What's In a Name?

I recently overheard a comment about Isaiah 9:6: Someone was complaining that it uses the singular form of the word “name” but then goes on to list five names. Granted it capitalizes the terms, “Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace” but none of those are names. It doesn’t say that they are. It says that “His Name shall be called…” in much the same way that Isaiah also prophesied that His Name would be called “Immanuel.” It doesn’t say, His Name will be, “Wonderful,” or His name will be, “Immanuel.” Of course, I have had people tell me that Mary disobeyed the angel, because she didn’t name her Son, Emmanuel, but, if you read the passage, the angel told her to name her son Jesus, Matthew only reminded us of the prophesy from Isaiah.
Most of us have a name: a reasonably unique combination of a first name (or Christian name—as though non-Christians didn’t have first names), a middle name (or not), and a last name (or surname). Some last names are so common that it makes it hard to come up with a truly unique name, but we do the best that we can. Many of us are called many things other than our name. Being called a title, or a nickname, or even a name other than our given name doesn’t make that title, nickname or name our name. If we don’t like our given name, then we have to go to court to have it changed, and, even then, I suspect that the parents who gave you your name at birth are going to have a hard time calling you by your new name.
Most of us don’t have any trouble calling Jesus the Prince of Peace, we’ve heard that about Him our whole lives, but we generally don’t think that it’s His name. Wonderful is not His name, either (although He is Wonderful), nor is Counselor (although He is the best Counselor). As far as the Mighty God, First Timothy 3:16 tells us that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. The Everlasting Father? Jesus said Himself in John 10:30, “I and My Father are One.” Notice also that in the two previous verses, Jesus said (in verse 28) that neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, and, then (in verse 29), that no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Isn’t it pretty clear that both verses are talking about the same hand? Both times He is referring to the same thing being in that hand.
Some people get hung up the term Allah, as well. Allah is really just the Arabic word for God, most Muslims don’t think that Allah is God’s name. Many Christian pastors in Arabic countries use the term Allah for God, although I understand that there is a separate word for the Judeo-Christian God in Arabic, which is Yahwah (obviously derived from the Hebrew, Yahweh). It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, because the Koran teaches that Allah spoke to Abraham (Ibrahim), and that it was Allah who told Mary (Marium—scroll down to 3.47 at the link) that she would bear a Son without benefit of a human father (riddle me this: How can one believe in the virgin birth and not believe in the divinity of Christ? Of course, that isn’t just Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses also argue that Jesus was not divine).
My point is that a lot of people get caught up in names versus titles, and try to make things names that aren’t names, or get confused when the Bible refers to the name of, without giving the name, but making it very clear whose name it’s referring to. It isn’t that hard, but we as human beings tend to confuse ourselves.

The Name of God

God actually has many names. In the Old Testament, the Israelites refused to call God by name at all, for fear of being found guilty of taking the LORD's name in vain. The name that they knew God by, even though they refused to speak it, is usually translated as Jehovah. That's not really a correct translation: The Hebrew word has only four letters, and is referred to as the Tetragrammaton. Properly translated, the Tetragrammaton means, "I Exist" or "I Am", in reference to what God told Moses, when Moses asked, "Who shall I tell Pharaoh hath sent me?"

In the New Testament, however, Jesus tells us that He came in His Father's name. Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus ever use the name, "Jehovah." Further, Paul writes in Ephesians 3:15 that the whole family in Heaven and earth is named for Jesus (or, maybe, he's saying the whole family is named for the Father of Jesus, which would include Jesus as being named for the Father, which would make the Father's name Jesus, also. Sorry about that. I promise not to write anything else that confusing in this post). In Acts 4:10-12, Apostle Peter refers to the name of Jesus, saying that there is none other name under Heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. That makes that name pretty important. In Colossians 3:17, Paul writes that we should do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Interestingly enough, when the angel appeared, he told Jesus' parents to name the child Jesus. Two verses later, it says that the child's name shall be called Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Some have criticised, saying that this is a contradiction. It's not. The angel said to name the child Jesus, but people who later came to know who Jesus actually was called Him Emmanuel (God with us).

The point is, that the family of God has one name, and that name is Jesus. We are called Christians because we follow Jesus, and we try to live the way He did, or at least, the way He would if He were walking around as a flesh-and blood being today. In doing so, we lift Him up, and by lifting Him up, we draw men (and women) unto Him.