What is in a name?
Signs of Ideas.

"Words are but the signs of ideas." Samuel Johnson.

Some might object to the using of the word Christ believing that it is from the word Christos who was a Greek god.
The word christ is the Greek word for anointed.
The word mashiyach or messiah also means anointed.

The word christ is the English version of the word christos which is the Greek word for Messiah. The word Christ means Messiah and are interchangeable words from Hebrew to English.

2 Samuel 22:51 [He is] the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

The word anointed is the same Hebrew word translated Messiah in Daniel 9:25-26 which references the coming of Jesus. The word christ is not a name but the word stating that Jesus was anointed. Specifically anointed King and highest Son of David.

It is true that Iesous or Jesus is a Greek and English spelling. or are Hebrew forms of Yehashua or Joshua which are also English versions of a Hebrew character spelling. To write Yashua or any of the several English renditions are the result of opinions.

Hebrew is a conceptual cross between alphabets and the pictorial symbols of Chinese and Japanese type languages. In Hebrew each letter has a meaning and those meanings produce the word. Even some letters have meanings composed of other letters.

In English as well as Greek words are often composed of other words or parts of words to produce one word. Japanese and Chinese are pictorial in their origin. Basic word pictures are built on by adding strokes from other words in order to expand their meaning. When they are written, Japanese and Chinese, are similar enough to be read in each different country but when spoken each language is so changed they cannot be comprehended.

Hebrew letters each have a meaning. Even each stoke used to make a letter has a meaning. Often three letters will form a base word or meaning. To expand on that meaning another letter or letters with other meanings will be added.

The alphabet was formed to allow the words to be created by a consecutive order of written letters with meanings. Those letters are still pictures forming a word representing an idea or thought. Chinese and Japanese words had no consecutive letters and therefore no pronunciation key.

When Sequoyah produced the Cherokee alphabet about 1821 he needed 85 letter to produce each sound of an existing language. This would be true of most languages which instead simply ascribes multiple sounds to many letters.

There is no way to have a meaning attached to each letter in a spoken language since the words and sounds preexist. Some would say that this is the miracle of the Hebrew language while others would say that it was the innovation of it. The Hebrew language was a written language that could be pronounced.

If God invented the Hebrew language I don't believe there would be such confusion and irregularities in pronouncing the words. Many words are composed of consonants. In order to pronounce these words vowel sounds are added.

There is quite some controversy over how Hebrew words are to be pronounced. is written YHWH in English letters but to pronounce it one must add vowels. For some this produces the word Jehovah and for others Yahweh. Some scholars say that YHWH is pronounced YodHayVahHey. Yahweh maybe simply a shortened form of YodHayVahHey.

The Vah and We (pronounced 'way') sounds vary because of the differences in dialects. Certain sounds are more vulnerable to variations in different cultures do to use and dialect.

In English we say water but in German the word is wasser but is pronounce vasser. V and W, S and T, soft G and hard G and many other sounds will change with local use and custom even though the same letters are used. Over a period of time the changes may make pronunciation unrecognizable.

The Hebrew Yod or is a point of beginning or an infinite point and reveals the spark of essential good. For instance hidden within the letter tet or there is references to the concealed good. The secret of the tet (numerically equivalent to nine, the nine months of pregnancy) is the power of the mother to carry her inner, concealed good.

Another letter is the vav or which references connecting realms and worlds. Now if you put two yods and a vav together you can produce an alef. An alef or is the pardox of God and Man by two yods, one to the upper right and the other to the lower left, joined by a diagonal vav. Two worlds of man and God come together.

You can find more on this in the article Isaiah 24 and More
http://www.hisholychurch.net/sermon/isaiah24.HTM

A Name

What is in it. In many lands there are different names for a rose yet a rose is unaffected by what one person or nation might choose to call it.

No one has the right to change your name and no one has actually changed the name of or ewvy which reads from right to left by the way. If you turn that into or Yvwe by reversing the order and writing English letters you have changed the name. Is the name merely an accumulation of letters?

If pronunciation is the key, then how is one sure that they are pronouncing the letters correctly. I had a call from a fellow in Mississippi the other day whose pronunciation was decidedly different from mine and I know that pronouncing ancient Hebrew with absolute certainty without any kind of heavy change in accents is bordering on impossible without some serious speculation.

Could I be in danger of losing salvation because of dyslexia or a speech impediment? Can we possibly imagine that that something so finite as letters or sounds has anything to do with an infinite God's salvation?

I have a neighbor named Jesus,
Who never does displease us.
His name is pronounced hay-soos.
Yet because of phonetic misuse
Some will just say gee-sus,

Here is a mind boggler. If heaven is a spiritual realm and there is no need for air there, then is there sound? As we know there is no sound in a vacuum or where there is no air so in heaven is their is sound it is probably not like the sound we know now.

Does His name have anything to do with sound at all. Or is the word we call His name simply for our finite benefit, since we have fallen to words and language, including Hebrew, since the tower of Babel was knocked down

To say Yeshua, Yahushua, Jesus, Iesous are all variations in symbol and letter form and none is truly correct forms. They are forms representing the idea just like the name Chris and Kris are variations representing the identity of someone called Christopher.

If you did get the name right with a great deal of study and luck have you done any thing important in the eyes of God or His son?

"For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Matthew 24:5

To understanding what His Name is it may be appropriate to understand what A Name is. Some think a name is a group of letters.

Think about this. My daughter discovered last night that there is someone called Gregory Thomas Williams living in Madras. His name, though the same as mine, has absolutely nothing to do with me, my family, nor who I am other than the same series of letters used to represent who he is and who I am.

