Jesus has a “name” that is above every other name (Ephesians 1:21;\u00a0Philippians 2:9) but that “name” is not just an arrangement of letters to spell that word: J-E-S-U-S is not this name. It is much more than a title or designation.<\/p>\n
In Scripture, “name” is often equivalent to “revelation” of what is revealed by or known about someone or something. The “good name” in Proverbs 22:1\u00a0is not that “Mary” is better than “Sue” but that each Mary and Sue have good character. Their reputation is their “name.”<\/p>\n
Thus the “name” of Jesus is what is known about, revealed by Him. The texts above are affirming that what is known about Jesus — what He reveals Himself to be — is far above anything known about or revealed by any other individual.<\/p>\n
An action “in” this name is one that is done in harmony with it. We do things “in the name of” Christ when those actions are based upon and in harmony with what Christ has made known or revealed.<\/p>\n
All men are called upon to\u00a0believe<\/strong>\u00a0in the name of Christ (I John 5:13,\u00a0John 1:12). This is done when men accept all that Jesus claims to be (John 8:24) and all that He has revealed (John 8:31;\u00a0Luke 6:46). Simply believing that Jesus was a good man is not believing on His name for He has revealed many other things about Himself (John 5:18;\u00a08:46,58) that must be accepted also. And, while Jesus said we must love one another (Matthew 5:44;\u00a0John 15:12), there are other things of equal importance that we must do. Such as …<\/p>\n Calling<\/strong>\u00a0upon his name (Acts 2:21;\u00a022:16;\u00a0Romans 10:12-14). This is not an audible pronunciation of a word but an appeal to Him because of what He reveals Himself to be. Paul “appealed” (same Greek word as “call upon”) unto Caesar (Acts 25:11) because he recognized that it was before him that justice would be served. So our appeal is made to Christ: only Jesus reveals Himself to be the one who can effectively deal with our sins. This “appeal” is to His word, which will judge us on the last day (John 12:44-50). In His word, He speaks of …<\/p>\n Baptism<\/strong>\u00a0“in the name” (Matthew 28:19;\u00a0Acts 2:38. The thought is not that the “right words” (whatever they are) need to be said. But that the action is done out of regard for what our Lord had said. One might have “the right words” said over him as someone sprinkled water on his head but this would not make the action “in the name of” Christ for Christ has said nothing about such an action. Likewise, the “right words” spoken as one is immersed for reasons other than the remission of sins is not an “in the name of” action for Christ said nothing about other purposes.<\/p>\n After baptism,\u00a0all that we do\u00a0<\/strong>in word or deed (Colossians 3:16) is to be done “in the name” of Christ: every action and each uttered thought is done out of regard for and based upon who Christ is and what He has said.<\/p>\n “Take the name of Jesus with you … take it then, where’er you go.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Smitherman via Plain Talk, July 1983 Jesus has a “name” that is above every other name (Ephesians 1:21;\u00a0Philippians 2:9) but that “name” is not just an arrangement of letters to spell that word: J-E-S-U-S is not this name. It is much more than a title or designation. In Scripture, “name” is often equivalent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[78,52,49,73,998],"class_list":["post-58277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-baptism","tag-faith","tag-jesus","tag-names"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13320,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-help-me-understand-who-were-the-people-with-similar-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":58277,"position":0},"title":"Can you help me understand who were the people with similar names?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some articles on the net are so confusing and misguiding that a layman finds it hard to understand or come to a conclusion about who is who. Will you please explain and guide me if these following honorable characters are different or the same? {A} John the Apostle, Evangelist,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51478,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/whos-who-of-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":58277,"position":1},"title":"Who’s Who of the New Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 9:1-8 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Reading some parts of the New Testament becomes difficult because several people have the same name. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Keeping them straight is sometimes worse than a logic puzzle \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In our society we use multiple names with a surname as an attempt to distinguish people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46648,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-jesus-birth-be-a-fulfillment-of-isaiah-714-when-he-was-named-jesus-and-not-immanuel\/","url_meta":{"origin":58277,"position":2},"title":"How can Jesus’ birth be a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 when he was named Jesus and not Immanuel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I checked in 31 different Bible versions and they all say the same thing about Matthew 1:21, They all use the word \"Jesus\" which means \"saves.\" Matthew goes on to say that the Old Testament verifies this and quotes in Matthew 1:23 (and in the same 31 different Bible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-baptism-be-done-only-in-jesus-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":58277,"position":3},"title":"Should baptism be done only in Jesus’ name?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 24, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: For many years the churches of Christ have used Matthew 28:19 as a baptism that adds to the church that was built by the word of the Lord that went forth from Jerusalem, a baptism that was not present when Israel was told to repent and be baptized in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-john-the-baptist-associated-with-the-baptist-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":58277,"position":4},"title":"Was John the Baptist associated with the Baptist church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I love your site. It is very helpful and is the truth. Why was John called \"John the Baptist?\" I know there is no other religion mentioned in the Bible. Is this where the Baptist organization get its name? Is John the Baptist the same as John the apostle?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/matthew-and-the-birth-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":58277,"position":5},"title":"Matthew and the Birth of Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Matthew describes the birth of Jesus succinctly and factually: \"Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way\" (Matthew 1:18). This is after he has spent time on the genealogy of Jesus, showing that He is the rightful King descended through the line of David.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}