The Holy Name of Jesus Christ
In this article, we shall consider the two words which
compose the Sacred Name.
JESUS
The word Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek Iesous,
which in turn is the transliteration of the Hebrew
Jeshua, or Joshua, or again Jehoshua, meaning "Jehovah
is salvation." Though the name in one form or another
occurs frequently in the Old Testament, it was not
borne by a person of prominence between the time of
Josue, the son of Nun and Josue, the high priest in the
days of Zorobabel. It was also the name of the author
of Ecclesiaticus of one of Christ's ancestors mentioned
in the genealogy, found in the Third Gospel (Luke, iii,
29), and one of the St. Paul's companions (Col., iv,
11). During the Hellenizing period, Jason, a purely
Greek analogon of Jesus, appears to have been adopted
by many ( I Mach., viii, 17; xii, 16; xiv, 22; II
Mach., i, 7; ii, 24; iv, 7 26; v, 5 10; Acts, xvii, 5
9; Rom., xvi, 21). The Greek name is connected with
verb iasthai, to heal; it is therefore, not surprising
that some of the Greek Fathers allied the word Jesus
with same root (Euseb., "Dem. Ev.", IV; cf. Acts, ix,
34; x., 38). Though about the time of Christ the name
Jesus appears to have been fairly common (Jos., "Ant.",
XV, ix, 2; XVII, xiii, 1; XX, ix, 1; "Bel. Jud.", III,
ix, 7; IV, iii, 9; VI, v, 5; "Vit.", 22) it was imposed
on our Lord by God's express order (Luke, i, 31; Matt.,
i, 21), to foreshow that the Child was destined to
"save his people from their sins." Philo ("De Mutt.
Nom.", 21) is therefore, right when he explains Iesous
as meaning soteria kyrion; Eusebius (Dem., Ev., IV, ad
fin.; P. G., XXII, 333) gives the meaning Theou
soterion; while St. Cyril of Jerusalem interprets the
word as equivalent to soter (Cat., x, 13; P.G., XXXIII,
677). This last writer, however, appears to agree with
Clement of Alexandria in considering the word Iesous as
of Greek origin (Paedag., III, xii; P. G., VIII, 677);
St. Chrysostom emphasizes again the Hebrew derivation
of the word and its meaning soter (Hom., ii, 2), thus
agreeing with the exegesis of the angel speaking to St.
Joseph (Matt., i, 21).
CHRIST
The word Christ, Christos, the Greek equivalent of the
Hebrew word Messiah, means "anointed." According to the
Old Law, priests (Ex., xxix, 29; Lev., iv, 3), kings (I
Kings, x, 1; xxiv, 7), and prophets (Is., lxi, l) were
supposed to be anointed for their respective offices;
now, the Christ, or the Messias, combined this
threefold dignity in His Person. It is not surprising,
therefore, that for centuries the Jews had referred to
their expected Deliverer as "the Anointed"; perhaps
this designation alludes to Is., lxi, 1, and Dan., ix,
24 26, or even to Ps., ii, 2; xix, 7; xliv, 8. Thus the
term Christ or Messias was a title rather than a proper
name: "Non proprium nomen est, sed nuncupatio
potestatis et regni", says Lactantius (Inst. Div., IV,
vii). The Evangelists recognize the same truth;
excepting Matt., i, 1, 18; Mark, i, 1; John, i, 17;
xvii, 3; ix, 22; mark, ix, 40; Luke, ii, 11; xxii, 2,
the word Christ is always preceded by the article. Only
after the Resurrection did the title gradually pass
into a proper name, and the expression Jesus Christ or
Christ Jesus became only one designation. But at this
stage the Greeks and Romans understood little or
nothing about the import of the word anointed; to them
it did not convey any sacred conception. Hence they
substituted Chrestus, or "excellent", for Christians or
"anointed", and Chrestians instead of "Christians."
There may be an allusion to this practice in I Pet.,
ii, 3; hoti chrestos ho kyrios, which is rendered "that
the Lord is sweet." Justin Martyr (Apol., I, 4),
Clement of Alexandria (Strom., II, iv, 18), Tertullian
(Adv. Gentes, II), and Lactantius (Int. Div., IV, vii,
5), as well as St. Jerome (In Gal., V, 22), are
acquainted with the pagan substitution of Chrestes for
Christus, and are careful to explain the new term in a
favourable sense. The pagans made little or no effort
to learn anything accurate about Christ and the
Christians; Suetonius, for instance, ascribes the
expulsion of the Jews from Rome under Claudius to the
constant instigation of sedition by Chrestus, whom he
conceives as acting in Rome the part of a leader of
insurgents.
The use of the definite article before the word Christ
and its gradual development into a proper name show the
Christians identified the bearer with the promised
Messias of the Jews. He combined in His person the
offices of prophet (John, vi, 14; Matt., xiii, 57;
Luke, xiii, 33; xxiv, 19) of king (Luke, xxiii. 2;
Acts, xvii, 7; I Cor., xv, 24; Apoc., xv, 3),and of
priest (Heb., ii, 17; etc.); he fulfilled all the
Messiannic predictions in a fuller and a higher sense
than had been given them by the teachers of the
Synagogue.
A. J. MAAS
Transribed by Joseph P. Thomas
In Memory of Archbishop Mathew Kavukatt
[New Advent Catholic Website]
http://www.knight.org/advent
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright �
1996 by New Advent, Inc., P.O. Box 281096, Denver,
Colorado, USA, 80228. (
[email protected])
If you would like to contribute to this worthwhile
project, please contact Kevin Knight by e-mail at
(knight.org/advent). For more information please
download the file cathen.txt/.zip.
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