What Name Should we call Jesus? Yeshua, Yahusha or Something Else?
The sacred name myth exposed
Like fashion, religious superstition changes with the seasons.
One year, it’s all about blood moons and astronomical phenomena. “Jesus is nearly here!” Then it’s about Israel and Russia. “Armageddon is upon us!” Well, this season, superstition has a new catalogue, and it concerns the proper way to address Jesus.
“Hey, Paul. You forgot to say ‘Lord’ Jesus. Are you unsaved?”
Sorry, I meant to say the Lord Jesus.
“You really ought to say Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t forget the Christ.”
I kid you not. These are actual comments I get on social media regularly. If I refer to my Lord and dearest Friend as just “Jesus”, I get in trouble.
Pro tip: It’s perfectly fine to say just “Jesus.” Yes, he is the King of kings, but this isn’t Buckingham Palace. There is no rule that says you must recite all his titles every time you speak of him.
But don’t take my word for it. Learn from the New Testament writers who occasionally referred to just “Jesus”:
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (1 Th. 4:14)
Hmm. Perhaps the Apostle Paul wasn’t really saved.
The author of Hebrews did this all the time. “But we see Jesus…” “Consider Jesus…” “Fixing our eyes on Jesus…” “Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…” (Heb. 2:9, 3:1, 12:2, 24).
Is Jesus Lord of all? Of course! But he won’t get upset if you don’t mention his titles every time you talk to him. I promise. It’s in the Bible.
What about Yeshua?
Lately there has been a new trend sweeping social media—or rather, an old trend making a seasonal return—and that is the habit of referring to Jesus as Yeshua, Yehoshua, and Yahusha. Perhaps you have seen these names.
You might have also seen YHWH, or YHUH, which some use as alternative names for God. Never mind that Jesus told us to call God our heavenly Father (Luke 11:2).
I have seen variations of these names many times over the past few weeks. It’s like a Phonetic Pandemic.
There are historical reasons behind some of these names (Jesus was probably known to his Jewish friends as Yeshua) but there are no spiritual reasons for using them.
If you think you will become a more spiritual or enlightened person by adopting the correct Hebrew phonetics, then you are departing from scripture. If you think your prayers will get fast-tracked to the top of the queue if you use a “sacred name”, you’re fooling yourself.
Some use these names to promote a return to the law-keeping of Judaism. “The real Yahusha kept the commandments and honored the traditions, and so should you.” Beware this grace-killing message! It leads straight to dead works an unbelief.
The New Testament was written in Greek, and the apostles consistently used Iēsous, the Greek form of Jesus’ name. Iēsous became Iesus in both the Latin Bible and the 1611 edition of the King James Bible. Then English speakers began swapping I’s for J’s and we ended up with Jesus. “Jesus” is not a mistranslation of Iēsous. It is simply the modern English descendant of:
Yeshua → Iēsous → Iesus → Jesus
Did you know the name “Jesus” appears nearly 1,000 times in the New Testament (depending on which translation you are using)? In contrast, his titles “Lord” and “Christ” appear about 700 and 500 times respectively.
Those other names—Yeshua, Yehoshua, and Yahusha? They are never mentioned. Not once.
Pronunciation Is Not a Spiritual Gift
If you are a Hebrew- or Aramaic-speaker and you are more comfortable saying Yeshua than Jesus, by all means say Yeshua. But if you are more concerned about names than knowing the person of Jesus Christ, you’ve missed the point.
There is no magical power in saying mystical names that supposedly have some historical significance. The power comes from knowing the Person of Jesus Christ. This is why we preach the simple gospel of Jesus Christ—so that people might come to know the Savior and be saved.
Wherever the apostles went, the boldly proclaimed the good news of Jesus. They did not delve into special names or complicated phonetics. Whether speaking to Jews or Greeks, they preached Jesus. We would do well to follow their example.
I’ll leave the last word to my friend Pastor Jeremy White, who recently posted this on Facebook:
The obsession with “secret names,” special pronunciations, and linguistic elitism often reveals something deeper: People drift from the simplicity of the gospel and start searching for hidden knowledge that makes them feel spiritually superior. That’s Gnosticism, not Christianity. The good news of Jesus has always been gloriously accessible to ordinary people in ordinary languages. Which is probably why the apostles preached Christ boldly across the Roman world instead of stopping every sermon to conduct a Hebrew pronunciation workshop.
The good news reveals Jesus, and Jesus is so much bigger than his name.
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- Which Bible Commentaries are Grace-Based?
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Escape to Reality 
No matter which name we may use, Our Savior knows who His children are”.Thank you Paul”..
Paul, I laughed out loud multiple times while reading your article. How silly that readers reprimand you for not using “Lord Jesus Christ”. I guess you could just shorten it to TLJCWWAIAITC — The Lord Jesus Christ Who Was and Is and Is to Come. Does that cover it? 😉
Yahuah is the Father and Yahusha is the son and He came in His father’s name but another will come in his own name and him you will believe , John 5 : 43 . Jesus is a Roman name promoted by Constantine and the Papacy but Yahuah is Paleo Hebrew from the beginning and He has one name only and it does not , can not change and He reveals it to His children.
The translators and readers of the Septuagint had no problem replacing the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), with “Lord”, while the King James translators went to the original Hebrew and used the typography “LORD” to designate when it was used. Modern Jews have great scruples using it, saying “Adonai” when they come across it, but the original Hebrews, and even foreign kings, had no scruples using it when referring to the Creator God of the Hebrews.
I remember getting into trouble when I wrote “LORD Jesus Christ”, rather than “Lord Jesus Christ” in some posts.
As long as you possess the Holy Spirit, you have a hotline to Jesus and the Father, a higher dimensional “cell phone” embedded in your “heart”: when the Hotline rings in the Kremlin outside of the set testing times, Putin knows who’s on the other end…
Just to throw a wrench into this, I believe the right name; ( if there be such a thing.) is Jesus. The Hebrew language got lost during the Babylonian captivity, Chaldean language was what Babylonians spoke. the name of God was outlawed and exchanged for there deities. The written language became block yet the two were close. Paleo Hebrew still looked different but close. If you take Ancient Greek and translate the Paleo Hebrew Tetnagramaton (name of God) you get Jesus. The J names and Y names were all demonic deities. Even today Satanists are encouraged to quote the Tetnagramaton daily. (I know it’s spelled wrong! Sorry) the Hebrew tetnagramaton is found on every tarot card. Jesus never quoted from the Tenach or other post Babylon scriptures but did quote from Septuigent (Greek Translation of OT) Strongs says: Hebrew and Chaldean dictionary. I know it’s a rabbit hole but you have believe something! God is Good!
Hello brother Ellis,
Grace and peace is multiplier to you through Messiah. While I acknowledge that there’s nothing wrong with using the name Jesus, the narrative should also be balanced. There’s nothing wrong with calling our Lord “Yeshua”. As long as we call His name in grace and not in the Spirit of the law, it is okay. Moreover, He knows when He is called upon or referred to. He isn’t a rigid brother.
Furthermore, I’m yet to see any evidence that the original manuscript the apostles wrote was written in Greek. However, for me, languages of men do not matter as much as whether our actions is in (of and through) Him.
Shalom, Your brother George Effanga