Origin of the 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
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
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