Is Christ Jewish?

(Printer Version)

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Is_Chri...

Is"JesusChrist"
aJewishname?
byJohnJ.Parsons

Themostimportantancienttranslationofthe Tanakhisthe "Translationofthe Seventy"(otherwiseknownastheSeptuagintorLXX)whichwasoriginally producedby70JewishtranslatorsforGreek-speakingJewsinEgyptduringthe thirdandsecondcenturiesB.C.E. TargumHashiv'im -"TheTranslationoftheSeventy"(SeptuagintorLXX). Thetitle"Seventy"referstothetraditionthatthetranslationwasthework of70separateJewishtranslators.

AlthoughtheSeptuagintisusefulfordoingcertaintypesofbiblicalresearch,it isa translationoftheMasoreticTextandthereforeshouldnotbeconsidered authoritativeovertheoriginalHebrew.Thatbeingsaid,theSeptuagintprovides insightabouttheusageofHebraicconceptsastranslatedintotheGreekfor Jewsofthattime. Forexample,considertheword"Christ."Thiswordcomesfrom "christos,"the GreekequivalentoftheHebrewterm"messiah" (mashiach).Bothwordsliterally mean"AnointedOne." DoasearchintheSeptuagintforthewords "christos"and "christan"-the nominativeandaccusativesingularofc hristos (Christ)respectively(thereare otherreferencesinthegenitivecaseandasparticiples,buttheseare sufficient).Youwillfindthefollowingreferences: Leviticus4:5,6:15,21:12 1Samuel24:7,24:11;26:9,11,16,23 2Samuel1:14,16;2:5;19:22;23:1 Lamentations4:20 Amos4:13 Psalm19:7;20:6;88:39 2Chronicles22:7

Forexample:

1 of 3

11/18/2009 12:15 PM

Is Christ Jewish? (Printer Version)

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Is_Chri...

"Thebreathofourlife,theLORD'sanointed...." (Lamentations4:20) Wehavetextualevidence,then,thatGreek-speakingJewsbeforetheadventofJesusreferredtothe Mashiachas christos -thatis,as"Christ."Andlater,inHellenisticGreeceduringthetimeofJesus, whensomeJewscametobelievethattheyhadfoundtheMessiah,theynaturallywouldrefertohim as hochristos -"theChrist."

Nu?Sowhat?
Mypointhereissimple. "Christ"isagoodJewishdesignationfortheterm "Messiah." Iraisethis issuemerelytodemonstratetothosewhoarecaughtupinthe"SacredName"movementortothose whofeelitisnecessarytorefertothe"Messiah"anddisparagetheuseoftheword"Christ"thatthere isnoneedtobepedanticinthisregard:Christmeans"AnointedOne"inthesamewaythattheword "Mashiach"does.

Whataboutthename"Jesus"?
Nowhowaboutthename"Jesus"?Dowehaveatransliterationproblemhere?Needwegetfussy aboutthisandinsistonreferringtotheLordas "Yeshua" anddropthename"Jesus"? ThenameYeshua comesfromJoshua'sHebrewname, Yehoshua, whichsometimesappearsinits shortenedform, Yeshua(e.g.,seeNeh.8:17).NowYeshua,whentransliteratedintoGreek,comes out Iesous (YAY-soos)(thefinalsigmaisnecessaryinthenominativecasetodesignateaproper name).InoldEnglish,the"y"soundwasrenderedas"j,"andthusweobtain"Jesus":

TocarpthatYeshua'snamewasincorrectlytransliteratedislikecomplainingthattheJewsarecalled "Jews,"ratherthanthemorepreciseterm "Y'hudi,"awordthatwaslikewisetransliteratedfromthe Greek Ioudaios andultimatelyintotheEnglishword "Judean."Inlikemannerweshouldn'tspeak aboutJudaismbutperhapsshouldcallit "Yoodaism"?

2 of 3

11/18/2009 12:15 PM

Is Christ Jewish? (Printer Version)

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Is_Chri...

Nu?Sowhat?
Theso-called"SacredName"movementthatpurportsthatthe"truename"oftheMessiahis "YAHushua"or"YAHoshua"(orsomevariantthereof)isfoundedonfaultylinguisticsandesoteric doctrine.ThesepeoplethinkthatthesacredName(YHVH)isbestrenderedasYAHWEH,and supposethatsinceJesussaidHecameinHisFather'sName(John5:34),YAHmustsomehow appearinthespellingofthisname.HencewehaveYAHshua,orYAHoshua,orsomeotherspelling. ThisinterpoloationofthephonemeYAHcomesattheexpenseoftheoriginalMasoretictextand standardHebrewusage.Someinthismovementgosofarastobelievethatyoucanonlybesavedif youpronouncetheSacredNamecorrectly!Asafriendofminepointedout,thisteachingisinherently anti-semitic,sinceinorderforthistobetrue,the"rabbis"musthavecorruptedthetextanddeceived thepeople.Moreover,theGreekNewTestamenttexthasbeencorruptedaswell,sinceitdoesnot directlycontaintheSacredName. Mypointhereissimple.Let'snotgetsohunguponourpronunciationofHebrewtermsthatwe becomesnobs--orworse-- gnostics! ForthoseraisedwiththeLatin-basedalphabetinEnglish speakingcountries,HisNameis JesusChrist -anditisgood!

Shalomtoyou...andmaytheLordJesusChristblessyou.

RelatedTopic:
IsraelandtheChurch (esp.discussionaboutekklesia)

<<Return
HebrewforChristians
CopyrightJohnJ.Parsons

Allrightsreserved.
www.hebrew4christians.com

3 of 3

11/18/2009 12:15 PM