Why is our Christ’s name Jesus?

March 16, 2022

Have you ever wondered why our Christ’s name is Jesus? The answer is easy to reach if you know where to look. Early in Matthew, Mary is found pregnant and Joseph had intended to break up with her. I’m projecting here, but I would assume he was heartbroken and distressed over the situation – to find his soon-to-be-wife pregnant and it wasn’t his. Matthew 1:19-21 breaks down the situation.

Matthew 1:19-21 — Then Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was willing to break their engagement privately. But he pondered on these things, lo! the Angel of the Lord appeared brightly to him in a dream/vision* saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for the baby conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son and you shall call His name Jesus – for He will save His people from their sins.”

*the word for “dream/vision” in the quote is “onar” and is only used by Matthew (six times) throughout the Bible and only refers to angelic encounters. The King James Version interprets it as “dream” but the context of this verse would have Joseph awake pondering on what to do when the Angel of the Lord arrives.

In the Greek text of which this is originally written, Jesus’s name is really Ἰησοῦν or Iesous. However, it is assumed Mary and Joseph would speak Aramaic and know Hebrew (because the Torah, the Jewish Bible, was mostly written in Hebrew). Therefore, we can assume that in Joseph’s encounter with the Angel of the Lord, the Angel would have spoken Aramaic or Hebrew to Joseph and would have said to name their Son Yehoshua instead of Iesous. Strong’s Concordance indicates that this name Yehoshua is a combination of two Hebrew words – Yehovah [Strong’s No. H3068] and Yasha [Strong’s No. H3467]. Yehovah is the name of our God – the God of the Universe, commonly referred to as God, YHWH, or Jehovah. Yasha means “to be free” or “to rescue” or “to cause to be safe”. Together, we might interpret Yehoshua to mean “YHWH rescues” or “God saves” or “Yehovah saved“. This interpretation is confirmed by the Angel of the Lord following the given name by “for He will save His people from their sins”.