(Ver 1.0) This lesson is a part of the Bible Basics series. There have been multiple questions asked about some of the basic concepts of Christianity surrounding the origin of the name of Jesus. Today’s questions involve the origin of the English Name of Jesus found in over 90% of the English Translations of the Bible. Therefore, this lesson will not be focused on the theological details of His identity, life, ministry or even for His purpose of visitation on the earth in the flesh. But rather today’s lesson will focus upon the historical reasons why the vast majority of Christians reading and writing English language, have chosen to call the Holy Son of God, by the name “Jesus”. To do this we are going to have to go through a brief history lesson on language translations and some of the basic rules and reasons for the choices made in the treatment of names and how these differ from other word translations.

Here are the two main readers’ questions that will be attempted to be addressed and answered today:

1. How and where did the English name Jesus originate and when was it chosen to be the decided given name of the Son of God?
2. The other question that arises is why does the name Jesus begin with the letter “J” when this alphabet letter never existed until around the times of the invention of the printing press?

The second question might be curious to many. But this is now a modern reason taught to some people why they should not trust the English Bible or believe in the name of Jesus. After reading this lesson fully, it should become obvious that this new ruse is just another trick of Satan to try to discredit the English language, the English Bible, God’s truth and the need for a Savior named Jesus.

Introduction to Languages and Translations

Today, in our present world, it is estimated that there are approximately 195 sovereign nations as of 03/2025. Within these nations are contained the world’s population of approximately 8.2 billion people. This world population speaks over 7000 different languages. However, most of these languages are spoken by less than 10% of the world’s population. This means around 80-90% of the world’s population speak the other 10-20% of the most widely used languages. First, we will list the top 5 world languages in use today:

1. English – Known and Used by 1.5 billion people.
2. Mandrin Chinese – Known and Used by 1.1 billion people.
3. Hindi – Known and used by 610 million people.
4. Spanish – Known and used by 485 million people.
5. French – Known and used by 310 million people.

Now let us pay attention to our subject of the origin of the English name of Jesus. Originally the Holy Bible was primarily written and recorded in 2 primary languages, which are Hebrew and Greek and neither of these languages are heavily used in the world today. The Hebrew language may be known by approximately 10 million people and the Greek language by as many as 13 million people. Therefore, neither of these come close to the 5 most popular known and spoken world languages. This makes the original language study of the Bible very difficult for almost every human especially without smart phones, tablets or computers.

Now for a review of Bible translations. In the English language there are over 200 versions of the Bible. Of these 200+ English versions about 190 have chosen the name of our Lord and Savior to be “Jesus” called the “Christ”. He is also called “Jesus of Nazareth” on occasion as well as other symbolic terms like the “Lamb of God”. These 190 English versions of the Bible are the vast majority of the historical and modern texts, and it is easily determined that these consistently use the name “Jesus” for the “Son of God” for us to read and speak in the English language.

Now for a consideration of other choices within those not of the 190 that use the name Jesus. The name “Yeshua” appears in some Messianic English translations of the Bible, like the “TLV”, “CJB” and “NJV”. The name “Yahshua” or “Yahushua” are found in Sacred Name versions of the Bible. These name variations attempt to preserve the name of Messiah to better connect with the Hebrew roots of the Word of God. However, anything that is good and truthful can be taken to an extreme and thus it becomes legalistic laws of bondage and even unbalanced error and deception. Once any truth of one name is exaggerated to exclude all other language name, it has failed to reflect the love of God found in John 3:16.  To claim that there is only one name and it must be the Hebrew name, no longer reflects the merciful nature of God’s character, who desires and appreciates a personal relationship in every language, even with the English language people. God’s love and desire to save every human is absolutely true for all languages of the world. God died to save the speakers of all 7000+ languages of the world. God is by far more interested in seeking our love for Him, rather than He is to force every human to pronounce His name correctly or incorrectly. Love was and still is God’s motivation for saving us.

