Jesus vs Zeus – is there a connection?
A story is often repeated, that the name Jesus is in fact blasphemous because it originates with the mythical god “Zeus.” However, I have never heard this said by anyone who actually knows Greek. Is there any link? Let’s see…
The sounds involved in both names are different. “Iesous” contains a sharp “S” sound—“Sooce.” “Zeus” begins with a clear “DZ” combination sound.
These two may seem to have some similarity to English-speakers, because of our pronunciation of the letters S and Z. But the Greeks would not have seen such similarity.
The Greek letter Z had some relation to their letter D (delta), due to similar sound. A layman’s look at the Strong’s concordance yields that understanding. Zondervan’s Strongest Strong’s even cross-references Διός, or “Dios,” to Ζεύς, or “Zeus.”
It should be further noted that “Iesous” comes from the Hebrew “Joshua.” (Evidence for this can be seen in Hebrews 4:8, mgn, where the Greek “Iesous” is used in reference to Joshua.) Thus its parent word actually uses a “sh” sound. The Greek language does not have a “sh” sound, and so the somewhat different sound “s” was used.
In fact, the Septuagint, which was a translation of the Scriptures from Hebrew to Greek produced centuries before Christ, renders the Old Testament “Joshua” in Hebrew as “Iesous” (Ἰησοῦς). The fact that this was many, many years before Jesus’ birth, demonstrates clearly that by the time He was born into the world, when people would have referred to Him in the Greek language He would have been called “Iesous.”
The Greeks who came to Phillip in Jerusalem and wanted to see his Master, would have spoken that word “Iesous” in Greek, when they said, “Sir, we would see Jesus” (John 12:21).
The fact that the English word we speak today is “Jesus” should not be of any more concern than the fact that we say “James” when in fact both the Greek and Hebrew is essentially “Jacob.” That is how names get altered somewhat when moving between languages.
This understanding should satisfy us that the name of the Messiah, as we have it expressed in the Greek language, has no connection with the mystical god of the Greeks and Romans.
“9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11.
I have to correct you. I do not disagree that Jesus doesnt mean Zues or hail zues but that is not the correct transliteration and Jesus or Iesous will never transliterate back to the meaning of the Name. Which is YHWH Saves or is Salvation. It never will because the correct Greek transliteration is in fact Ιεσουα Χριστός (Yesoua Christos)….its not Jesus and the Koine Greek speakers would have said it as I have presented it to you. If Iesous was correct from Greek to English it would transliterate as Joshua but it doesn’t and never will. Only in the Strongs ( which was written with a clear agenda and bias) does it and no other place in real transcriptions.
Hi Travis, thank you for reaching out here.
You have recognized that the main point of the post was to counter the idea that using the name “Jesus” equates to calling on “Zeus.” I also appreciate the point you are making, that if you went directly from Hebrew to English, or even to Greek for that matter, you may get a different spelling of the name.
I’m not an expert on ancient languages, but I looked a just little more into this and found that the name seems to have come into Greek via Aramaic, which was the language spoken by the people of Palestine in the days of Jesus. This could account for the slight differences.
Taking a quick look at the works of Josephus, I note that in his Antiquities he uses Ἰησοῦς (eeˈsus) in book 3 to refer to Joshua, and in book 18 to refer to Jesus.
So this is really just a matter of what happened. We can say it shouldn’t be this way, but the fact is that the name “Joshua” of the Old Testament is the same as the “Jesus” of the new – that’s how it came to us through the ages.
Apologies the correct name of Yeshua Messiah spoken at the time in the Koine Greek which was spoken then would be αβέ σωτηρία (Iabe sōtēria) Sounded in English as (Ya-veh so-tay-ree-a)