The Natsorean
15
Every version that I remember seeing misleads the reader by obliterating one of the Lord's titles, a title that the glorified Jesus Himself used when dealing with Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road. When Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?”, He answered, “I am Jesus the Natsorean, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 22:8). Most versions at this place render ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, while some have ‘Jesus the Nazarene’. For an explanation of why I use ‘ts’ instead of ‘z’, please see my article, “ ‘Prophets’ in Matthew 3:23” (prunch.org).
The familiar ‘Nazarene’ [Ναζαρηνος] occurs four times: Mark 1:24, 14:67, 16:6 and Luke 4:34. ‘Jesus the Nazarene’ would appear to be another way of saying ‘Jesus of/from Nazareth’, and some versions so translate the phrase. Unfortunately, the versions do the same with ‘Natsorean’ [Ναζαραιος], which I consider to be a serious error. Just looking at the two Greek words, they are obviously different. The Hebrew root is netser, ‘branch’, a reference to Isaiah 11.1 (‘Nazareth’ is a transliteration of the Hebrew name). Going back to Acts 22:8, why would Jesus waste time with the name of a town? He was dealing with a highly instructed Pharisee; He introduced Himself as David's Branch, the Messiah—a reference that Saul would immediately understand.
‘Natsorean’ occurs fifteen times: Matthew 2:23, 26:71; Mark 10:47; Luke 18:37, 24:19; John 18:5,7, 19:19; Acts 2:22, 3:6, 4:10, 6:14, 22:8, 24:5 and 26:9. All have the definite article, except the first one—the Natsorean; except that in Acts 24:5 Felix speaks of ‘the sect of the Natsoreans’. Speaking of Felix, his use of the term ‘sect’ is instructive. Aside from Acts 22:8, that I have already discussed, I consider that John 19:19 deserves special comment. The title above the cross read: This is Jesus the Natsorean, the King of the Jews. Pilate had evidently researched Jesus quite well (anyone with a large following is a potential problem); I believe that he knew precisely what he was doing when he used ‘Natsorean’, just as he knew precisely what he was doing when he put ‘the King of the Jews’. For more on the subject of Pilate, please see my article: “Poor Pilate—wrong place, wrong time” (prunch.org).
Whatever version of the Bible you are using, I would urge you to correct it at the references mentioned above, so you know when a title is being used. ‘The Natsorean’ needs to be added to any list of the Lord's titles.