Does this make sense? To an eternal God, a 100-year-old human is still like an infant compared to His infinite knowledge and understanding. If my natural son at 1 to 2 years old only called me “Da” instead “Father”, I would love it and respond to him immediately. So, for a Christian to suddenly become legalistic and claim everyone must be perfect in how we pronounce His Hebrew name in order to be saved, this is a trick to exclude a lot of people in the world who don’t speak Hebrew. God still looks at the heart of humans much more than their perfection in linguistics and dialects.

Let’s quickly consider why “perfectionism” is a potential sin. When someone demands their version of the name of God, this could be because of “pride” and how they believe they are right and everyone else is wrong, claiming others are in error and are all going to hell. However, “pride” goes before destruction and the one making the demand to say the name of God one way and not any other way clearly demonstrates their own ignorance of God. It is absolutely impossible for human to pronounce the name of God correctly because, no one is God but God! He is the only one that knows exactly how His name should be said and pronounced in every language of the world. The rest of us are too ignorant to make ourselves equal to God and make these decisions.

Let’s stop and analyze the English word “God”. Is this word in the original Hebrew or Greek texts of the Bible? No, it is not! Therefore, the name “God” is an English translation from the original Hebrew word “Elohiym” and the Greek word “Theos”. Since the English name “God” does not appear in the original text, why should anyone insist that the name “Jesus” doesn’t exist and we can’t call Him by this name either? This makes no logical sense to many of us.

This is also very true for the names “Jehovah” and “Yahweh”. This Hebrew word is often translated as “LORD”. Is either of these Hebrew names “LORD”? Of course not! These are just two pronunciations of the Hebrew word spelled “Yod” + “Hey” + “Vav” + “Hey”. However, there are camps of people in the world who have taken up Holy wars against each other through fighting about which name is correct and which is wrong! How childish is this? Where is your love, patience, kindness, and compassion? If we are fighting to be correct when we have no clear mandate from God to enforce this unknown name’s pronunciation, there are probably many in this fight that are in a state of sinful pride and it is time for us all to grow up spiritually and put away our childish behavior (1 Cor 13:11).

Therefore, of the approximately 200+ English known translations, only a small handful—perhaps 5 to 10—consistently use alternative names like “Yeshua” or “Yahshua” in place of “Jesus.” These are niche translations, often aimed at specific audiences (e.g., Messianic Jews or Hebrew Roots adherents), and these represent less than 5% of the total available English translations. The overwhelming majority of scholars stick with the name of “Jesus” due to its established usage in English-speaking Christian tradition, dating back to the Latin Vulgate and early English Bibles like the Tyndale (1526) and Geneva (1560).

Introduction to the Origin of the English Name of Jesus

We need to address how English Bible translations decided to handle the name of our Messiah, which has traditionally been rendered as “Jesus” in the English New Testament. To accomplish this, we need to know that the Bible’s original languages were Hebrew for the Old Testament (with some Aramaic) and Greek for the New Testament. These two main languages provide the basis for all translations into any other legitimate language translation. No sincere translation of the Bible can or should come from any other source than these original texts.

For example, if someone attempts to take an English Bible translation and further translate it into another language like French, the resulting French translation will only magnify the English translation errors and shortcomings from the original Hebrew and Greek inspired languages. All translations would be moving through a doubled process of meaning transition. This no doubt would increase the level of confusion.

This multi-step translation game would be like having 20 people sitting around in a circle with each knowing two different languages. But none of the participants knowing the exact same two languages as their predecessor. All common languages would be sitting next to each other with each taking from the previous person who had a language in common. The person to the left of the next, would be sharing the story to the person on their right having one common language.  Say the first person would know only Hebrew and Latin and would initiate the telling of a Hebrew story while translating the story on the fly from Hebrew to Latin for the person to their right hand who only spoke Latin and English.

Then that Latin speaking person would translate the original Hebrew story converted to Latin into English for a person who only knew English and French. They in turn would retranslate the original Hebrew story from their native language English into French for the next person to their right whose native language was French and secondary language was Spanish. Now the French speaker would retranslate the original Hebrew story that was already been translated from Latin, into English, and then into French and now into Spanish for the next person in the circle. Can you begin to see the level of confusion that is being introduced from each translation. By the time the story returns back to the original speaker, no doubt it would be unrecognizable.

