Should We Call Him Jesus? image

Should We Call Him Jesus?

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What do you call the Son of God when you refer to him? Different church traditions answer that question in different ways: if I know that a church or individual usually refers to him as “Christ” or “the Lord,” I know certain things about them that would not be true if they called him “Jesus,” and vice versa. I have always seen this as a linguistic quirk, a mere matter of preference with no particular significance. But Jen Wilkin, in her (excellent) forthcoming book Ten Words To Live By, argues that there is more to it than that:

It is common in Christian settings to speak of the Son of God by only his given name, Jesus:
“We’re all gathered here today to worship Jesus.”
“Jesus is all I need.”
“Jesus changed my heart.”

But interestingly, this pattern of speech is absent from the New Testament. The New Testament authors use “Jesus” to speak of the historical person, particularly when addressing unbelievers. In Acts, the speeches of Stephen, Paul, and Peter are examples of this. The Gospel writers use the name Jesus by itself to tell the history of the incarnation. But those who interact with him in the Gospel narratives always refer to him as “teacher” or “Lord.” Only once in the Gospels does someone address him simply as “Jesus of Nazareth”—a group of demons, who in the same breath acknowledge his deity (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34).

In all twenty-one of the Epistles, he is referred to only twenty-eight times simply as “Jesus,” but 484 times by the title “Lord” or “Christ.” A staggering 95 percent of the times he is mentioned, he is referred to by a title of respect. But we tend to just call him Jesus. Does our frequent use of his given name indicate a lack of respect? It’s certainly worth asking ourselves.

Don’t miss this: a “formal” title of address is such because it is, in some sense, formative. By addressing others with a formal title, our conception of who they are is being formed a certain way. We think differently about someone we call “Mr. President” than we do about someone we simply call “Andy.” A second-grade teacher who tells her students to “just call me Susan” may find that a desire to be familiar instead of formal results in a lack of respect for her authority. Employing the formal title reinforces awareness of the respect due to its owner.

The New Testament writers take care to grant our Lord and Savior the reverence he is due. We should pay attention to this for the health of our souls. We enjoy friendship and intimacy with Christ, but we do not share equality with him. He is not our peer. Recognizing that he sits even now at the right hand of God the Father means speaking of him and to him with respect, after the pattern of the Scriptures.

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