One Sunday, our Pastor mentioned that while Jesus Christ is His name, the name ‘Christ’ was not Jesus’ last name. Jesus in Greek means “Savior” and Christ means “The Messiah, or Anointed One”. This made me began to think, what would Jesus’ last name have been if He had one?

The truth is, surnames weren’t used until around the 12th century in England and were adopted later in other European countries. China started using surnames for the common people around the 2nd century BC, which stayed in their country and were used to describe which clan a person came from.

Generations in the Old and the New Testament didn’t go by last names Their identity was rather determined by who their father was as their source of origin. We can see this all throughout scripture in places such as Luke 3:23 where the genealogy of Jesus names His descendants, for example:

• He was the son, or so it was thought, of Joseph, The son of Heli, The son of Matthat, The son of Levi, etc.
• In Luke 5:10 it says, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
• In Matthew 16:17 it says, Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

Looking at scripture we can see that Jesus was referred to as Jesus, son of Joseph before His ministry began. Read Luke 3:23 again: Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph… and in John 6:42: They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" Up until this time Jesus was known as Jesus, son of Joseph. When His ministry started, He began declaring that He was Jesus, Son of God which didn’t sit well with most of the ‘spiritual leaders’ in that day. In John 5:17-18 it says, Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

It is mentioned in scripture that only one other person was referred to as the “The son of God” but this was only used as a reference of this person’s origin in genealogy which is found in Luke 3:38. This person was Adam, and we know that the Lord created Adam. Therefore, it is logical that his father was the Creator who formed him from the dust of the earth. Knowing this brings us to another important scripture found in Romans 5:12-19: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

This scripture gives us a better understanding as to why the Lord provided the gift of salvation by being born among His creation and dying on the cross for all. Because death came to everyone by one man’s sin, the Lord had to undo that penalty Himself because no one else could have done it. It took the unrighteous death of a man who never sinned to undo the works of a man who brought death to all.