The irony in this advertisement for Christian T-shirts was overwhelming. And it’s also an all too common problem among modern “believers of any stripe.”

Two different designs sold by the same company side by side and apparently nobody was around to notice the contradiction.

Both of these can not be true simultaneously. 

Is there no other name but Jesus? Or is Yeshua the Name? 

Someone will say quickly without consideration given to the problem, “Oh that just means no other authority.” 

First of all, authority does not preceded name. It proceeds from a name. Name doesn’t just mean authority. It “also” includes the meaning of authority. 

But without a name or with a different name than true, what authority can be considered? 

Who’s authority? 

It doesn’t really mean the Name of Yeshua, does it? It just means the authority of that Person, right? 

So really it could actually be some other name if we feel like switching it up to something more familiar, couldn't it be?

And for that matter…

If we want it to be Jesus or Joseph or Jeffrey or Jonny, can we just willy-nilly switch it up? Or is Jesus the only name we can switch it to? Why that one? Who decided? And why must we obey?

If it’s authority and not actual name, then why can’t we say Joey? If the details don’t matter, how many can we change? The crucifixion is so ghastly and unfamiliar can we switch that up for something more relatable? - Joey died in a car crash to save us from our electric bill and then he came back to life and moved to Arizona? 

How about that? 

No?

Why not? 

You get your changes to His Name and we get our changes to the rest of the story…no? 

Why not?

If the details of the story don’t really matter as they were written, in the language, culture and time-period in which they were written, and we can feel free to just upend-reality and adapt it to our personal preference, then why can’t we change the rest of the details to fit our own fancy too?

How come we have to keep calling Him by a roughly 500 year old name that doesn’t reflect the authority we claim but rather that of the replacement system which usurped His authority for itself, namely, the church. 

You wouldn’t say we were going to the mosque when you are going to the church would you? You would be very upset if someone said you were a Muslim if you were actually a Christian, wouldn’t you. And rightly so…

Details matter because they shape the narrative. Sometimes several words can say the same thing, but the meaning has to be inherently contained within the terms and not arbitrarily applied because we feel like calling one thing or one person by alternative terminology. 

Otherwise we will only be creating confusion where none is called for. 

Our Saviour is Yeshua. 

This one Name has a number of variant forms acceptable from different dialects and accents in Hebrew, but it is the same Name being spoken. 

Whether we say Yeshua or Yehoshua, we are speaking the short or long form of the Hebrew Name of our Hebrew Messiah. Whether we say Yahshua or Yahoshua we are again speaking the same Hebrew Name of our Hebrew Messiah with one of 13 tribal dialects. When we say Y’shua or Yoshua or whether we say Yahusha or Yahushua or one of several other similar forms we are still speaking the same Hebrew Name of our Hebrew Messiah. 

But when we say Jesus we are speaking an English pronunciation of a French accent speaking a Latin replication of a Greek duplication of the Savior’s Hebrew Name.

Names can switch up from culture to culture to end up in another language, yes, becoming that language’s version of the name, but the new language term does not apply to the original language or the persons belonging thereto. 

Yochanon in Hebrew becomes John in English, but that doesn’t mean we can call Prince John by the Hebrew, Sar Yochanon and say it’s the same name so it’s okay. 

It’s not the same name. It only comes from the same source. The differences make all the difference. 

Shall we start calling it the Malak Yacov Version instead of the King James Version because James comes from the Hebrew, Yacov? No. We wouldn’t do the process in reverse to try to make our English people Hebrew in our eyes…

So why are we so comfortable making the Hebrew people and especially our Messiah, Yeshua into Englishmen in our eyes…and arbitrarily claiming they are the same thing. 

Question Everything

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