According to the Bible, God informs us that the original texts written in Hebrew and Greek were the inspired (God breathed) words of God (2 Timothy 3:16). Everything beyond these words may or may not be an anointed rendition of what God originally spoke. Therefore, there is a highly likely chance that some translator mistakes or bias were introduced to the next translation.

Therefore, every translation potentially introduces layers of subtle error. It would be like a Pilot that took off in their plane from New York to cross the Atlantic to reach Paris. If this pilot was only off by 1 degree by the time he crossed the Atlantic this plane would be nowhere close to Paris. This is why while reading the English Translation or other language translation it is extremely wise to study the original Hebrew and Greek Texts to confirm what is written in your language matches as close to possible to what is written in the original languages. It is recommended if you are a serious Bible student that you find “literal” as possible translations to study from. Some that are considered the best are the KJV Bible, the NASB Bible, and the Young’s Literal Version.

However, this is the first major challenge for anyone that does not read, write and speak both Hebrew and Greek. These people are at the mercy of knowledgeable translators that knew and understood two languages enough to believe they were able to say what God said and meant as precisely as they could. While simultaneously not placing any of their personal biases into their work to distort what God wrote originally.

Let’s begin to analyze the original name of Jesus. The Messiah’s name we call Jesus in English was written in th original Hebrew as typically “Yeshua” (ישוע), a shortened form of “Yehoshua” (יהושע), meaning “Yahweh saves” or “salvation”. In the Greek New Testament, this Messianic name has been transliterated as “Iēsous” (Ἰησοῦς), which is then transliterated into English as “Jesus.” The Hebrew concept of Messiah was changed to the English title “Christ”, however this comes from the Greek language “Christos” (Χριστός). None of these resemble the original Hebrew word “Mashiach” (משיח), meaning “anointed one” transliterated as “Messiah”.

However, we can find both three different languages in the New Testament for the original Hebrew word Messiah. For example, notice this verse.

Jhn_1:41  He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

Notice the writer of Matthew presents both the Hebrew word for Messiah and the Greek word for Messiah in the same sentence stating he is making the translation for the reader. This proves the New Testaments written in Greek was written by men that knew both languages and could translate them quickly as they were writing. It also teaches you something very important about how a Hebrew word and the equivalent Greek word can result in two completely different English words. The Greek word was translated into English as “Christ” and the Hebrew word was translated into Greek and then into English as “Messias”.

As you can clearly see there is a growing problem of translation of the Bible’s names, titles, terms, etc. from one language to any other language that is needed to share the Gospel. For example, when an original Hebrew name is moving into a new language it is normally transliterated into this language by the translators who are attempting to preserve the spirit of the original name using new individual letter sounds which are joined together to form a new word of similar pronunciation. Name transitions from one language to another was never done using an attempt to preserve the meaning and definition of each name word. Every Hebrew name is a word that has meaning.

Some Hebrew names are even compounds of two or more other Hebrew words forming a new name and new word meaning. For example, the name “Israel” literally means “He will Rule as God”. The “EL” being the shortened name of God and the other word meaning “He will rule”. However, this is only true for the Hebrew name yiśrâ’êl. The English transliterated name “Israel” has no word definition because it is only a translator’s attempt to approximate the sound of the Hebrew name in English. Let us give you another quick example of the name of “God”:

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

While Jesus was hanging on the cross, He cries out to His Heavenly Father to say in English My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me? But it is written clearly that He spoke this in Hebrew and the closely pronounced words were “Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani?”.

The term “Eli” is the Hebrew word H430 the shortened name of God we just looked at. The added “i” upon the end of “El” is the Hebrew letter “Yod” and which means “my” as a Hebrew suffix. All of these Hebrew words were brought into the Greek language alphabet letters and then finally written in Greek and both of these have been translated into English. Do you see the complexity of how three languages are interacting and how the third language English further adds a new layer of potential complexity to the translator’s efforts?

