I have been thinking quite a bit lately on how we address the Lord and then my thoughts go down this path of why do we address him as Jesus versus his actual name as he would have been called by his parents, friends, family, disciples etc. Then I get to thinking, why did the name change to begin with? There are numerous scripture readings about the importance of His name and yet at some point in history, in the 300's as I research back, the name was changed/translated to Jesus from what it was. So I wonder why the change and did this change lose something for all of us who address him. Curious as to other's thoughts on this. Does anyone address Him by his real name? Once in awhile in the rosary, I address Him by his actual name as well as His Mother by hers. The oldest translation from the Latin Vulgate even has his name as Jesu versus Yeshua in Hebrew or Y'Shua in Aramaic. Philipians 2:10 That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur caelestium, terrestrium et infernorum, 11 And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. et omnis lingua confiteatur, quia Dominus Jesus Christus in gloria est Dei Patris.
I'm no authority on this, but I think that with God, names are equivalent with their meaning...not the particular translation or spelling. So as long as Jesus means the same as Y'Shua or whatever His actual original name was, and we are in our intention addressing the same Person, it's the same name. I think names assigned by God transcend all human language. I don't know why the translations changed spelling and such. Maybe someone else here knows.
PF, When monks were copying scriptural manuscripts centuries ago, the language of choice was obviously Latin. The Savior's name was spelled Iesus, while the Hebrew was Yeshua.. Since other words in Latin would often begin with "I", a habit of adding a little loop to the first letter of the Savior's name crept in so as to readily find references to the Lord when searching the manuscripts. Thus was born the letter, "J" which eventually became the norm. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner!
As far as I'm concerned, this discussion avoids the issue of the second Commandment and Philippians 20:10 The Jews would not use God's name, abbreviating it to YHWH [ultimately referring to "I AM", His eternal existence]. Yes, the Second Commandment refers to perjury more than use of the name 'Jesus' but clearly the Jews also took it literally. Philippians is clesr on the mind of St Paul. My daughter changed her name - she's still the same person. She does not like us using her previous name. What does God like? Our name is our most important identifier. It is beyond question that we Catholics take the name of God as Jesus and consder the use of His name as an expletive as Sacrilege. I have no doubt people who use that name in this way (not Jehovah or Yahweh or even Allah) will answer for it in eternity. It's misuse in almost all movies is clearly part of satan's attempt to destroy Christianity. As some may recall from other comments I posted, once Catholics would bow or nod their heads in respect at speaking the name "Jesus". Today it is mostly spoken glibly with less implied honour than "Sir" in speaking to a customer. Our use of His name, Jesus, should be a witness to non-christians, even protestants. Yes, in the Middle East it is used as a 'first name', but they do not acknowledge Jesus as God. In Europe and English speaking countries 'Jesus' is the Christian God. We sing "Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Saviour, glorious lord..." "Jesus, my Lord, my God and me All..."
