identical way that Jesus name appears in the Greek New Testament, “iesous” and of course the Greek OT has different ways it is spelt for grammatical purposes. For e.g "ἰησοῖ iesoi" does this spelling surprise you? If Greek left out the case endings the reader would have no way of knowing how it's used in a sentence, and despite these different spellings it is the same name.

OT Septuagint Greek list of Books "Book of Joshua" apokalupto's Picture