Therefore, it is essential to know all names were transformed from one language to another using “transliteration” attempting to preserve the name’s sound characteristics and never “translation” attempting to preserve the name’s definition or meanings. Please see how there are several Hebrew names that were taken from the Old Testament, then again into the Greek New Testament and finally into the English KJV translation:

Hebrew	Greek	English	Reference
Yesha’Yah (Isaiah KJV O.T.)	Hesaias Esaias	Esaias	Mat 8:17
Yonah (Jonah KJV O.T.)	Ionas	Jonas	Mat 12:40
Yerimeyah (Jeremiah KJV O.T.)	Hieremias	Jeremias	Mat 16:14
Yehudah (Judah KJV O.T.)	Ioudas	Judas	Mat 1:2

Hopefully, this chart demonstrates how only a few name examples are dramatically changed going through translations. Remember this is just a short list of names that are listed in three languages differently. But it also demonstrates how one Hebrew name appears differently in English after moving through just one language translation, versus the English New Testament enduring two language translations. This is simply because the Hebrew names were translated first into Greek from Hebrew, and then finally from Greek into English.

Another major challenge that occurs in transliteration is that the original ancient Hebrew texts contained no vowels. The other major challenge with the Hebrew language is that it is based upon an alphabet that was comprised of only 22 letter characters. These 22-letter based Hebrew alphabet names were then needed to be moved into all other human languages by changing them into much different alphabets with different numbers of alphabet letters and sometimes very different sounds for each letter.

Do you see the challenge to come up with a perfect name to name transition? English has 26 letters today and Hebrew was only 22. The Russian language has 33 letters. For example, the Russian Orthodoxy uses Иисус (Iisus) consistently in religious texts for the name of Jesus. What we are learning is that the name of Jesus can vary greatly within any of the almost 7000 human languages upon the earth. Does this mean any of them are the wrong name and God will not hear them? Absolutely not! God is not willing that any perish, and He is much more loving and compassionate than people are.

Just for emphasis, let’s continue to review this transliteration challenge. With so many vastly differing numbers of letters in each alphabet and each of these letters containing differing sounds than the language being translated, it should be easy to see there are no perfect translations from language to language. For example, the Hebrew alphabet has certain letters that have no equivalent sounding letters in other languages. Hebrew has some “guttural” sounds that are ignored in most English translated transitions. This makes these original sounds to being converted into “a close as possible” matching transition for new language name spellings. Please note, that the ancient original Hebrew language alphabet has been modernized and now has added vowel markers that have been added to existing new styled letters, yet there are still no actual vowel letters that have been added.

Brief Language History Abraham 2000 BC to Jesus Birth 4 BC to Death 30 AD

We can make the logical assumption that Abraham spoke an older variation of the Hebrew language. Abraham begat a son named Isaac and Isaac begat a son named Jacob who was later renamed to Israel by an angel. Then Jacob begat the 12 sons from 4 women who initiated the 12 tribes of the natural nation of Israel. But for now, we will primarily focus upon Israel’s son named Joseph. Joseph was sold by his jealous brothers into slavery, and they carried him to be a slave in Egypt.

To make a long story short, Joseph had the favor of God upon him and Joseph was blessed to become the 2^nd in command in the nation of Egypt. A famine came upon the region for 7 years. Joseph’s other brothers got hungry and came to Egypt to buy food and Joseph recognized them. Joseph’s father and brothers and their families move to Egypt merging their culture with that of Egypt.

But after time many died off and the new pharaoh did not know Joseph and how he saved them from a certain death by starvation. All the descendants of Jacob which were only approximately 70 in the beginning journey to Egypt had multiplied to millions in 400 years and the people cried out to God for salvation from Egyptian bondage.

Therefore, God raised up a deliverer named Moses to set the people of Israel free. This man Moses also became a part of the house of Pharaoh and had great authority and had even learned their culture and language. What we are witnessing is how one nation can be conquered by being taken into another nation and how suddenly two or more languages can co-exist simultaneously within one nation. This means names certainly had to be clearly identifiable in both languages to the same person to be accurately understood by the hearer for them to know who was being spoken of. Moses with God’s help and guidance eventually got the children of Israel free from Pharaoh but then they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before entering into the promised land.

