Bible Question: "Where did Jesus Christ get His last name?"

Bible Answer: In Bible times, people usually only had one name, what we would call their first name. In Jesus' case, His name was given to His earthly father Joseph by an angel, at the same time he was told that Mary's pregnancy was the result of the Holy Spirit, and not unfaithfulness to Joseph, who she was engaged to marry at the time.

Joseph was pondering what to do about Mary's unexpected pregnancy, which had occurred during the one-year betrothal period before they would be married. If he had publicly denounced her as unfaithful, she would have been stoned to death, but he had decided just to quietly end the betrothal, according to Matthew 1:19-21.

"But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.'"

So the angel told Joseph three things, that Mary's pregnancy was from the Holy Spirit, not a man; that she would have a Son; and that he should name the Son Jesus, because this Son would be the Savior.

The name Jesus literally means savior, or one who saves people.

"The word Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek Iesous, which in turn is the transliteration of the Hebrew Jeshua, or Joshua, or again Jehoshua, meaning 'Jehovah is salvation,'" according to www.newadvent.org.

So that settles His first name. What about the second, Christ?

When Jesus was born, perhaps only Mary and Joseph knew He was a virgin birth, and that He was the fulfillment of the promised Messiah from the Old Testament prophecies going way back to Genesis 3:15.

Angels appeared to common shepherds at His birth, Luke 2:10-11 says, telling them of the birth of the long-awaited Messiah as a baby. "Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

The word Christ also has a specific meaning, literally Messiah.

"The word Christ, Christos, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, means 'anointed.' ... Thus the term Christ or Messias was a title rather than a proper name," according to www.newadvent.org.

While He was here on earth, Jesus was usually referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, his home town, which was the usual way of identification.

Matthew 21:10-11 says, "And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, 'Who is this?' And the multitude said, 'This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.'"

Jesus refused to allow His disciples to call Him Jesus Christ during His ministry, perhaps because it would have incited the Jews to stone Him for blasphemy, which they attempted to do on many occasions.

"Then He charged His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ," Matt. 16:20 says.

But after His resurrection, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, they boldly proclaimed Jesus as the Christ.

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ," Peter proclaimed in his very first sermon on that day in Acts 2:36.

So referring to Jesus as Jesus Christ is the same thing as saying He is Jesus the Messiah. Which is how he is referred to throughout the remaining chapters of the New Testament, by Paul and other writers.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)