22 Bible Verses About the Name of Jesus

Matthew 1:21

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Reflection: An angel speaks to Joseph in a dream, telling him to take Mary home as his wife and to name her son. The name comes with its reason: he will save his people from their sins. Luke 1:31 records the same instruction given to Mary, “you are to call him Jesus,” and Matthew 1:23 adds a second name from Isaiah, Immanuel, “God with us.”

Philippians 2:9-11

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Reflection: Paul has just described Christ Jesus emptying himself, taking “the very nature of a servant” and becoming “obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (verses 7-8). The giving of the name follows on from that: “Therefore God exalted him.” The line about every knee bowing and every tongue confessing takes its words from Isaiah 45:23, where God says, “Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.” In Philippians the knees bow at the name of Jesus, and the confession is that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Hebrews 1:4

“So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.”

Reflection: Hebrews opens by setting the Son above the prophets and then above the angels. The name he has inherited is compared with theirs, and the next verse shows which name is meant by asking, “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’?” The inheritance follows his work: “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (verse 3).

John 1:12

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Reflection: The verse before it says that Jesus came to his own and “his own did not receive him.” Those who did receive him are described in a second way, as those “who believed in his name,” and verse 13 says they became children “born of God,” not by natural descent or human decision.

John 20:31

“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Reflection: John states why he wrote his gospel. Verse 30 says Jesus did “many other signs” that are not recorded; the ones written down were chosen so that readers would believe Jesus is the Messiah and have life “in his name.”

1 John 3:23

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

Reflection: John calls this one command, though it has two parts: believe in the name of God’s Son and love one another. The verse before it ties answered prayer to keeping God’s commands, and the verse after says that whoever keeps them “lives in him, and he in them.”

Acts 4:12

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Reflection: Peter and John stand before the rulers, elders and high priest after a lame man has been healed, and the question put to them is “By what power or what name did you do this?” (verse 7). Peter answers that the man stands there healed “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead” (verse 10), and then widens the claim from one healing to salvation itself.

Romans 10:13

“for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

Reflection: Paul quotes Joel 2:32. He places it after “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ … you will be saved” (verse 9) and after calling the same Lord “Lord of all” who “richly blesses all who call on him,” Jew and Gentile alike (verse 12). The next verse asks how people can call on someone they have never heard of, which leads Paul to the need for preachers.

Luke 24:47

“and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Reflection: The risen Jesus opens his disciples’ minds to the Scriptures and tells them what is written: the Messiah will suffer and rise, and forgiveness will be preached in his name to all nations. He names the starting point, Jerusalem, tells them they are witnesses, and tells them to stay in the city “until you have been clothed with power from on high” (verse 49).

Acts 2:38

“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

Reflection: Peter gives this answer in Jerusalem when the crowd, “cut to the heart,” asks, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit come together, and verse 41 says about three thousand were baptized that day. Matthew 28:19 gives the baptismal command in a different form, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 10:43

“All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Reflection: Peter speaks these words to a Gentile household, ending a sermon about Jesus as the one appointed “judge of the living and the dead” (verse 42). The promise is to “everyone who believes in him.” Verse 44 records that while Peter was still speaking, “the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.”

Acts 3:6

“Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’”

Reflection: A man lame from birth asks Peter and John for money at the temple gate called Beautiful. Peter has no money to give and speaks the name instead; the man’s feet and ankles become strong, and he goes into the temple courts “walking and jumping, and praising God” (verse 8). Peter later explains the healing to the crowd: “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong” (verse 16).

Mark 16:17-18

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Reflection: The risen Jesus speaks to the Eleven after rebuking them for not believing those who had seen him. The signs are promised to “those who believe,” and the list ends with “they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” The NIV notes that “the earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20,” so this passage sits inside a section whose place in Mark is disputed.

Acts 19:13

“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’”

Reflection: In Ephesus, seven sons of a Jewish chief priest named Sceva use the name as a formula over a man with an evil spirit. The spirit answers, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” and the man overpowers them (verses 15-16). When word spread, “the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor” (verse 17). Jesus gives a similar warning in Matthew 7:22-23 about people who drove out demons “in your name” and are told, “I never knew you.”

John 14:13-14

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Reflection: Jesus says this to his disciples at the meal recorded in John 13 and 14. The verse before it promises that whoever believes in him “will do the works I have been doing,” and the purpose of answering prayer made in his name is given in the same sentence: “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

John 16:24

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

Reflection: Later the same night, Jesus tells the disciples that asking in his name is something they have not yet done. Verse 23 says the Father will give “whatever you ask in my name,” and verses 26-27 add, “I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you.”

Matthew 18:20

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Reflection: The setting is a church dealing with a member who sins: a private word, then “one or two others” as witnesses, then the whole church (verses 15-17). Verse 19 promises that when two agree about anything they ask, the Father will do it, and verse 20 gives the reason: Jesus is present with the two or three gathered in his name.

Colossians 3:17

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Reflection: Paul has just told the Colossians to teach one another and sing “psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit” (verse 16), and then extends the name to everything they say or do. Ephesians 5:20 pairs thanksgiving and the name the same way: “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 1:10

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

Reflection: Paul makes his appeal in the name of Christ because the Corinthians had split into groups: “I follow Paul”; “I follow Apollos”; “I follow Cephas”; “I follow Christ” (verse 12). He answers with questions, among them “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (verse 13). The name they were baptized into was Christ’s, not a leader’s.

Acts 5:41

“The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”

Reflection: The high priest had already told the apostles “not to teach in this name” (verse 28). After Gamaliel persuades the Sanhedrin not to kill them, they are flogged and ordered again not to speak in the name of Jesus (verse 40). Luke calls it simply “the Name,” and verse 42 says they never stopped teaching.

Acts 9:15

“But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.’”

Reflection: Ananias objects that Saul has come to Damascus with authority “to arrest all who call on your name” (verse 14). The Lord answers that Saul will carry that same name to Gentiles, kings and Israel, and adds, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (verse 16).

Revelation 22:4

“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”

Reflection: The last chapter of Revelation describes the city where there is no more curse and “the throne of God and of the Lamb” stands. Earlier, the Lamb’s followers have “his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1), and Jesus promises the one who is victorious, “I will also write on them my new name” (Revelation 3:12).