In the next 1500 years from Moses to Jesus, the natural nation of Israel was carried away by other nations into more captivity. Two of the largest nations that had a major influence upon the nation of Israel were the conquering Babylonian kingdom, and the Medo-Persian Kingdoms. Both brought their culture and language into co-existence with the Hebrew people of Israel and their Hebrew language. Please understand that the languages did not merge, but rather the people just spoke two or more languages. The Hebrew language was mostly separated for religious observance and the other nation’s language was utilized for government and commerce activity. Now let us move closer to the time of Jesus.

It was approximately 323 BC when the ruler Alexandar the Great from Greece finished his world conquests. As a result of these conquests the Greek culture influence came upon every conquered nation with many of them being almost fully assimilated into the Greek language, cultural and religious ways. However, the leaders of Israel always maintained their original text laws, psalms and prophets in Hebrew. However, the Greek language became a major world dominated language much like English is today. If you wanted to do business, you better learn to speak Greek.

However, the Greek influence to the Hebrew speaking people did have an effect. Around 250-200 BC, the original Hebrew Torah was translated into Greek as the “Septuagint”. This appears to be the first translation of the original Hebrew inspired texts. This certainly displays the influence of the Greek language upon the entire world. It is very possible that even some Jewish Synagogues read from this Greek translation. However, the Hebrew was still the major documented language for strictest practicing Jews, like the Pharisees. We know this because after Jesus was resurrected, He spoke to the Pharisee Saul on the road to Damascus in Hebrew and Saul understood and spoke back to him. We also know Saul became the Apostle Paul and he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament in Greek. Therefore, Paul knew at least 2 languages fluently.

Now let us get to the life of Jesus. At his birth, there were many local languages found in the Mediterranean regions of southern Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa around the time of Jesus’ life on the earth. Most will already know that the English language did not exist at the time of Jesus’ Walk on earth. However, as mentioned before prior to Jesus the Mediterranean region was swiftly conquered by the Greek army led by Alexander the Great. From this vast conquest, the Greek language became the dominant culture and language for both conversation and business, much like English is today in the modern world.

But then came a new kingdom that was different than them all. This system of government originated from Rome, Italy. And with the rise of the Roman named Augustus, he spread the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean regions. Rome became the dominant government system in the world beginning at approximately 27 BC. Which was approximately 23 years before the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem.

The Roman Government and Military spoke predominantly “Latin” to conduct their business. Therefore, in the Mediterranean region there were usually at least three languages spoken simultaneously. These were known and spoken by many groups of people. For example, around the Jewish region of Jerusalem the natural language was of course Hebrew or Aramaic which are very similar.

But financial business and even some religious activity around Jerusalem was conducted in the Greek language which we know came from the previous occupation of the armies of Alexandar the Great. But while Jesus was alive during the Roman Empire occupation of Jerusalem, it was useful to also learn, know and speak “Latin”. This means at minimum it was not unusual for people in Jerusalem to know and speak at least 3 languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

This is why both Luke and John write in the New Testament Gospels that the sign placed above the head of Jesus while hanging on the cross, said, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS”. And it was ordered by the Roman ruler Pilate to be written in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages. Can you imagine how the name of Jesus was written in 3 different languages on one sign? This proves the original name of Jesus was being translated into multiple languages about 2000 years ago. These three alphabets are so dissimilar, yet the same name of Jesus was written in all three languages on one sign, according to John 19:19-20.

Yes, we are beginning to learn how languages affect the communication of massive numbers of people in the world. Since the universal language of business was performed in Greek during the days of Jesus, the name Jesus had to be written in it. Even the language of the New Testament was chosen to be written in the Greek language. This was done because the Jewish people of Israel largely rejected the Gospel and Jesus as their Messiah and much of the remaining world spoke Greek, it makes sense to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel and other scriptural writings done in Greek.

