What Does Luke 1:63 Mean?
And he asked for a small tablet, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they all marveled.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.THE KEY
John’s name is a declaration of favor already present, not an empty label.
THE MEANING
The name John carries the sense “YHWH has shown favor.” The written declaration gives that nature a public voice, and the people’s astonishment marks the shock of hearing what a name can hold.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A name is only an arbitrary label, carrying nothing of the nature it names.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
ónoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
onom-
Name or identifying designation.
This meets the Hebrew שֵׁם (shem, name carrying the nature of what is named): here, naming speaks a nature into the open. The name Ἰωάννης (Iōannēs, John) comes from יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, “YHWH has shown favor”), so the written name declares favor already at work.
ALSO GROWS
onomázō: To name or call by name.
ὀνομάζω
This branch shows that naming is an act of declaring who someone is, as Zechariah does in writing John’s name.
onomastós: Named, renowned.
ὀνομαστός
This branch links a name with the identity by which someone becomes known.
יוֹחָנָן
Yōḥānān
GROWS FROM
חנן
ḥ-n-n
To show favor or be gracious.
“John” in this verse is Yōḥānān. The Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, “YHWH has shown favor”) joins יהוה (YHWH, the LORD) to the חנן (ḥ-n-n, show favor) family. Zechariah’s writing makes that favor the nature announced in the child’s name.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēn: Favor.
חֵן
This noun gives the favor in John’s name a clear form: it is received, not achieved.
ḥannūn: Gracious, one who shows favor.
חַנּוּן
This adjective names the quality attributed to the LORD in the meaning of John’s name.
THE PATTERN
A name can disclose the nature and calling being revealed in a person.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, the one who struggles with God, for you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.The one who has an ear, let him hear and respond to what the breath says to the assemblies. To the one who overcomes I will give to eat from the hidden manna, and I will give him a white pebble, and upon the pebble a new name written, which no one knows except the one who takes it.THE THREAD
But the messenger said to him, Do not be seized by awe, Zacharias, for your need has been heard and answered; and your wife Elisabeth will bring forth a son for you, and you will call his name John.The same Greek word ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”) appears when John’s name is first announced. Luke 1:63 confirms the nature already spoken: יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, “YHWH has shown favor”).
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