The Divine Names of Jesus

One of the most well-known characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is the wizard Gandalf. However, that was his name primarily among the men of Middle-earth. Among the Hobbits, he was Gandalf the Grey. To the Elves, he was Mithrandir. The Dwarves called him Tharkûn. In Rohan, he was derogatorily called Stormcrow by some. And apparently in The Silmarillion (a prequel to the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings), he was named Olórin.

While you might not have as many names as the White Wizard, you probably have several names depending on who is addressing you. Coworkers might call you one name, your family uses a different one, and your childhood friends call you by your nickname. So if you and Gandalf have so many names, it should come as no surprise to learn that Jesus bears several names as well, including many that reveal His divinity.

The Man Named God

As we continue our blog series, The Divine HANDS of Jesus, we come to the N in HANDS, which stands for Names. In Scripture, we see Jesus bear many different names and titles typically reserved for God Himself, giving us further confirmation that Jesus is indeed God.

Jesus

While the name Jesus was a fairly common name in His day (it is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua) and not directly a divine name, it means God saves (Matthew 1:21). More importantly, people were baptized into the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:48, and more), performed miracles in His name (Mark 9:38-39, Luke 10:17, Acts 3:6, 16:18, and more), and saved through His name (Acts 4:12, 10:43, 1 John 2:12, and more).

Emmanuel

When the angel appeared to Joseph in announcing Jesus’ presence in Mary’s womb, he announced the incarnation of God into human flesh when he claimed in Matthew 1:22-23 that Jesus was “Emmanuel” (which means “God with us”—in fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14).

Savior

While a lifeguard who does his job right might be called a “savior,” in Scripture, this name is given to both God the Father and Jesus. (Isaiah 43:11, Luke 1:47, 1 Timothy 2:3, Titus 3:4-6, and then some)

Lord

While many kings, magistrates, and rich men might have been called “lord,” God was referred to as the Lord (both “YHWH” (Yahweh/Jehovah) and “Adonai”) in both the Old and New Testaments. That same title of ‘Lord’ is used for Jesus throughout the New Testament, including in quotations originally referring to God in the Old Testament. (Isaiah 40:3 / Matthew 3:3, Malachi 3:1 / Mark 1:1-3, Psalm 118:25 / Matthew 14:30, Acts 2:36, among many others!)

God

Most compelling of all, Jesus is flat out called God in the Scriptures! (Isaiah 9:6, John 1:1, 18, John 20:28, Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1, Hebrews 1:8-9 (which is a quote of Psalm 45:6-7), 1 John 5:20, and more)

Summary

This is only a handful of the divine names and titles Jesus holds. But hopefully you can see it is pretty hard to deny that Jesus carries the names held to God… because He is God!