What's in a name? Evidently everything.
Hebrew is a very interesting language. Every name has it's own meaning, as does every letter and number. Letters also have a numerical value .... No wonder I'm struggling to learn it all.
The Hebrew name "Yeshua" means "salvation" or "he saves." It's a variant of "Yehoshua" where we get the name "Joshua." The name "Jesus" is an English transliteration of the Greek transliteration, "Iesous," of the Hebrew name, "Yeshua." Confused yet? There's more.
The title of "Christ" is an English transliteration of the Greek word, "Chrioo" (to smear with oil), of the Hebrew word "Mashiakh," which means "Anointed One" or "Messiah." Regardless of which name you choose to call Him, He answers to both.
The purpose of translating the Scriptures was to enable more people to read them, which was very important. Without that occurring, we ourselves would not have access to them. Unfortunately, it has also stripped the Hebrew roots, and removes the reader further away from the Jewish reality of the Scriptures with each translation. However, God's Word remains unchanged.
The Jewish roots of the Word of God are extremely rich with meaning. It is my humble opinion that Jesus/Yeshua never intended for His church to be separated from Judaism, but no one asked me. However, He is bringing the two back together as "One New Man," which gave birth to the Messianic Jewish movement. (see Ephesians 2:11-22 and Romans 11:11-24)
I would like to suggest the book "Copernicus and the Jews" by Daniel Gruber, (which helped me write this post correctly) also a copy of the "Jewish New Testament." These will help to begin the path back to our spiritual roots.
Shalom,
Dawn
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