“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare’s Juliet declares her indifference to the rival family name of her lover, Romeo. Her love for him transcends this label regardless of its social significance. Still, peoples’ names have historically carried associative weight socially, aesthetically and intrinsically.
In many cultures, descendants who carried the bloodline were due some title, honor or notoriety simply for being born into that family – this, long before the attachment of surnames. This is still at least partially true as you consider, say, the British Royal family, or what one might assume meeting a Kennedy from Massachusetts. Whether proved by scrutiny for a famous name or accolades for success from humble beginnings, knowing “whence we come” matters.
We are all born individuals, but we also carry something forward by blood/genetics of our parents and by the sort of nurture and experience with (and of) those who raised us, and those with whom we were raised. Our biological/experiential history affects who we are and our names become the descriptor of that person. “Make a name for yourself” and “identity theft” are contrasting idioms confirming the significance of the name/identity relationship.
If history and heredity matter, then there is one such historical person whose pedigree is unmatched. His name is Jesus. Matthew and Luke trace his genealogy back to Abraham and Adam respectively. This has everything to do with prophecies about Him and the covenants God had made in history with each, directly affecting the meaning of the gospel as a solution to the “problem” caused by Adam and the promises made to Abraham.
Similarly, the biblical Jesus conveyed his eternal relationship with God as a Son to a Father; in the minds of his hearers making him “equal with God” (John 5:18; He was/is subordinate in role only, equal in essence). His supernatural conception (“born of a virgin”) was the first of many miracles that confirmed his heavenly family tree. His own miracles, like those of God in the Old Testament, were “evidence” (John 14:11) and were done “so that you will know” (Exodus 8:22) the authority of the one performing the sign or wonder.
“…At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:10-11) Just as God had gone to great lengths in the Hebrew Scriptures to make clear how his name carried the weight of his character, now this Jesus is exalted by the Father as “the name that is above every name.” (2:9)
Many religionists insist in their “many roads to God” ideology that “we all worship the same God.” All “Christians” don’t even worship the same Jesus! That’s why “Christian” might be a good sociological category, but it’s useless in terms of understanding who is really believing on and trusting in the person and work of the historical, biblical Jesus Christ.
If I told you I knew Oprah Winfrey, you might be impressed until I said, “he’s a skinny white guy.” He may be AN Oprah, but not THE Oprah. Similarly, LDS (Mormon), Jehovah’s Witnesses, many cults, and even many established churches have so dismantled, added to or cherry-picked God’s Word that their “Jesus” bears only slight resemblance to the Christ of the Bible.
By necessity, if the Bible is true, these “based on a true story” doppelgängers are fictional characters unworthy of devotion. What a shame that the moniker Christian is almost meaningless, and when someone says “I believe in Jesus,” you have to ask, “Which one?”
Steve Post is a Tallahassee resident, armchair theologian, and past local ministry lay leader. Contact him at sepost7678@gmail.com.
