Over the last 2,000 years, there is one name that has been known by people more than any other in the world – that name is Jesus Christ.
The name Jesus Christ is special not only for whom it belongs to, but also the significant meaning it has.
First, the name Jesus originates from the Hebrew name which is Yeshu’a. It is also known as the modern name Joshua.
In the Hebrew form Yeshu’a, there are two parts that make up its meaning. At the beginning there is “Ya”, which is short for Yahweh, and the second part which is “Hoshea” that translates to the word “salvation”. Together this would be “Yahweh saves”.
The name Jesus is the Greek form of this Hebrew name and translates to the phrase “God is Salvation”. This has beautiful significance for both the person that Jesus was and the mission that He came to fulfill, by bringing salvation to the world.
Next, the name Christ comes from the Greek name Khristos, which is a derivative of the word khriein which means ‘to anoint’. It also is connected to the Hebrew word mashiach or ‘Messiah’, which literally translated means ‘the anointed’ or ‘the chosen’.
Christ takes on the function of a title more than it is a name when speaking of Jesus then. When combined, Jesus Christ can mean ‘Jesus, the anointed One’ or ‘Jesus, the chosen One’. So the name identifies both the mortal and Godly parts of who Jesus is. He possesses the mortal name of Jesus that was given to Him by His mother Mary when He was born, and He joins it together with the name Christ, which is His title as the anointed Son of God.
As the chosen or anointed Son of God, Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies as the One who would come to save all the world from sin and lead those who followed Him to eternal life after death.
