What's In A Name?

“These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His Name.” – John 20:31

The New Testament makes a number of references to believing “in the name” of the Lord Jesus Christ and “calling on” his name. For anyone who finds this confusing, I hope the following will be of help.

In modern, western culture, we give relatively little thought to names and their meanings. For us, names are primarily labels by which we identify or distinguish things, and we don’t make much more of them unless until it comes time to name a baby; but even then the meanings of names are much less important to us than the sound of the name, any current cultural significance the name may have, or whether we’re naming a baby for someone we admire or someone who is related to us. Throughout much of history, however, names and their meanings were considerably more important.

The name Jesus comes from the Greek “Iesous” (ee-ay-soos), which is a transliteration of the Hebrew name “Yehowshuwa” or “Yeshua,” meaning “Yahweh is salvation.” This was a relatively common name amongst the Jews of Jesus’ day, which is why he is specifically identified as “Jesus of Nazareth,” and even more specifically as “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45). Thus, if you were a first-century Jew actually living in Israel during the time of Jesus, you would have known him as Yehowshuwa or Yeshua of Nazareth. This is also where we get the English name “Joshua.” As for “Yahweh,” this is the personal name of the Judeo-Christian God. The word “God” itself is a title or descriptive term of uncertain origin, but is thought to mean “the one invoked or sacrificed to.”

So, when someone uses the name “Jesus,” they are calling him “Yahweh is salvation.”

As to the term “Christ,” this is not Jesus’ last name, as some may think. “Christ” is a title, as you’ll see if you pay close attention to the term’s usage in the Bible (for instance, where Jesus is called “the Christ”). “Christ” comes from the Greek word “Christos,” which is another transliteration from Hebrew, being derived from the word “Mashiyach” or Messiah. In both languages, it means “anointed one,” after the ancient custom of anointing a ruler or some other consecrated person. In its biblical usage with regard to Jesus, it means that he is the “anointed” or chosen one of Yahweh—the one prophesied to rule over the whole earth.

Putting these things together, when you see “Jesus Christ” in the Bible, a literal way of reading it would be to say “Jesus, the Christ,” or “Jesus, the Messiah.” Sometimes, the scriptures reverse these words and call him Christ Jesus, meaning “Messiah Jesus.” If you want to read them extremely literally, and get the full gist of both terms, you could render “Jesus Christ” as “Yahweh is salvation, the Anointed One” and “Christ Jesus” as “The Anointed One, Yahweh is salvation.” This also brings forth both roles that Jesus fulfills in the plan of God: He is both the Savior and Lord of his people.

The biblical references to “believing in his name” and “having life in his name” reflect customs that are no longer common, particularly in the West. As I’ve already mentioned, throughout much of history, names carried a degree of real weight or significance. Your name immediately told others how seriously to take you. How others viewed you could also be heavily influenced by whether or not you came “in” someone else’s name, as to “come in” someone else’s name was basically the same as speaking for that person or wielding their authority in a given situation. You were effectively standing in for that person as their proxy, and were to be treated accordingly. If you came “in the name” of the king, those who received you—if they had any sense, anyway—had better listen to you just as they would listen had the king himself shown up.

Accordingly, Jesus came in the name of his Father, Yahweh, the God of Israel, as the Anointed or Chosen of Yahweh. He was the Son of God with the authority to speak and act for God.

“I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” – John 5:43

In other words, Jesus came in the Father’s name, with the authority of the Father and the right to be heard and received just as if he were the Father, and he fulfilled this role perfectly—exactly demonstrating the will and character of the Father (John 5:19-23; 14:7-11; Colossians 2:9). By contrast, he warned the Jews that the day would come when another man would come with no authority other than his own, yet they would receive that man as they ought to have received Jesus.

And how did Jesus demonstrate his authority from the Father? By his miracles.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” – John 3:1-2

In ancient times, to “take someone’s name upon you” was a grave responsibility, as it effectively identified you with that person or the entity they represented (for instance, the Roman Senate). The relationship of Israel with God is sometimes referred to in scripture as that of husband and wife (Ezekiel 16:8-21, Jeremiah 3:1, 6-8, Hosea 1:2). As has been the custom for thousands of years, wives typically take their husband’s family name, thus becoming identified with his family and all it represents. In such a way, Israel took upon itself the name of Yahweh, thus entering into a marriage-type relationship with him. This is why God commanded the Hebrews, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). This is not simply a prohibition against cursing, as it is often treated, but rather a prohibition from associating with God flippantly, in that instance primarily by failing to observe the ordinances and commandments of the Old Covenant (the Mosaic Law), through which Israel was made distinct from the nations that surrounded it (just as a wife is exclusively devoted to her husband—“forsaking all others”).

“You shall serve the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him; and you shall swear by His name.” – Deuteronomy 10:20

“If My people, who are called by My Name…” – II Chronicles 7:14

“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh…were at that time separate from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far off have been brought near…for He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself he might make the two into one new man.” – Ephesians 2:11-15)

Even before the Old Covenant was inaugurated, the Hebrews were associated with the name of Yahweh through their descent from Abraham:

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ – Exodus 3:13

In light of these things, to “believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” is to believe in who he is, to accept his word as the Anointed or Chosen One of Yahweh God, and to enter into covenant with God, through which comes the promise of eternal life, pledging our obedience to him (John 3:36). He alone is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through him (John 14:6). In a similar way to how Israel was called the wife of God in the Old Testament, New Testament believers are “betrothed” to Christ (II Corinthians 11:2), destined to become his bride and to bear his name:

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” – Revelation 3:12

This is one reason why taking the Mark of the Beast is described as such a serious offense that it ensures one’s damnation. Revelation describes the Mark as “either the name of the beast or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17). Thus, to take the Mark is to take the name of the Beast, identifying with him, pledging obedience to him, making common cause with him, becoming ‘friend of his friend, enemy of his enemy.’ To take the name of the Beast is to enlist in his war against God, to become the enemy of God.

As you can see, the Bible treats the issue of names a bit more seriously than we do in our culture today. To believe on the name of the Lord, or to call on his name, is doing more than appealing to him personally—it involves everything he is and stands for, everything the Father has placed upon him: essentially the character of God authority of God’s kingdom, which he represents. Understanding this should not only increase our reverence for him, but it should also serve to alter our prayer life, realizing that to petition in the name of Jesus is to essentially identify him and the entire kingdom he represents in whatever it is that we’re asking for.

*All scripture references are taken from the NASB.