The Apostle John says that if one was to attempt to write down everything Jesus said and did, “that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25). Jesus, as a member of the Trinity, was active long before He came to earth in the form of man. As the eternal Son, Jesus was the force behind creation (John 1:3, Col 1:16) and is actively holding creation together (Col 1:17). Prior to the earthly life of God the Son, the majority of conservative biblical scholars believe that He appeared as the Angel of Yahweh, who was seen a number of times in the Old Testament (Gen 16, 22; Num 22; Judg 2, 6, 13; 1 Kgs 19; etc). At the incarnation, the Son actually took upon Himself a human nature (Phil 2:5-8; Gal 4:4). The divine person joined with the human nature, creating one person in two natures. He is called “the Word,” the “Son of Man,” and the “Son of God” in the Gospels. He was born to the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth, was baptized by John the Baptist, and ministered to all of Israel. While on earth, Jesus’ ministry consisted of preaching the Kingdom of God, calling people to faith, healing, forgiving sins, creating disciples and preaching about the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 11:5; Mark 3:13-19; Matt 4:7). Through His death and resurrection He gave humans full access to God and became a surety of God’s best (Rom 10:9; Heb 4:16, 7:22; Eph 1:5). Since His resurrection, He has been building a room in the Father’s house for each believer, where they will join Him as His Bride (John 14:2-3; Eph 5:23-27) at the rapture. Jesus is our advocate and defender before the Father God (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1). He will come again for His own (John 14:3), and again as the commander of the armies of the Lord who will defeat Satan and his minions, and inaugurate the eternal Kingdom of God.

The name “Jesus” finds its origin in the Hebrew word יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua), a later form of the word יְהֹושׁוּעַ (Yehoshua), “Joshua”—Jesus and Joshua share the same name in the Greek NT (cf. Luke 3:29; Acts 7:45; Heb 4:8). The English word “Jesus” comes from the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua. The Hebrew meaning of the name is “Yahweh is salvation,” most appropriate for Jesus. Matthew 1:21 shows that God makes a deliberate connection between the naming of Jesus and His role as Savior. Jesus is Savior. This name was common among Jews, apparently naming their sons after Joshua. The connection of Jesus and Joshua by name in the Bible is not coincidental either, as Joshua in his role in the conquest of the Promised Land serves as a type, or foreshadowing of Jesus and His role in providing believers salvation and access to heaven.

The Hebrew word Yeshua is transliterated as Iesous in Greek and Jesus in English, as the chart reveals.

Searchable chart: Transliteration of the Name Jesus into English

This is the word from which we get our English word “logic,” but to read that meaning from English back into the first century use of this Greek word would be anachronistic and inappropriate. This word, λόγος (logos), is used over three hundred times in the NT. In one category of uses, it refers to 1) an expression of the mind, 2) a statement or discussion, 3) a “word,” or a matter or thing under discussion and 4) extending of the previous meaning, simply a “thing.” In another category, it is used for a “mathematical computation,” “reckoning” or “settlement of an account.” Finally, it is used for the second person of the Trinity as the “expression” or “revelation” of God. Jesus is by choice and destiny Savior; He is by nature the revelation of God. In the progress of revelation from Job and Genesis forward, the “Word,” the incarnate Jesus, is the best and most complete revelation of God to date. The next progression or improvement in revelation will be at the revelation of Jesus Christ when He comes again. In John 1, the apostle does not specifically identify that the subject of his writing is Jesus until 1:17. John refers to his subject at first only as the word, then creator, then light, then the one who came, then the word become flesh, then finally as Jesus Christ. Most foundationally, the “Word” is the second person of the Trinity. He is the express revelation of God in the most personal and intimate way, since He reveals God, while being God. John’s grammar in 1:1 asserts first the eternality of the Word (at the beginning [of time and creation], the Word already was), secondly the interrelatedness of the first and second persons of the Trinity (the Word was in a face-to-face relationship with God) and thirdly the divinity of the “Word” (and the Word was divine). The Word is Jesus, the personal expression of divinity, God’s best revelation yet.

The prophet Isaiah, when speaking to King Ahaz of Yahweh's deliverance for Judah, prophesied that a future virgin would give birth to a son, and that this son's name was Immanuel, God is with us. The apostle Matthew, when seeking to identify Jesus as the fulfillment of that Isaianic prophecy quotes that text regarding the virgin Mary's boy Jesus, that he would save His people from their sins. When Isaiah told Ahaz that the king could ask God for a sign of his deliverance from the kings Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel, no matter how magnificent the request. After Ahaz refused to do so, Isaiah spoke of a future deliverance as well that would be given by God of His ultimate deliverance, that of Immanuel being with His people.

Christ is one of the most familiar names for Jesus and these two names occur together in the NT almost 500 times. It is the Greek word transliterated from the Hebrew משיח, (mashiach, Messiah in English) and means anointed one, king or messiah. Biblical scholars generally acknowledge that Christ, or Messiah, is not a name per se in the New Testament but the title for Jesus—Jesus the Messiah. He is the promised Messiah of God, the offered King of Israel and, ultimately, the king over all of God’s kingdom. This term harkens back to the anointed kings of Israel, who were all types, foreshadowing Jesus as the Christ, the high king of Israel and the supreme ruler of the universe, who currently sits at the right hand of the Father. As Lord over the church, Jesus is our King (Rom 5:21), the promised Messiah who reigns over the church in the “times of the Gentiles” and over the whole earth, when He reigns as David's Son.