Nicodemus' name

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SomeDisciple

SomeDisciple

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Jul 4, 2021
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I just realized something- Nicodemus is a Greek name. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Why did he have a Greek name? The Pharisees were not Hellenists, they wanted to remain culturally separate from the Greeks- so why does he have a Greek name?

I suppose it's possible that his parents were not Pharisees? But even then, wouldn't he get a Hebrew name? Or perhaps Nicodemus began to go by a Hellenized name- like Saul became Paul. I wonder what his Hebrew name was. Maybe it's not important. Maybe it is.
 
JaumeJ

JaumeJ

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#2
Jul 2, 2011
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#2
Simon called Peter, or just Peter is from the Greek also. His Hebrew name is said to be Kepha or Kefa.
 
SomeDisciple

SomeDisciple

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Jul 4, 2021
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JaumeJ said:
Simon called Peter, or just Peter is from the Greek also. His Hebrew name is said to be Kepha or Kefa.
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True, true. But Peter was a fisherman from Galilee and not a Sanhedrin Pharisee. It just makes me wonder. Maybe some of the pharisees didn't care as much about names. Like Daniel didn't throw a fit when he was called Belteshazzar, even though that's not such a great name for him. Or maybe Hellenization of Jerusalem was just really that culturally overbearing that they had to go by the greek version of their names sometimes even though they were trying to push foreign influences out.
 
JohnDB

JohnDB

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Jan 16, 2021
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SomeDisciple said:
True, true. But Peter was a fisherman from Galilee and not a Sanhedrin Pharisee. It just makes me wonder. Maybe some of the pharisees didn't care as much about names. Like Daniel didn't throw a fit when he was called Belteshazzar, even though that's not such a great name for him. Or maybe Hellenization of Jerusalem was just really that culturally overbearing that they had to go by the greek version of their names sometimes even though they were trying to push foreign influences out.
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Because most of those who tell you the story in John 3 have misjudged the situation John described.

"Born from Above" is the correct translation. It's a category of people from Israel's history meant to describe people that God sent to assist Israel.

The list includes Isaac, Samuel, Sampson and John the Baptist. Their births were announced before they were born and what they would do.

And Evenings/Nights are social hours in Israel...that's when people go out to socialize...been that way for millennium. That's why Nicodemus came at night. He didn't want to disturb Jesus while he was working. He wanted to befriend Jesus.
His Greek name is obviously one given by Jesus himself...as you have noticed.

The "church story" of Nicodemus has been wrong. Been wrong for so long there's a LOT of resistance to the truth. There are theological reasons why it's been perpetuated. They don't want the fallout of what the truth will say about their pet theologies. (Yeah, I know)
 
Nehemiah6

Nehemiah6

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Jul 18, 2017
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#5
SomeDisciple said:
I just realized something- Nicodemus is a Greek name. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Why did he have a Greek name? The Pharisees were not Hellenists, they wanted to remain culturally separate from the Greeks- so why does he have a Greek name?
Click to expand...
The Hebrew names of the Old Testament were not translated by the KJV translators. So they simply transliterated the Greek names found in the Greek New Testament. The Hebrew name of Nicodemus was
Naqdimon.
 
Pilgrimshope

Pilgrimshope

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Sep 2, 2020
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SomeDisciple said:
I just realized something- Nicodemus is a Greek name. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Why did he have a Greek name? The Pharisees were not Hellenists, they wanted to remain culturally separate from the Greeks- so why does he have a Greek name?

I suppose it's possible that his parents were not Pharisees? But even then, wouldn't he get a Hebrew name? Or perhaps Nicodemus began to go by a Hellenized name- like Saul became Paul. I wonder what his Hebrew name was. Maybe it's not important. Maybe it is.
Click to expand...
the Greek world had dominated until this time so the culture such as names were changing. Also remember there were gentile converts to Judaism even then , so names would be intermingled as to thier roots Romans had married Jews , Jews had married Greeks ect one people from many peoples.

remember that Jerusalem was once a central point in the world Roman greek Persian and Babylonian influences had taken root by the time of Jesus. They had over run Jerusalem for hundreds of years by this point so cross cultural names seem normal
 
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