Certain people—mostly of the Sacred Names sects—reject the traditional names of “God,” “Lord” and “Jesus.” They believe people should address the Father and the Son only by their Hebrew names. According to them, the phonetic sounds of God’s names are more important than their meanings.
Whether pertaining to heroes, patriarchs, or incidental references in passing, biblical names have specific meaning and are given for a purpose.
For example, Adam was created from the ground, and his name in Hebrew simply means “red earth.” Likewise, Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, meaning “a father of many nations.” Also, Jacob’s name (meaning “supplanter”) was changed to Israel (meaning “prevailer with God”).
Another account showing the importance of one’s name is found in I Samuel 25. The wife of Nabal acknowledged how her husband had lived up to his name. Interceding on his behalf for his thoughtless and merciless acts, she pleaded, “Let not my lord...regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name and folly is with him” (vs. 25). The meaning of Nabal is “fool.” The context shows that, by his actions, Nabal fulfilled the meaning of his name.
In these examples, only the meanings of the names were emphasized, as is the case throughout Scripture.
God’s Names Have Meaning
The names of God are also filled with meaning, yet the Bible places little, if any, importance on how each name should be pronounced. If this were of importance to God—as the Sacred Names sects insist—this would be a serious inconsistency in God’s Word! . . . >> continue reading
Let’s examine the evidence, or at least what is offered as the evidence from the side of the sacred name believers, and then we will examine what these people are not telling us. We read the following explanatory notes from the publishers of the Sacred Name bible know as [The Scriptures 1998 edition]:
“Consider Iesous, rendered as ‘Jesus’ in English versions up to now. For example the authoritative Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott, under Iaso: The Greek goddess of healing reveals that the name Iaso is Ieso in the Ionic dialect of the Greeks, Iesous being the contracted genitive form! In David Kravitx, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology, we find a similar form, namely Iasus. There were four different Greek deities with the name Iasus, one of them being the Son of Rhea.”
Now after reading the above quote, one might seem convinced. They might see a connection here, but let’s take a look at what they are not telling us. This quotation has the name of the Greek goddess of health and healing as Iaso. In Greek, the Greek letters of this word are Iota, Alpha, Sigma, Omega – Iasw. The Greek word Jesus in nominative case is spelled Iota, Eta, Sigma, Omicron, Upsilon, Sigma – IhsouV. . . >> continue reading