THE BEST OF NAMES

THE BEST OF ALL NAMES

Names are curious things.

A girl called Joy may grow up solemn. A man called Lucky may seem remarkably unfortunate. Someone named Hope may go through seasons of despair. Clearly, a beautiful name is no guarantee of a beautiful life.

Perhaps we sometimes ask too much of names.

A name may express an aspiration, but it cannot manufacture character. It may tell us something about the hopes of those who gave it, but the bearer must eventually decide what that name will come to represent.

The Bible itself shows how seriously names could be taken. When Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were taken into Babylon, they were given new names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The change was part of a much larger attempt to absorb them into Babylonian culture. Yet something remarkable happened: their names changed, but their convictions did not. They continued to worship the God of Israel.

That suggests something important. A name can be given to you, changed for you or even imposed upon you, but ultimately the life you live determines what people come to associate with it.

History is full of names whose significance now comes largely from the people who carried them. Some names inspire admiration because of the lives attached to them; others have become so associated with evil that very few parents would willingly give them to a child. The dictionary meaning of a name is therefore only part of its story. Human beings give names reputations.

This brings me to one name that Christians regard differently.

Jesus.

Before His birth, Joseph was instructed to give Mary’s son that name because He would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). In other words, His name was connected from the beginning with His mission.

And this is what makes the name extraordinary to me: Jesus did not merely receive a meaningful name. His life fulfilled its meaning.

He taught the forgotten, touched the rejected, confronted hypocrisy, forgave sinners and gave His life for others. Christians do not treasure the name merely because the word itself sounds beautiful. They treasure it because of the Person to whom it belongs.

That distinction matters.

The name of Jesus is not a magical formula. The book of Acts tells of men who attempted to invoke Jesus’ name as though simply pronouncing it guaranteed spiritual authority. Their experience ended disastrously (Acts 19:13–16). The power was never in arranging five letters in the correct order. The power belongs to Christ Himself.

That is why, when Christians pray “in Jesus’ name,” it should mean much more than attaching a familiar phrase to the end of a prayer. It is an appeal to His person, His authority and our relationship with Him.

Charles Spurgeon once reflected beautifully on how much meaning Christians find compressed into this remarkably short name. His language is poetic, but the underlying thought is profound: a name can be small enough to whisper and yet point to something immeasurably greater than itself.¹

The New Testament goes even further. Paul writes that God exalted Christ and bestowed upon Him “the name which is above every name,” so that every knee should bow and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9–11).

So why call Jesus the best of all names?

Not simply because the name is short.
Not because it sounds beautiful.
Not because pronouncing it functions like an incantation.

It is the best of names because of who bears it.

Its meaning and its Bearer agree. His words did not contradict His life. His identity was not separated from His mission. And while human reputations rise, fall and are sometimes rewritten by history, Christians confess a Christ who “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Perhaps that gives us something to think about regarding our own names.

You may have been given a name with a wonderful meaning. You may even have been named after someone your parents admired. But a good name is more than something written on a birth certificate. Over time, your life gives your name its reputation.

So, do you know what your name means?

More importantly, when people hear it, what has your life taught them that it means?

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Note: This reflection revisits and substantially rewrites an article by Charles H. Spurgeon’s meditation on the name of Jesus.