Is Jesus Yeshua?

    The name Jesus is the English form of the Greek Iesous (Ἰησοῦς), which is itself a transliteration of the Hebrew name Yeshua (ישוע). Yeshua is a shortened form of Yehoshua (יהושע), meaning "The LORD saves" or "The LORD is salvation." So yes — Jesus and Yeshua are the same name, carried across languages and centuries.

    In first-century Israel, Jesus would have been called Yeshua by His family, His disciples, and the crowds who followed Him. The name was not uncommon in that era, but its meaning took on an extraordinary and unique significance in light of who He was and what He came to do.

    Scripture itself tells us that His name was divinely chosen — given by an angel before His birth — because it declared His very mission: to save His people from their sins.

    "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

    — Matthew 1:21

    "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."

    — Luke 2:21

    The Meaning Behind the Name

    The Hebrew root of Yeshua is yasha (ישע), meaning "to deliver, save, or rescue." Combined with the divine name, Yeshua literally proclaims that God Himself is the one who saves. This is not merely a label — it is a theological declaration embedded in a single word.

    The Old Testament figure Joshua (Yehoshua) bore the same name and served as a type — a foreshadowing — of the greater Joshua to come: the one who would lead God's people not into an earthly promised land, but into eternal salvation.

    Whether we say Jesus, Yeshua, Iesous, or Jesús, we are speaking the same name — the name above every name — given by God the Father to His only begotten Son, through whom all who believe may be saved.