Is it true that the name Jesus did not come about til the 17th Century?

[sk8brdkd]

I was reading something the other day and it said the name Jesus didn't come around until the 17th century? If that's true, then why do they use Jesus in the bible now and not the original name that he was given? Or, why did they change the name? It doesn't make sense to me. They never changed God's name, so, why change the original name of Jesus?

 

[canukian]

i think his real name is yahshewah better known in english as joshua. people are starting to use the christs real name more.

 

[Ttery]

I Don't Believe this is true. Lets take a look at Scripture and see what is says.

Matthew 1:18-24

"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, “God with us.”

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife."

Hope this answers your question.

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

His original name was in Hebrew and it was Yeshua which is better translated as Joshua, but Jesus is also a acceptable English translation.

 

[grasping the after wind]

The name has not changed but the pronunciation and spelling have changed over centuries and through different cultures. Just as Juan and Sean and John are all the same name but pronounced and spelled differently in different languages. The name Yeshua and Joshua and Jesus are in effect the same name.

 

[Assyrian]

Is it true that the name Jesus did not come about til the 17th Century?

Probably later. Bear in mind his name in our Greek bible is 'ιησοῦς or in our letters iēsous which itself is a translation or transliteration from the older Hebrew as canukian point out, yahshewah. Or look at the name Moses mosheh in Hebrew but mōseus mōsēs or mōusēs in the Greek NT.

Which tells us one thing, that it is quite biblical to adapt names when the bible is being translated into a different language. You need to bear in mind too that the English language is not static and changed significantly since the bible was first translated into English.

Wycliffe Bible 1395
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generacioun of Jhesu Crist, the sone of Dauid, the sone of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham bigat Isaac. Isaac bigat Jacob. Jacob bigat Judas and hise britheren.
Mat 1:25 and he knew her not, til she hadde borun her firste bigete sone, and clepide his name Jhesus.

Tyndale Bible 1534
Matthew 1:1 This is the boke of the generacion of Iesus Christ the sonne of Dauid the sonne also of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac: Isaac begat Iacob: Iacob begat Iudas and his brethren:
Mat 1:25 and knewe her not tyll she had brought forth hir fyrst sonne and called hys name Iesus.

Coverdale Bible 1535
Matthew 1:1 This is the boke of the generacion of Iesus Christ ye sonne of Dauid, the sonne of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraha begat Isaac: Isaac begat Iacob: Iacob begat Iudas & his brethre:

The Great Bible also called Cranmer Bible 1540
Matthew 1:1 Thys ys þe booke of the generacyon of Iesus Chryst, þe sonne of Dauid, the sonne of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac begat Iacob. Iacob begat Iudas and hys brethren.
Mat 1:25 & knewe her not, tyll she had brought forth her fyrst begotten sonne, and called his name Iesus.

Matthew's Bible 1549
Matthew 1:1 Thys is þe boke of þe generation of Iesus Christ þe sonne of dauyd, þe sonne also of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac: Isaac begat Iacob: Iacob begat Iudas and hys bretherne:

The Geneva Bible 1587
Matthew 1:1 The booke of the generation of Iesvs Christ the sonne of Dauid, the sonne of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begate Isaac. And Isaac begate Iacob; Iacob begat Iudas and his brethren.

King James Version also called Authorized Version 1611
Matthew 1:1 The booke of the generation of Iesus Christ, the sonne of Dauid, the sonne of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begate Isaac, and Isaac begate Iacob, and Iacob begate Iudas and his brethren.

Mace New Testament 1729 by Daniel Mace
Matthew 1:1 The History of the life of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judas and his brethren.

King James Version also called Authorized Version 1769
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

From http://lookhigher.net/englishbibles/corpusanglosaxongospels/matthew/1.html

It wasn't just Iesus that was different back then, you also had Iacob and Iudas, look at the cool lettering they used then too the letter thorn þ pronounced as a th, or David spelled with a u or a y.

 

[Brak]

I think this is getting mixed up with another word. The name Jesus comes from iesus in the Greek (as said before), and his original name is NOT Hebrew. Jesus spoke Aramaic. The earliest NT texts were not in Hebrew. Mostly Greek and Latin. I tend to consider iesus=Jesus.

What is true, however, is that the word "Jew" did not appear till around the 14th century. That may be what this is getting confused with. John Wycliffe needed a word in English to describe someone from Judea, and he came up with the word "Jew". Probably he got it from the word "ieudeus" from the Latin, or "Judean". Jesus was a Jew, or a "Judean" (just like Simon the Cyrene was from Libya, or "Libyan"). It referred to someone native to Judea, but it also implied that person probably shared the cultural and religious characteristics of the natives of the region (as opposed to the Greeks or Romans, who were foreigners). Every time you see the word in the OT or NT, that is Wycliffe's translation. Which is incredibly ironic, because the word "Jew", in the original context, more accurately translates in modern terms to "Palestinian"; or, someone native to Palestine.

 

[lovernotafighter]

The Latin version of the name Jesus was in use by the 4th century

Matthew 1:1

liber generationis Iesu Christi filii David filii Abraham

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

The Latin word Iesu is translated as Jesus. (J's did not exist when the Vulgate was written, so I's were used)

Joshua 1:10

praecepitque Iosue principibus populi dicens transite per medium castrorum et imperate populo ac dicite

And Josue commanded the princes of the people, saying: Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, and say:

We see that Jerome used different words for Josue (Joshua) and Iesu (Jesus).

Therefore the distinction was in place by the 4th century.

 

[Assyrian]

Actually Iesu is the vocative or genitive form of the Latin, if you were speaking to Jesus using his name 'Hello Jesus' or speaking about Jesus' sandles or his brothers and sisters. Iesu is also used where Jesus is the indirect object, doing something to or for Jesus (dative), by with or from Jesus (ablative). When Jesus is the object of the sentence (accusative) the form is Iesam. But the actual name itself, and the form used when Jesus is the subject of the sentence (nominative), is Iesus.

Matt 3:13 13 tunc venit Iesus a Galilaea in Iordanen ad Iohannem ut baptizaretur ab eo
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him.