The word name in the bible is from the Greek word onoma from a presumed derivative of the base of ginosko which is a prolonged form of a primary verb. It is defined to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive.

Onoma can mean a group of letters but if that is all there is to a name the guy in Madras is me and I am him. The fact is the word onoma besides meaning a proper name also means 2) the name is used for everything which the name covers, everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing, remembering, the name, i.e. for one's rank, authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc.

The point is that language and their symbols are a complex maze of endless study. Many points of understanding may be reached or pondered in the study of languages and the origin of words.

If you write Hebrew in English letters you have already changed the name or rather its symbolic spelling. Groups of letters form words and words are the symbols of ideas but in Hebrew letters are symbols of ideas and in groups they produce new ideas. Yet, in Hebrew words are still just symbols or sign for something beyond the word itself.

In Italy my name might be spelled Gregori. Most people pronounce my name Greg-gree or just Greg, but in Italy even if I used the American spelling it might sound like Gre-gor-ee. That would simply be my name in Italy. There are many other names that might sound very much different from what an American might say or pronounce.

At the end of the first millennium my ancestors crossed from Normandy to England and back several time. When in England they spelled their name one way and when back on the other side they reverted to an earlier spelling. They did this every time they crossed over from one side to the other. Since there were no real dictionaries the spelling of words was often very freely done. This was an accepted and common practice.

When we say Christ or Jesus everyone knows we are talking about the historical figure Jesus who was anointed King and not Christos of Greek Mythology. Although few people really know Jesus the man or his office. Knowing how to spell his name in Hebrew does not mean you know who he is. You cannot know him unless you know the Father which is again not about spelling but about a relationship and compatibility of heart, mind and soul.

Leviticus 22:2 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name [in those things] which they hallow unto me: I [am] the LORD.

We profane His name by what we do, not by the way we spell it. As a matter of fact you can call him many things or names.

Knowing a Name

And when Adam knew Eve and she conceived, the Bible is not talking about spelling.

Ekklesia means called out. There are many who are called out, ekklesia, but only one Ekklesia of Jesus Christ. The Ekklesia of Jesus Christ has the character of Jesus Christ, the Name of Yeshua written in their hearts and minds. It obeys the will of the Father in Heaven and are the Kings brethren.

For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: Hebrews 8:10 [Jeremiah 31:33]

Thy name is vanity

Thy Kingdom comes as thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven.

If you claim His name but do not do His will then you are taking his name in vain.

Matthew 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

If you are not doing His will you are not apart of His family and have no part in His name no matter what comes out of your mouth or how you spell things.

Christian

Acts 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

The word Christian is an English phonetic spelling of the Greek word or Christianos. It is found three times in the Bible and is again taken from christos meaning anointed king.

Christianos or Christian, means or a follower of the Christ, the anointed King, the Messiah. The suffix -ian means One relating to, belonging to, or resembling:

If you are related to Him you are doing His will. If you have become His bondservant as a minister of the Church then you belong to the anointed King. If you are becoming like Him in character and in Spirit then you are beginning to resemble Him. Unless one of these are true you are not a Christian no matter what you say.

Many people call themselves Christians like the Pharisees and Sadducees who called themselves sons of Abraham but knew neither the Father nor the Son. When they define Christian they do it according to their own mind and will and spirit.

Who can defines the word Christ-ian?

If a Christian is a follower, disciple or bondservant of the Christ, a.k.a. the Messiah, the Anointed, the King of Kings etc. then only the King may define who a Christian is.
Are you a "follower of Yeshua the anointed", a.k.a. Jesus the Christ. The Messiah......?

Do you know the way he was going?

As to the word Christian coming from the French word Cre'tin as some contend, I must question the time sequence of their supposition.

The word cretin came from the French Cre'tin and was used as a derogatory term for true Christians who were seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and living in it and refused the gentile government encroachments of exercising authority so common during its first use of the term in that area. Large numbers of true Christians were persecuted and killed off by false Christians who allied themselves with other Kings and priests that resembled Baal and the Nicolatians more than Yashua and the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, it would be backwards in history to say Christian was from cretin. The word Christian was used as a name for those who followed the way and were baptized into His kingdom long before the word cretin came into use.

I have many friends that do not like to use the word Christian, Christ or even Church because of its misuse over the centuries. I understand that. Yet, it is just a word, just a symbol of an idea. It is used by many but mostly taken in vain by those who claim an affinity to Yeshua the King.

One should not put to much importance on letters.
2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

There is great meaning in letters written in the Hebrew. But it is not enough to focus on letters Greek, Hebrews or English. We should understand the character of Yashua and not just the letters of his name. Do not mistake the symbol for the real thing lest you fall into idolatry.

I also know people who refuse to fellowship with people because they use a different group of letters to speak of Jesus, a.k.a. Yeshua. I cannot believe that such prejudice is a part of the character of My LORD and King. The King and His Kingdom of Heaven is not about spelling. Knowing His name and studying words and language has value and should help bring us together as one body under His wisdom and authority and Spirit. We should not cause division over language and letters. It is a point of study where we seek to know the meaning of words but as 2 Timothy 2:14 says, "Of these things put [them] in remembrance, charging [them] before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, [but] to the subverting of the hearers."

¹ 2757 kenophonia from a presumed compound of 2756 and 5456; ; n f AV-vain babblings 2; 2

1) empty discussion, discussion of vain and useless matters