Why I use Y’ehoshua Instead of Jesus to Refer to The Son of God
by
Stephen J. Scott
Why I use Y’ehoshua Instead of Jesus to Refer to The Son of God
Why is it important to use the name Y’ehoshua instead of Jesus?
Number one, we are commanded to.
In Matthew 28:18-20 we read “And Y’ehoshua came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
The name Jesus comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint (LXX). Joshua, the English translation of Y’ehoshua is rendered “Iasous”. Somewhere in the process Iasous was translated Jesus. The traditional Jewish rendering of Joshua is Y’ehoshua. “Yahweh (Jehovah) is Salvation”
In the New Testament, Joshua is mentioned twice (Acts 7:45; Heb 4:8), and in both places the Greek New Testament spells the name “Iasous”. The same holds true for the name of the Son of God. That is, Y’ehoshua (the Name the Son of God was called while He walked this earth in human form) is rendered “Iasous”. Once again, somewhere in the process Iasous was translated Jesus.
Secondly, Jesus is at best a shortened version of Y’ehoshua.
Some would tell You the Greek Iasous is the equivalent of Hebrew Y’ehoshua or that Jesus is the equivalent of Y’ehoshua. I disagree. Historically the Jews regarded the name of Jesus as Yeshua perhaps omitting the “hey” as their sign of divine disapproval, and then subsequently omitting the “ayin” as further disapproval. Even the Jewish use of Yeshua is not equivalent to the proper name of the Son of God, because it is a shortened version of Y’ehoshua. The best example of this that I can think of at the moment is the difference between “Christopher’ and “Chris”.
Many use Y’shua thinking that it is a shortened version of YAHshua, when in fact, Y’shua would represent a truncated version of the long form Y’ehoshua with the theophoric element “Yeho” removed. In order for YAHshua to be an actual name in Hebrew, it would need to be spelled in Hebrew as Yod-Hey-Shin-Vav-Ayin. Unfortunately for it’s supporters, this name can not be found anywhere in the Hebrew Scriptures. What you will find in the Hebrew Scriptures is Y’ehoshua (H3091) which is written in the Hebrew as Yod-Hey-Vav-Shin-Ayin or Yod-Hey-Vav-Shin-Vav-Ayin, or the shortened form Y’eshua (H3442-H3443) which is written in the Hebrew as Yod-Shin-Vav-Ayin.
Y’ehoshua means “Yahweh (Jehovah) is Salvation”. I use the name Y’ehoshua to describe the name of the Son of God because that is the name He went by while He walked this earth. Names are not translated.