Jesus

Jesus is a character that first appears in the Greek New Testament (see Nestle 1904).
Greek is the first language that introduces this character.

• Jesus
  • First Name comes from the Greek Goddess of Healing
  • Last Name comes from a medical term for applying visionary drug salves
  • Christ does not mean Messiah
  • Jesus and Joshua have the same name
    • 1. In the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint)
    • 2. In the Greek New Testament
    • 3. Evidence from the Epistle to the Hebrews
    • 4. Grammar
    • Conclusion Jesus is Joshua
  • Sources

First Name comes from the Greek Goddess of Healing

The name "Jesus" comes from the Greek name "Iesous" (Ιησους). "Iesous" is adapted from the name of the Greek goddess of healing "Iesos/Iaso," the daughter of Asclepius, the sun-deity.

The name or title Iasous (Ιασους) is the masculine-feminine noun contraction of the goddess Iaso (Ιασω), who is the Greek goddess of healing and health.

From the LSJ Lexicon when we put in ἰασοῦς:

• Ἰασ - root. So that Ἰασ + οῦς == Ἰασοῦς, the masculine form of Greek goddess of healing.
• Ἰησ - root. So that Ἰησ + οῦς == Ἰησοῦς == Jesus, means the same thing, the masculine form of Greek goddess of healing. (synonymous with Ἰασοῦς)

Jesus is named as a Greek god of healing.

Last Name comes from a medical term for applying visionary drug salves

Christ is a drug title, not a last name. Jesus is "the christ", just like Bob the Builder.

Danny Jones explains it well::

Here, Danny's talking about the ancient Greek source texts that exist, many of which are medical (his reference to Galen), but also many going back to Homer's time period and previous.

• See the Christ article, which gives a thorough breakdown, with source references, of the medical term "christ", used for >1000 years. The term "christ" is documented in ancient Greek literature back to 800BCE, before the time that Jesus Christ was first written about ~70CE.

Christ does not mean Messiah

These are two separate terms

In the time before Jesus (1st century CE):

• A christ (χριστός) is not a μεσσιας (messiah), it is one who applies a salve with φαρμακον (pharmakon).
• A christ (χρῖσμα) is always a medicated salve, or (χριστός) is one who applies those.

Messiah != Christ, these are separate concepts... In John 4:25 above, we are told of the messiah (Μεσσίας) and he is to be called the christ (Χριστός). Messiah and Christ are separate words that have completely separate meanings that have been conflated by believers.

Χριστός is a Bronze Age pharmakon term that means a salve or unguent. Its application can be a "rubbed in christing" (ἐγχριστός) as in Interlinear Greek Rev 3:18 (ἐγχρίσαι) states clearly in Jesus' words:

... or "smeared on christing" (ἐπιχριστός) as in Interlinear Greek John 9:6/11, which describes Jesus spitting on ground and mixing it with dirt and smearing (christing) it on the guys eyes (ἐπέχρισέν):

Χριστός and its applications (ἐγχριστός and ἐπιχριστός) were understood in Jesus time to mean what they meant in the Bronze Age because that is how the NT uses those words.

The hallucination (fairy tale) that these words mean something religious today, is what scholars should be OPPOSED to.

Both Μεσσίας and χριστός appear, sometimes side-by-side, as in:

• The fact that the Evangelist “translates” Μεσσίας as χριστός shows:
  • Μεσσίας was understood as a unique cultural title, that needed clarification for Greek speakers.
  • χριστός, while familiar in Greek, did not originally carry the theological or eschatological weight of Μεσσίας

• The authors here, reframed christos to mean messiah to their cult.
• But the reader would have known christos already, as a previous medical or oracular term.

For more reading:

• See the Christ article, which gives a thorough breakdown, with source references, of the medical term "christ", used for >1000 years. The term "christ" is documented in ancient Greek literature back to 800BCE, before the time that Jesus Christ was first written about ~70CE.

Jesus and Joshua have the same name

Jesus (Ἰησοῦς, the christ) in the Greek New Testament (~70-110CE) is the same name as Joshua (Ἰησοῦς, the successor of Moses) in the Greek Old Testament (LXX, 270 BCE).

1. In the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint)

In the Book of Joshua — titled in Greek as *Ἰησοῦς υἱὸς Ναυῆ* ("Jesus, son of Nave" or "Joshua, son of Nun") — the successor to Moses is named Ἰησοῦς throughout.

Example (Joshua 1:1 in LXX):

"καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ τὸ τελευτῆσαι Μωυσῆν... ἐλάλησεν Κύριος πρὸς Ἰησοῦν υἱὸν Ναυῆ...""And it came to pass after Moses died... the Lord spoke to Jesus son of Nave..."

So, the name "Joshua" is rendered in the Greek Septuagint as Ἰησοῦς, without variation.

2. In the Greek New Testament

The man known in English as Jesus of Nazareth is also consistently called Ἰησοῦς in the Greek New Testament.

Example (Matthew 1:21):

"You shall call his name Ἰησοῦς, for he will save his people..."

Also at the crucifixion:

"Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος" — Jesus the Nazarene (John 19:19)

So the exact same Greek spelling and form — Ἰησοῦς — is used.

3. Evidence from the Epistle to the Hebrews

Hebrews 4:8 refers directly to Joshua son of Nun, but again calls him Ἰησοῦς:

"Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Ἰησοῦς κατέπαυσεν αὐτούς...""For if Jesus had given them rest..."

This does not refer to Jesus Christ, but to Joshua who led the Israelites into Canaan. This verse shows that New Testament Greek uses Ἰησοῦς for both figures, and expects the reader to distinguish them by context.

4. Grammar

The name Ἰησοῦς is declined like a standard Greek noun:

• Nominative (subject): Ἰησοῦς
• Genitive (of Jesus): Ἰησοῦ
• Accusative (object): Ἰησοῦν
• Vocative (addressing): Ἰησοῦ

These exact same forms are used for both the Old Testament Joshua and the New Testament Jesus.

Conclusion Jesus is Joshua

From a purely Greek standpoint:

• Ἰησοῦς in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) refers to Joshua, son of Nun
• Ἰησοῦς in the New Testament refers to Jesus of Nazareth
• The Greek form is identical in both cases
• The Epistle to the Hebrews (4:8) even uses the name Ἰησοῦς to refer to Joshua, confirming they are treated as the same name in Greek.

So the New Testament name "Jesus" is simply the Greek form of the name "Joshua", as already established in the Greek Old Testament centuries earlier.

Sources

• Swete's Greek Old Testament Septuagint (1930) on Biblehub. GitHub, text file
• Nestle’s Greek New Testament (1904) on BibleHub. GitHub, text file
• LSJ (aka Alice) - Alice, after his daughter. This is a good modern lexicon for Ancient Greek. Hosted by Perseus tufts, you can choose other lexicons as well, but LSJ is a good default to go to.
• Thesaurus Lingua Gracae- it’s got LSJ and several others, paid subscription.
• Find other sources under: Sources Help