When the Apostle Paul and many of the other disciples went out into all the world to preach the Gospel, most of the world still spoke Greek. Therefore, the New Testament was written in Greek, being designed to reach the most gentile people in the world. These are amazing things to think about. This means each writer of the New Testament needed to speak Hebrew and Greek simultaneously. Although there was a Greek translation produced called the Septuagint. This version was read in many Jewish synagogues. However, around the region of Judea the Hebrew text was predominately found.

There is a very interesting parallel happening today to the time when Jesus was beginning the early church. Just as Alexander the Great conquered much of the world to bring a common language to the business of world trade, so also this same pattern occurs in the rise of the British empire. One common saying about the British empire, was that the sun never sets on them. This was because they took the English language to every inhabited continent. Just as Alexandar the Great, conquered much of the world, the British also spread their culture, influence and common language throughout the world approximately 400 years ago. At the height of the British influence, they controlled almost ¼ of the world’s land. Therefore, God seems to have taken advantage of another common language used primarily for world trade and business, to again use it to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for an end-time great harvest of souls. If you are not aware, the USA exports the most Christian media and materials to the rest of the world.

Now for the final subject of this part of the lesson. The English language and the alphabet are derived primarily from Rome’s old Latin language. However, we know that there are also other word influences from other languages. This means some of the primary roots of the English were encoded on the “sign” that was hung above the head of Jesus on the cross. This indicates God had already designed the future word for Jesus’ name to be included at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The Hebrew Name of Jesus Transitions into English

We have briefly touched upon this in the previous section of the lesson. Therefore, we already know the original name of “Jesus” is from the Hebrew Old Testament and can be seen in our English Bible as the name “Joshua”. If we tried to pronounce it from the original Hebrew it would come close to sounding like “yehôshûa‛”. As you can clearly see that has no “J” sound. A closer sound might be the used as the letter “Y” as it is listed.

In the modern English Bible translations these two names “Jesus” in the New Testament and “Joshua” in the Old Testament are identical in the original Hebrew. But the names have been sounded differently because of the technique called “Transliteration” that we have already been introduced. Transliteration ignores the name’s original Hebrew meanings. It rather focuses upon the sounds of the letters within the name and the combined arranged sounds of the letters joined together. Here is another important language fact. The original ancient Hebrew language had no vowels. Today English has the vowels “AEIOU” and sometimes “Y”. But the omission of vowels causes significant challenges to gaining true pronunciation

The other significant challenge occurs because the Hebrew language only has 22 alphabet letters, and the English alphabet has 26 letters. Therefore, perfect transliteration of sounds is nearly impossible. However, it is amazing to see that many English alphabet letters have similar designs to the ancient Hebrew letters. For example, the designs of the English letters “A”, “J”, “L”, “M”, “O”, “T”, “Y” are very close to ancient Hebrew pictograph letters.

The Greek alphabet transliteration of names from Hebrew has had very similar challenges as the Hebrew to English transliteration. We previously learned that the Hebrew name of Jesus was transliterated into Greek as “Iēsous” (Ἰησοῦς). As you will notice the original Hebrew “Y” (Yod) was changed to the Greek letter “I” (Iota). This was the choice of translators who knew both languages.

Now notice that the English name Jesus in the original Hebrew was transliterated as “Joshua” in the Old Testament from the original Hebrew text. However, the name Joshua never appears in the New Testament anywhere in the KJV Bible. This is true even though he is mentioned at least twice in the New Testament as “Jesus” instead of “Joshua”. Why is this? This is because all of the names of Joshua in the Old Testament were transliterated into Greek “Iēsous” (Ἰησοῦς) and from this name it was further transliterated into the English named “Jesus”. This further proves that the name Jesus and Joshua were identical names. If both names were transliterated from the original Hebrew they would have been named “Joshua’. This makes it a little difficult to determine who the Bible is speaking of in every verse. This is why many times the name “Jesus of Nazareth” is mentioned as the name of our Savior in the New Testament.

