I’ve always been aware the Bible we live by was translated many times over many years obviously for good reason (and bad) But what about the names? If I translate “Wie alt dist Joe” I say “how old is Joe?” I don’t give Joe a whole new name .
So Do we get saved by Jesus or Yeshua?
Does God (who has many names) care?
What about the other big anglo saxon names of the Bible?
While you may pronounce the name Joe similarly in two different languages, like German and English, it is not the case for every person, it is not the case for every language, nor is it the case for every name. In fact, the name Joseph in English is pronounced more like Yo-zef in German. For instance, Franz Joseph Hyden, the famous Austrian composer was pronounced Frahnts YOH-zef HY-den, by his parents, with “Franz” rhyming with “nonsense,” “Joseph” pronounced with a “Y” sound for the “J,” and “Haydn” sounding more precisely like "HY-dn " with a slight, short vowel sound before the ‘n’. John is Juan in Spanish, and Peter is Pedro and Jesus sounds like Hey-Zeus. There are many names that sound very different in their native tongue than they do in English. Since every language knows the name of Jesus, every language has their own pronunciation (and spelling) of that glorious name.
Just as The Holy Spirit can make every person hear the glorious gospel of salvation in their own language, He will make every person hear the name of Jesus in their own language “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11
KP
This is such a good question, and one a lot of people wonder about when they learn the different forms of biblical names. It’s true, names change as they move across languages and cultures. “Yeshua” became “Iēsous” in Greek, which became “Jesus” in English. The same thing happens with many biblical names: Yohanan → John, Miriam → Mary, Sha’ul → Saul/Paul, and so on.
What has always helped me is remembering that God isn’t limited by language. He knows the intention of the heart, not just the sound of the word we use. When we call on “Jesus,” we are calling on the same Savior as someone who says “Yeshua,” “Iesu,” “Jesús,” or any other translation.
The power isn’t in the exact pronunciation, it’s in the Person behind the name.
I don’t believe God is confused or disappointed when we speak His name in our own language. He meets people right where they are, just as the Holy Spirit did at Pentecost.
So for me, it’s comforting:
He knows who we mean, and He knows our hearts.
There have been many translations; though we shouldn’t be under the impression that what we have is a translation of a translation of a translation (etc) because that’s simply untrue. If you look up just about any English translation made in the last 500 years it is a translation made from original Hebrew and Greek source texts.
If I translate “Wie alt dist Joe” I say “how old is Joe?” I don’t give Joe a whole new name .
In modern translation practice. Not so in ancient translation practice where transliteration is very common. Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word into the phonetics of a target language. For example, the name “John” is transliterated as ジョン (Jyon), because in Japanese there isn’t a perfect one to one phonetic exact. This is pretty common. This is why when the books of the New Testament were written they used the standard Greek transliteration: Ἰησοῦς (Iesous). It’s exactly how Moses’ successor, Joshua the son of Nun, is called in Greek.
Yeshua (Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ) probably isn’t actually how His name was pronounced in His family home in Nazareth. Because Jesus didn’t grow up speaking Hebrew, He grew up speaking a Galilean dialect of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic–the standard Aramaic spoken in 1st century Judea. It’s not entirely possible to know with absolute certainty how Mary and Joseph said Jesus’ name. We only have scholarly conjecture. Based on the best conjecture, based on the best evidence available, a probably pronunciation would probably have been something like Yeshu’. Though I’ve also heard that Isho’ is a possible approximation.
If the goal is to be 100% accurate to the Lord’s own native tongue and dialect, then that’s not possible. But not even the earliest Christians were worried about this, because when they–writing in Greek–they wrote “ΙΗΣΟΥΣ“, Ἰησοῦς in modern Greek orthography. Iesous.
And as it so happens when you transliterate ΙΗΣΟΥΣ into Latin, we get IESVS (V=U, with consonantal ‘I’ becoming ‘J’ in the late medieval/early modern period). And thus Jesus.
