About Us---Faith Statement---definitions
Yahshua (Jesus)
The Name of the Son
WHY YAHSHUA? Perhaps it would be better to ask: "Why Jesus?"
Jesus is an English transliteration of the Greek I—sous, and
is nothing like the Hebrew name, Yahshua which means Yahweh is salvation.
It occurred to me one day that no matter where I travel in the
world and no matter what is the language of the people, my name
remains the same, it is never translated. This is an inviolate rule
of language: a person's name is not translated. You will notice
this in the reporting of international news; the name by which a
person is identified in this country would be pronounced exactly
the same in their country, no matter what the language.
Being Hebrews, and bringing their infant son to the Jewish temple
to be dedicated, it is unthinkable that Joseph and Mary would have
given any but a Hebrew name to Him. The name they most certainly
gave to that child is Yahshua. If that be true, then that is the
only correct name by which He can be identified today.
We believe that the time has come to restore to the Scriptures
and to our daily usage the correct names for the Father and for
the Son, but it is not our purpose to make this a "bone of
contention" with others in the Body of Christ. We make no discrimination
against those who insist on using the terms "God" and
"Jesus." Agreement on this issue is not a requirement
for fellowship or friendship with us.
back to faith statement page
Yahweh (God)
The Name of the Father
WHY YAHWEH? The term "God," whether capitalized or not,
is a general, not a specific term; it does not identify any particular
elohim (god). Other religions identify by name the one to whom devotion
is given, but by and large, Christians have been ignorant of or
reluctant to identify by name the one to whom they give worship.
That is even more strange when one considers the many exhortations
recorded in scripture to identify Him by name.
There are documented reasons why the Jewish people moved away from
identifying Yahweh by name and came to substitute, first of all
in their oral reading and finally in their written scriptures, another
word which came to be translated by the general term of "god."
Today, scripture translators are aware that Yahweh best expresses
the name by which the Creator identified Himself, but because of
religious tradition and other reasons, there is reluctance to restore
this name to the written scriptures.
In the 16th century, an attempt was made to restore the proper
name by the introduction of Jehovah, but that word falls short for
different reasons, the chief one being that there is no "J"
sound in the Hebrew language. The best evidence we have available
to us indicates that Yahweh is the true name of our elohim, the
one by whom and for whom all things were made, and therefore we
are committed to using His true name — the one He gave to
Himself. Yahweh means, "The one who exists, or whose nature
it is to exist.
back to top
back to faith statement page
|
