A Servant of God by Any Other Name... Quiz

Answer: Christ

Jesus Christ, sometimes called simply Jesus or simply Christ, is the central figure of the New Testament and of the Christian faith. Christians believe that He was not only the Messiah that the Old Testament prophesied about, but we also believe that He was the Word of God who became flesh (John 1). He was born as a little baby to a virgin named Mary, He was crucified, and then He resurrected, to save believers from their sins.

"God" is actually only a title. The Biblical name for Him is Yahweh and Jesus is the English version of the Hebrew name Yeshua, which means "Yahweh is salvation". "Christ" is the Greek equivalent to "Messiah", a Hebrew title.

Answer: Peter

Simon was one of Christ's twelve disciples. Jesus gave him his other name, Peter, which means "stone". I prefer to use Peter by itself, because he is the only person in the New Testament with the name. There are many men named Simon in the New Testament, including Simon the Zealot, Jesus's brother Simon, and Simon the Sorcerer, to list a few.

The nickname Peter does mean "stone", but the Bible reveals that the REAL rock or stone that Christ's church was built upon is actually God/Christ Himself. Consider the following verses, and there are others as well, which I can't quote or this info will be too long.

2 Samuel 22:32, NASB
"For who is God, besides the Lord? And who is a rock, besides our God?"

Psalms 18:2
"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

1 Corinthians 10:4
". . . and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ."

In 1 Peter 2:5, Peter doesn't​ refer to himself as a stone or rock, but he DOES compare the church members to living stones.

Answer: Iscariot

Judas Iscariot was the infamous betrayer of Jesus Christ. The New Testament includes many men named Judas, including one of Christ's brothers. By identifying him as Iscariot, it decreases the chances of getting him confused with the different, more saintly ones named Judas.

According to John 6:7, the father of Judas was called Simon Iscariot.

Answer: Thaddaeus

The Bible doesn't say it in so many words, but many theologians have concluded that Judas, the son of James (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13) and Thaddaeus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18) were the same disciple. Jesus had a group of twelve disciples, and in some of the New Testament lists, the name Judas appears and Thaddeus doesn't, while in other lists, Thaddaeus is there but Judas (son of James) isn't.

Catholics tend to equate Judas Thaddaeus with the writer of the book of Jude. Some Protestants, however, suspect that Christ's brother Judas was Jude (instead of Thaddaeus).

Answer: Matthew

The Gospels make it clear that the disciple Matthew was also called Levi. It's probable that because he Jewish, Levi was his original name and then after he became a follower of Jesus, he began calling himself the Greek name Matthew. It is fascinating that Mark and Luke both refer to him as Levi, but in his own Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew, he uses Matthew (obviously).

Levi possibly means "joined, attached". In the Old Testament, Levi was a son of Israel. Matthew means "gift of God (Yahweh)".

Answer: Barnabas

Joseph, nicknamed Barnabas by the apostles, is introduced in Acts 4:36. He owned land which he sold, and then he donated the money to the apostles. He later became a traveling companion and missionary with Paul. Throughout most of the New Testament, he is called Barnabas, which makes sense because there are several other Josephs in the Bible.

Acts 14 includes a funny narrative. The Greeks thought Barnabas was Zeus and they thought Paul was Hermes!

Answer: Mark

The New Testament contains three men named John: John the Baptist, John (the son of Zebedee and the brother of James), and John Mark. The third is normally referred to as Mark, despite the Scriptures using his "first" name as well. He has been traditionally identified as the writer of the Gospel of Mark.

John Mark had a mother named Mary (Acts 12:12) and his cousin was Joseph Barnabas (Colossians 4:10). John means "Yahweh is gracious", while the name Mark ironically developed from the Roman god, Mars.

Answer: Didymus

According to the Gospel of John, Thomas, one of Jesus's disciples, was also called Didymus. Thomas is famous (or infamous) for doubting that the man who appeared to him was really the resurrected Jesus. Thomas wanted to see His hands.

Both Thomas and Didymus mean "twin". Questions then arise. Did Thomas actually have a twin, and if so, who was he? There is no easy answer.

Answer: Nathanael

Unlike with other cases (such as Simon Peter and John Mark) the New Testament doesn't explicitly state that Bartholomew was also called Nathanael. However, Christians commonly believe this.

There are two main arguments for the identification of Nathanael as Bartholomew:

1) Bartholomew is listed as one of the twelve disciples in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Nathanael is listed as a disciple in the Gospel of John. There is no mention of Nathanael in Matthew, Mark, or Luke, and similarly, John doesn't mention Bartholomew.

2) Both Bartholomew and Nathanael had a strong friendship or association with Philip.

According to John 1:46, Nathanael asked Philip if anything good could come out of Nazareth.

Answer: Dorcas

Acts 9:36 states that Tabitha or Dorcas lived in Joppa, a city in Israel. She was a Christian; she continually performed acts of kindness and charity. Despite being such a nice Christian and person, she died from an illness. However, Peter, through God's power, brought her back to life.

I should note that etymologically, Tabitha is Aramaic and means "gazelle". Dorcas is Greek, and also means "gazelle".

Answer: Magdalene

"Mary" is the most common feminine name in the New Testament and the Gospel writers are careful to distinguish this Mary from the others by mentioning her nickname Magdalene. It is possible that Jesus Christ gave her this title Himself, just as He gave Simon the name Peter and nicknamed James and John, the sons of Zebedee, too (Mark 3:17).

Whoever gave her the title, however, many scholars agree that she was given it because she came from Magdala, a town near the Sea of Galilee. The word Magdala evidently means "tower" in Hebrew.

Mary Magdalene stood by her beloved Lord's cross along with Mary, His mother, and His possible aunts, Salome and Mary, the wife of Clopas (Mark 15:40; John 19:25).

Answer: Paul

You can read about this Saul in Acts, chapters 7-9. Saul was a Pharisee who hated and persecuted Christians. One day, Jesus appeared to him and asked him why Saul was persecuting Him. This appearance of Jesus seems to have been more spiritual than physical (unlike the physical encounters Mary Magdalene and Thomas had with the resurrected Christ) because the men around​ Saul heard His voice, but they didn't see anyone. Saul became a believer in Christ after his experience; he became known as the apostle Paul.

Saul is a Hebrew name that means "asked for" or "prayed for". Paul is a Roman or Latin name, which means "humble".

Answer: Jesus

According to Colossians 4:11, there was a Jesus who worked for the kingdom of God alongside Paul. Paul called this Jesus "Justus", and Paul stated that Justus was one of the few circumcised (Jewish) Christians who, apparently, was in prison with Paul.

There are two other men titled Justus in the New Testament, Joseph Barsabbas Justus (Acts 1:3) and Titius Justus (Acts 18:7)!

Answer: Barsabbas

Acts 15:22 states that Judas, also called Barsabbas, was one of the men who went on a missionary trip to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The other man was Silas. Both Judas and Silas are described as "leading men among the brethren" (New American Standard Bible).

Biblestudytools.com and biblehub.com suggest that Judas Barsabbas was most likely the brother of Joseph Barsabbas (also known as Justus). The name Barsabbas is Aramaic and probably means "son of Sabba".

Answer: Justus

See Acts 1. After Judas Iscariot committed suicide, the group was left with eleven disciples. They wanted to replace Judas so they could have twelve disciples again. (Note that the disciples were also called apostles by that time.)

Joseph, called Barsabbas, called Justus on top of that, indeed had not only two, but three names! He was one of the candidates to replace Iscariot, but he ended up losing the contest. Matthias won.

Justus is a Latin name that means "just", as in righteous. The modern name Justin derived from Justus.