If the Holy Spirit didn’t have a problem inspiring the Scriptures to have “ΙΗΣΟΥΣ“ then I think we can safely conclude that using “Jesus” in Modern English isn’t an issue.
Bonus: If you know people who don’t speak English as their first language if how you pronounce their name is 100% accurate, you’ll probably find that you don’t. Because your way of speaking, the phonetics of your dialect of English, probably doesn’t correspond exactly with their first language. I have a lot of co-workers for whom English is their second language, and how they pronounce my name isn’t exactly the same as I do, or other native English speakers.
And yet I still know when they’re talking to me.
I saw this, and it brought me back a bit. This was me when I first heard. “His name is not Jesus. No one called Him that in His day. His name is Yeshua.”
I immediately went into the Word and saw this.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Or what about this one?
“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
I will admit I got confused and even went down the route of trying to correct everyone. After all, if His name is Yeshua, then what about all the people who call Him Jesus? Are they all lost because that is not the only name under heaven? Rather, the correct name?
It took people like those above, saying the same things to me, like Peter, Pedro (Spanish, Portuguese), Pierre (French), Pietro (Italian), Peter (German, English), Pyotr/Piotr (Russian, Polish), Petar/Petr (Slavic), Petrus (Latin, Dutch), and Pekka (Finnish)
Along with the fact that Jesus knows who is talking to Him. I love this.
Excent response.
Peter
God hears every language and knows every heart. What matters is faith in the true Son of God, not how we pronounce His name.
In Hebrew the divine self designation begins with אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה, transliterated Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, from the verb היה hayah meaning to be or to come to pass, expressing self existent covenant being, the God who is and who will be faithful in action, which in the Berean Literal Bible is rendered “I AM WHO I AM” ~Exodus 3:14.
Flowing from this is the tetragrammaton יהוה, transliterated YHWH, likely vocalized as Yahweh, the third person form related to the same verbal root, meaning He Is or He Causes To Be, the covenant name revealed to Israel, invoked in worship, bound to redemption, mercy, judgment, and oath faithfulness throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
The salvific name that carries this covenant identity into personal form is יְהוֹשֻׁעַ Yehoshua, meaning YHWH saves, later shortened in post exilic usage to יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua, both names directly embedding the divine name within the act of salvation, signaling that deliverance belongs to YHWH alone.
In Greek the Hebrew Yeshua is transliterated as Ἰησοῦς Iēsous, the form used consistently in the Septuagint and the New Testament, not as a reinterpretation but as a phonetic rendering that carries the same theological weight, namely that YHWH saves, now revealed in the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Greek Scriptures also identify Jesus with the divine name through the title Κύριος Kyrios, Lord, the established Septuagint substitute for YHWH, so when the New Testament confesses “Jesus Christ is Lord” ~Philippians 2:11, it is affirming that the covenant name revealed in Hebrew Scripture is rightly confessed in and through Jesus.
Thus the movement is not from one god to another nor from one meaning to a lesser one, but from revelation to incarnation, from Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh to YHWH, from YHWH saves to Yeshua, and from Yeshua to Iēsous, with the crucified and risen Christ bearing the full identity, authority, and saving power of the covenant God.
~Acts 4:12 Berean Literal Bible
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven having been given among men by which we must be saved.
~Matthew 1:21 Berean Literal Bible
And she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
~John 1:12 Berean Literal Bible
But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those believing in His name.
~John 3:18 Berean Literal Bible
The one believing in Him is not condemned, but the one not believing already has been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
~John 20:31 Berean Literal Bible
But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
~Acts 2:21 Berean Literal Bible
And it shall be that everyone who shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
~Acts 10:43 Berean Literal Bible
To Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone believing in Him receives forgiveness of sins.
~Romans 10:9 Berean Literal Bible
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
~Romans 10:13 Berean Literal Bible
For everyone who shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
~1 Corinthians 6:11 Berean Literal Bible
And some of you were these things, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
~1 John 5:13 Berean Literal Bible
These things I have written to you, to those believing in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
J.
All amazing edfying responses !