Should We Call Him “Jesus” or “Yeshua”?

Some people claim that our Lord should not be referred to as “Jesus.” Instead, we should only use his Hebrew name “Yeshua.” Some even go so far as to say that calling Him “Jesus” is blasphemous. But, is that what the Bible says?

Background information

The modern trend of calling Jesus “Yeshua” started with the Sacred Names Movement, which is a sect of the Hebrew Roots Movement. One of their basic teachings is that Christians must follow the law of Moses (or the Torah), especially the Sabbath, Dietary laws, and the Jewish Festivals. The Sacred Names Movement takes it a step further and says that we must use the Hebrew names for God and Jesus: Yahweh and Yeshua. 

Sacred Names Movement developed out of the Church of God (Seventh Day Adventists) in the 1930s. But recently, it seems to be picking up steam. 

You may see their church signs as you drive around your city. There are a few different groups out there such as the: 

• Assemblies of Yahweh

• The Assembly of Yahweh

• The House of Yahweh

• Yahweh’s Restoration Ministry

If you know of any other names that these folks go by, let me know in the comments below.  

So, is the Sacred Names Movement correct?

And should we only refer to Jesus by the Hebrew name “Yeshua”? Let's see what the Bible has to say because it is the Bible that will equip us for every good work: 

“16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17 | ESV) 

Calling Jesus by the right name sure sounds like a good work to me! That is why we are going to search the Scriptures to find out if these things are so. This should apply to everything we hear from anyone. Including anything you hear me say in these articles. We need to be like the Bereans in Acts 17:

“11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11 | ESV)

As we begin to examine these questions, the first thing we need to understand is that God had the Bible written in three different languages. The Old Testament was primarily written in Hebrew with a little bit of Aramaic (Aramaic: Ezra 4:8–6:18; 7:12-26; Daniel 2:4b–7:28; Jeremiah 10:11), and the New Testament was written in Koine Greek.

Does the Bible command us to call Jesus “Yeshua”?

When trying to determine if The Sacred Names Movement is right, the first thing we should do is look for a command in the New Testament that says we have to call The Son of God Yeshua. 

Studying the Scripture shows that there is no such command.

In fact, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and said:

“20 Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus (Ἰησοῦς) for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20–21 | ESV) 

Not only is there no command in Scripture to call Jesus Yeshua, but an angel of the Lord told Joseph to call Him by a different name. 

This alone should answer the question, but let’s dig a little bit deeper.

Do the apostles call Jesus “Yeshua” in the Bible?

Once again, there is not a single example of any of the apostles or any New Testament writers referring to Jesus as “Yeshua”. Every time we see the name “Jesus” in our English Bibles, it is translated from the Greek word Ἰησοῦς.

Not only is there no command to call Jesus “Yeshua,” but there is also no example of anyone doing it in Scripture. 

So, when one of your Hebrew Roots movement friends or Sacred Names Movement friends tells you that you have to call Jesus “Yeshua,” remember what Jesus himself said:

“7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:  8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” (Matthew 15:7–9 | ESV) 

The Sacred Names Movement’s teaching that we must call Jesus “Yeshua” has no Biblical support whatsoever and is simply a commandment of men.

When we teach as doctrines the commandments of men, our worship is vain, it is worthless. We do not want to fall into that trap. Many people are trying to convince Christians to return to the Law of Moses and become Jewish. 

If you would like to learn more about this movement, we have this article for you to read next.