The name Yehoshua, or the Aramaic form Yeshua, from whence we get the name Jesus, is a theophoric name, meaning, that the name of God is embedded within the Messiah's name.
In pagan ancient Greece, for example, you have the goddess Aphrodite. But you also have the name Epaphroditus (See:
Philippians 2:25 and 4:18). It is a distinct name, but the name of the goddess is nonetheless embedded in the name.
It's the same with Yehoshua (Jesus/Yeshua).
The Tetragrammaton, often written in English as YHWH (or, for example, among some Jews, YHVH), is, in Hebrew,
yud hey vav hey or in modern Hebrew orthography (read from right to left):
יהוה
In Hebrew, the name Yehoshua looks like this:
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
You can see then, that in the name Yehoshua, three of the four letters are represented, as follows:
יְ =
yud or "Y"
וֹ =
hey or "H"
וֹ =
vav or "O"
Or, more simply:
Yud = Y
Hey = H
Vav = O
This is the truncated form of the name of God in the Old Testament, often written in English as Jah or Yah (The remainder of the name Yehoshua, that is, "-shua", is from the Hebrew word
yasha, meaning to be safe, hence the meaning "Yah is Salvation").
For a comparison, the prophet Elijah, in transliterated Hebrew, is written as Eli
yahu, noting that the y, h, and u (English "o" and "u" are represented by the same letter in Hebrew) represent the truncated form of God's Name (Elijah, therefore, is also a theophoric name).
In fact many names found in the Bible are theophoric in nature, such as Isaiah or Yesha
yahu, Jeremiah or Yirme
yahu, Adonijah or Adoniyah, Nehemiah or Nehemyah, and etc.
So, it is correct to say that God's Name is embedded or inside of the name of Jesus, according to the Late Hebrew version of the name.
Now, this theophoric name of the Messiah does not indicate positively or even negatively, that the name Jesus is the name of God. That is a Theological and Christological concern having naught to do with the grammar and nature of the name of our Lord.
For example: Jesus was not the only person in the Bible so named. Joshua, the son of Nun, in late Hebrew, is Yehoshua, as well. This doesn't make him God, however.
So, whether or not Jesus is God is not based on His name, but on the revelation given to us through the Holy Scriptures of Who Jesus is.
In fact, the revelation of the name of Jesus as given to Joseph by the messenger Gabriel was not so much on account of Christ's identity as God, but rather, on His role as Savior (e.g. "...he shall
save his people from their sins...";
Matthew 1:21).
Therefore, the focus on why Jesus was named Jesus is not on the YHO or theophoric aspect of His name, but rather on the compounded -shua aspect of His name.
To discover the manner in which it can be said that Jesus is God, or that Jesus is the name of God, is not so much through the name Jesus, but rather, through Christ's other name, that is:
עִמָּנוּאֵל/Immanu' el, or "With us
is God" (the reason I
italicized the word "is", is because it is implied in the Hebrew, but not literally present, since Hebrew does not have a verb form that matches or means "is").
Therefore, in conclusion, the question in the original post is not an invalid or worthless question, but the answer to it, as given above, does not help to determine whether or not the Person of Christ is the same as the Person of God. That's a separate issue.
Hybrid Mode
