Subject: Re: Yeshua or Jesus
Date: 5 Aug 1999 01:19:43 GMT
From: 02.dac.neu.edu
(Edward Pothier)
Reply-To:  
Organization: Northeastern University, Boston, MA. 02115, USA
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Ron Chaplin ( ) wrote:
> Joshua Holmes  wrote in article 
> > Better question: if Jesus cares about how people pronounce
> > his name, why did the Holy Spirit inspire men to write Iesous
> > throughout the New Testament, instead of Yeshua?
> Because they wrote in Greek.
------------ end quoted material

It is interesting that a person named "Joshua" is a major contributor
to this discussion, since that is also an English name relevant to the
topic at hand.

JESUS/JOSHUA (SAME NAME) CONFUSIONS

Edward Pothier August 1999

There are sometimes difficulties or at least confusions when some
Biblical names undergo transformations in going from original biblical
languages (such as NT Koine Greek) into modern languages (such as
English). One such situation arises with the name(s) Jesus/Joshua.

JESUS/JOSHUA
"Jesus" is a name which several people have in the NT. In the
Greek of the New Testament the name is _Ie:sous_, with the "e:"
representing the Greek letter "eta". Almost all of the many references
are to the main Jesus, i.e. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ.

However the exceptions are quite interesting and will be mentioned in
reverse order of importance. If for no other reason, they are
important to show that the name "Jesus" was not an exclusive one.

(1) In Colossians 4:11 one of Paul's co-workers is "Jesus, who is
called Justus". This reference is not particularly interesting.

(2) In two of the references in Matthew's gospel there is a
question of whether the double name "Jesus Barabbas" originally
appeared rather than just "Barabbas":

Mt 27:16 a notorious prisoner called [Jesus] Barabbas
Mt 27:17 "Which one do you want me to release to you, [Jesus]

Barabbas, or Jesus called Messiah?" [NAB Revised NT]

The standard editions of the Greek New Testament (United Bible
Societies and Nestle-Aland) also enclose the name in square brackets
to indicate the uncertainty and give footnote lists of manuscripts
with the textual variants. The external evidence (actual manuscripts)
is much stronger for the omission of the name Jesus than for its
inclusion. However, it is much harder to explain how the name got
inserted in some early manuscripts rather than how it might have been
omitted.

(3) In the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:29, there is a reference
to a Joshua (which is the same name as Jesus in the Greek NT). This is
not the famous Joshua of the OT, the assistant and successor of Moses,
since this Joshua occurs in the genealogy between Jesus and King David
and thus not the one who led the people of Israel into the promised
land.

(4) There are two NT references to this famous Joshua of the OT,
again spelled in the NT exactly the same as Jesus is spelled.
Acts 7:45, in part of Stephen's speech, has a reference to the
"tent of testimony" which the ancestors brought into the land with
JOSHUA. Hebrews 4:8 talks about sabbath rest: "Now if JOSHUA had given
them rest, he [God] would not have spoken afterwards of another day."
[Emphasis of JOSHUA by capital letters is mine.]

What is interesting is how the old King James Version treats
these "OT" Joshua/Jesus references. In the genealogy in Luke 3:29, the
KJV uses "Jose" (not Spanish!). However in the Acts 7:45 and Heb 4:8
references to Joshua the KJV uses "Jesus" rather than "Joshua",
certainly an "exact" translation of the Greek text but also quite
confusing. Modern translations usually justifiably avoid this
confusion by using "Joshua" in these verses.

As another point of interest -- the title of the book of the Old
Testament in the Greek Septuagint translation right after Deuteronomy
is IE:SOUS, i.e. JESUS, or as we more commonly call it in the Old
Testament, JOSHUA.

= Edward L. Pothier