As you can see our transliteration process of moving between two languages confirms our problem of translating from Hebrew to Latin, to English to Spanish that we were using as an example earlier in the lesson. The more translations a language is taken through, the more corrupted it becomes from the original writings. Names would completely change. However, the positive with the name Jesus being different in the New Testament than Joshua in the Old Testament causes verses to be more rapidly identifiable to whom it is referring to. For example, let us look at some verse examples where there appears potential confustion:

Zec 3:1  And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

This is an Old Testament Hebrew verse about someone named Joshua. This name was transliterated from Hebrew, and it appears from this name it could be the Joshua from the book of Joshua who led the children of Israel into the promised land. However, it is impossible for this name to be associated into the contextual description. This verse can only be referring to the New Covenant High Priest named Jesus in the New Testament. It is the only fitting explanation that aligns scripturally. Then;

Act 7:45  Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 

This verse can only be speaking of Joshua who led the children of Israel into the promised land, yet it was translated as Jesus because of the establish rules of transliteration. Yes, these are documented mistakes even in the KJV Bible of shortcomings produced by using transliteration. Yet even these errors do not phase God. English speaking Christians could call Jesus any of these names, Joshua, Jesus, Iēsous, Yehoshua, etc. and God is smart enough to know you are talking to Him. Thank God for His Love and Mercy.

Understanding the History of Adding the Letter “J” to English

The letter “J” was not part of the original English alphabet, which was derived from the 21-letter original Latin alphabet. The letter J was added to both the English and the Latin alphabets later along with U and W. The letter “J” introduction came relatively late in the history of the English language, and its development was a gradual process.

When Was “J” Added?

The letter “J” began to emerge as a distinct character in the English alphabet around the Middle Ages, with its use becoming more standardized in the 16th and 17th centuries. Here’s a brief timeline:

• Roman Times (Pre-5th Century): The Latin alphabet, from which English evolved, originally had no “J.” The letter “I” served dual purposes, representing both the vowel sound /i/ (as in “bit”) and the consonant sound /j/ (as in “yes”). For example, in Roman inscriptions, “Julius” was written as “IVLIVS.”
• Middle Ages (5th–15th Centuries): As Latin evolved into various Romance languages (like French, Italian, and Spanish), scribes began to distinguish between the vowel “I” and the consonant “J” sound. They sometimes elongated the tail of the “I” into a hooked shape when it appeared at the beginning of a word or represented the /j/ sound, especially in medieval manuscripts. This was more of a stylistic variation than a formal letter at first.
• Renaissance and Printing Press (15th–16th Centuries): The distinction became more pronounced with the advent of the printing press in the mid-15th century. By the 1500s, typographers and scholars, particularly in France and Italy, began treating “J” as a separate letter from “I.” For instance, the Italian grammarian Gian Giorgio Trissino is credited with formally distinguishing “I” and “J” in 1524, though this was for Italian rather than English.
• English Adoption (17th Century): In English, the use of “J” became widespread only in the 1600s. Early English texts, including some editions of the King James Bible (1611), still used “I” in place of “J” (e.g., “Iesus” for “Jesus”). By the mid-17th century, however, “J” was fully established as a distinct letter in the English alphabet, thanks to the influence of printing standards and the need for clarity in spelling.

Why Was “J” Added?

The addition of “J” to the English alphabet was driven by both phonetic clarity and linguistic transition:

1. Phonetic Distinction: The sound /j/ (a voiced palatal approximant, as in “yes” or “judge”) needed a unique symbol to differentiate it from the vowel /i/. In Old English and Middle English, the “I” was overburdened with multiple roles, which caused confusion in reading and writing, especially as pronunciation shifted.
2. Influence of Other Languages: English borrowed heavily from Norman French after the Norman Conquest (1066), and French already used “J” (derived from Latin “I”) for the /ʒ/ sound (as in “measure”) or /dʒ/ (as in “judge”). As English adopted words like “joy,” “justice,” and “judge” from French, the letter “J” became a natural fit for these sounds.
3. Standardization in Writing and Printing: The rise of the printing press in Europe demanded consistency in typography. Printers adopted “J” to align with continental conventions and to make texts more legible and standardized across languages.

