The Sacred Name Movement: Why “Yeshua Only” Misses the Point

The Sacred Name Movement: Why “Yeshua Only” Misses the Point

“…let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12, NASB)

The Sacred Name movement insists that Christians must call Jesus by His Hebrew name Yeshua (sometimes expanded into contrived forms like Yahshua). Advocates often claim that using “Jesus” is pagan, inauthentic, or invalid. While it may sound spiritual, this teaching is not only misguided—it is a distortion of Scripture and history.

1. What the “Sacred Name” Movement Teaches

Sacred Name adherents argue:

• God must be called by His “true” name (YHWH, rendered Yahweh).

• Jesus must be referred to as Yeshua (or one of their preferred spellings).

• Using “Jesus” is invalid or even blasphemous, since it comes through Greek/Latin/English transmission.

This approach turns the Gospel into a linguistic code—where salvation depends on phonetics rather than faith.

2. The Apostles Never Wrote “Yeshua”

The New Testament was written in Greek, not Hebrew. Every time the Apostles referred to Jesus, they used the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), which was the common and natural rendering of the Hebrew/Aramaic name Yeshua.

• Matthew 1:21: “She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus [Ἰησοῦς], for He will save His people from their sins.” (NASB)

  
  

• The angel Gabriel himself, speaking in the Gospel written in Greek, gave the name as Iēsous, not as Hebrew characters.

If the Apostles themselves did not feel compelled to preserve Hebrew spellings, neither should we.

Editor’s Note: Some Sacred Name teachers try to sidestep the Greek New Testament by claiming the Peshitta (Aramaic NT) is the original. But the historical evidence shows the Apostles wrote in Greek, not Aramaic. For a deeper dive into why the New Testament is Greek from the ground up, see our upcoming article: “Greek vs. Peshitta: Why the Apostles Wrote in Greek.”

3. The Name “Jesus” Is Not Pagan

Sacred Name teachers sometimes claim that “Jesus” is derived from Zeus. This is historically and linguistically false.

• Yeshua → Greek Iēsous → Latin Iesus → Old English Iesus/Jesu → Modern English Jesus.

  
  

• At every step, the name was simply transliterated into the receiving language.

  
  

• At no point was it linked to pagan gods.

The inspired writers of Scripture themselves transliterated Hebrew names into Greek equivalents all the time (Joshua → Iēsous in Hebrews 4:8).

4. Multiple “Yeshuas” in the Old Testament

Sacred Name groups act as if “Yeshua” is uniquely divine. But the Hebrew Bible contains several men named Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), a shortened form of Yehoshua (Joshua).

• Nehemiah 7:7 – A leader returning from exile is named Yeshua.

  
  

• Ezra 3:2 – Jeshua son of Jozadak is the high priest who helps rebuild the altar.

  
  

• 1 Chronicles 24:11 – Another priest named Jeshua.

Clearly, Yeshua was a common Hebrew name, not a mystical code word. What makes the name of Jesus powerful is who He is and what He did—not the syllables themselves.

5. The Power Is in the Person, Not the Pronunciation

The Bible consistently testifies that it is faith in the person of Christ, not the mechanics of His name, that saves:

• Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

• Philippians 2:10–11 – “So that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow… and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Paul wrote these verses in Greek, with the name Iēsous, and God inspired it as His Word. The power is in the Lord Himself, not in pronouncing syllables from one ancient language.

6. The Folly of Cultish Sacred Name Practices

Sacred Name movements often descend into cultish behavior:

• Claiming that Christians who say “Jesus” are unsaved.

  
  

• Adding burdensome rules about speech and worship.

  
  

• Dividing the church over linguistics rather than uniting in Christ.

This directly contradicts the Gospel of grace.

Paul warns against such quarrels in 1 Timothy 6:4–5:“He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for disputes about words, from which come envy, strife, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction.”

7. The True “Sacred Name” of Salvation

God has already revealed the “sacred name” of salvation:

• Acts 4:12 – “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”

  
  

• That name, in the inspired text, is Iēsous—the Greek New Testament name for Jesus.

The apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit, preached “Jesus Christ” to the nations in their own languages. The idea that we must go backward to Hebrew forms contradicts the missionary nature of the Gospel.

Conclusion

The Sacred Name movement is well-meaning but misguided. It mistakes letters for lordship. It forgets that salvation is not about a mystical password but about a crucified and risen Savior.

The Apostles never demanded that Gentiles learn Hebrew names. They preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified in the lingua franca of the day: Greek. Today, the Gospel goes out in every tongue under heaven—and Jesus is Lord in all of them.

To insist otherwise is to put shackles on the very freedom Christ died to give us.

“For freedom Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1, NASB)