Aaron Rich

Fun Fact: No Christian was foolish enough to call Jesus "Yeshua" until a Judaizing Hebraist named Franz Delitzsch, of Jewish descent, called him that in 1879 as a supposed evangelism strategy to Jews. Jesus' name is Greek. The angel gave it in Matthew 1:21. Matthew quotes the original language when the word matters, and no word matters more than Jesus' name. And yet, Matthew says His name is Ἰησοῦς. Not Yeshua. This is why He's called Ἰησοῦς more than 90 times in the New Testament, and called "Yeshua" exactly zero times. Claiming that it does so because the New Testament is written in Greek does not work - the New Testament preserves Hebrew names most of the time, and when it doesn't, it always explains the original: "Tabitha, that is Dorcas" and "Thomas, called Didymus." There is no "Jesus, that is, Yeshua." It's just Jesus. Like half of His disciples, Jesus' name was Greek. The Lexicon of Jewish Names of Antiquity records the names given to Jewish babies in that era, and Jewish parents gave their kids Greek names. Why? It was Greco-Roman Culture. The Bible of Jesus, the Apostles, and First-century Jews was the Greek Septuagint (LXX). Every New Testament citation from Jesus quotes the LXX. He preferred it, obviously. Hebrew was dead as a common tongue for hundreds of years. By this point, the Jews had been acclimated to Greek culture for three generations. How many of you are naming your kids in Latin? Few. Because it's dead. You might have even heard that "Jesus is Greek for Yeshua." No, it isn't. You've been lied to. First, that implies His name was originally Hebrew, which as you can see above, is incorrect. Second, determining which Hebrew name Ἰησοῦς should translate to is guesswork. They might as well have pulled Yeshua out of a hat, because aside from Joshua (Yeshua) and Jeshu, Jesus is also translated as Yishwi, Abishua, and Yishwah. If their theory IS correct and Jesus' name is Aramaic or Hebrew, we would have NO IDEA which semitic form it was in, because the Bible doesn't tell us and neither does any written historical record. So when Delitzsch called Him "Yeshua" in 1879, he might as well have called Him Yishwah. It's all poppycock. And while the Jews did speak Aramaic (despite reading and speaking Greek), assuming Mary gave Jesus an Aramaic name because they're ethnic Hebrews is like assuming a family whose ancestors are from Mexico that has lived and multiplied inside America for a century must name their kid Juan instead of John. The logic does not follow. It's called "assimilation" and the God-Man who preferred "the Son of Man" over "King of the Jews" was more than satisfied with a Greek name. And God the Father chose it. Why was Jesus given a Greek name? Gentiles were THE ENTIRE POINT of Jesus coming. God saving Gentiles, not Jews, was the BIG REVEAL of Scripture. Ephesians 3:4-6 says, “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” So while God did plan to save some Jews, their salvation was not the mystery of God gloriously revealed in the gospel. Rather, it was that Gentiles would become heirs of Christ and partakers in Abraham's promise. Jesus would come to be known as the Savior of the Gentiles. It's only fitting that Jesus should have a Gentile name. After all, Christ is OUR King.