Fun Fact

Even after “J” was introduced, it was often the last letter added to alphabet lists. Early English alphabets ran from A to Z without “J,” “U,” or “W” being fully distinct (as “U” and “V” were also conflated in Latin). By the 17th century, the modern 26-letter English alphabet, including “J,” was solidified.

Conclusion

Yes, “J” was added to the English alphabet around the 16th–17th centuries, transitioning it from the original letter “I” which had at least two distinct sounds to meet the needs of word pronunciation. The English letter “J” borrowed from development of other languages, and the push for standardized writing. It’s a relatively young letter in the grand scheme of alphabetic history! But this does not make it an invalid letter. Nor does its usage disqualify any name derived from its usage. If you are at peace in your heart to call Jesus by this name, as I, use it and call Him Jesus. I have found repeatedly He hears, answers and responds every time I use His name in prayer to the Father.

As a further confirmation of the name of Jesus recognition within the spiritual realm, I have found casting out devils and binding spirits when using the name of Jesus has as much power as when the name of Jesus was used by Peter in Acts 3 with the lame man at the temple gate. Spirits are not stupid either. They recognize the “Power of the name of Jesus”. Check out these verses:

Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 

Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Do you see why Satan wants to place doubts in your mind to whether the name of Jesus is legit or not? We are in a spiritual battle with spiritual enemies that try to deceive all humans into believing a lie. Because I speak English and I call Him Jesus, these spirits want me to doubt and question, am I right, and is this name really working? I guarantee it is working for me, because I can read my Bible and choose to believe it is His name for English speakers. Guess what you should know! God and Satan both know English. But it is not just knowing that His name is Jesus in English that causes its power to work. There is another factor called “Faith” which means we must believe and not doubt. Check this verse out:

Act 3:16  And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

We are not sure whether Peter used the Hebrew, Greek or Latin name of Jesus when healing this lame man. But it really does not matter. All we know is the Bible is written in Greek so we can logically conclude that he used the Greek name, but he could be speaking Hebrew standing in front of a Jewish synagogue. What we can learn from this is that either way the name of Jesus worked because he had faith in the name that he chose to speak.

If you do not yet understand or have doubts, it is time to pray and seek God. Your future does depend upon your choices. If you believe Jesus is not God manifested in flesh to die for your sins, and you only know the English language, who then can you trust in to be saved? This is the same Bible that saved me and literally millions of other humans on the earth, including my mother, my father, and many other relatives. This is the same name taught in over 1.6 million English-speaking churches on the planet.

Remember there are at least 2.5 to 2.6 billion Christian believers in the world today. The majority of these people use the English language because of British and United States English speaking missionaries. It is ridiculous to believe we are all wrong with our choice of teaching in the name of Jesus, believing in the name of Jesus, praying to the Father in the name of Jesus, and casting out devils using the name of Jesus. Critics have come too late for me. I am already convinced 1000% and nothing anyone else can say will ever change my “Faith” in His Name.

Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

These are two verses that promise us, if we call on the name of the Lord, we will be saved. Who is your “Lord”? If you are only an English speaker and you do not believe it is Jesus you might be in trouble. How do I know Jesus is LORD? There are many verses that reveal this but here is one of the best:

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

This verse leaves no doubt that Jesus is Lord and we must confess Jesus to be our personal Lord in order to receive “salvation” and “be saved”.

Now if you are not a native English speaker and know English as a minor second language, then get a Bible in your native language. Find out His name in that language and call on Him and He will save you, if you believe in your heart and do not doubt. Like was said earlier, God is omniscient meaning “All Knowing”. He can speak every known and unknown human language.

Thank you for taking the time to read and share the Word of God with the world. The time is becoming shorter with every passing day to the time Jesus will return to the earth. If we are not ready to meet Him when He comes to take us up, then it will be too late to get ready. Now is the time of salvation, this is your opportunity to receive Him by faith into your heart. Jesus loves you so very much. Please do not delay and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.