Questions like this: [Does John 1:3 identify Jesus Christ as the creator?](https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/54354/does-john-13-identify-jesus-christ-as-the-creator) raise the issue of whether it is accurate to identify the Word as Jesus. Some hold the position "Jesus" is a name which begins at His birth and should not be applied retrospectively to the Word.

Another way of saying this is "today" we can look back in time to the day in which Jesus was born:

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> Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8 ESV)  
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> Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ἐχθὲς καὶ σήμερον ὁ αὐτός καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας
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The writer of Hebrews says "Jesus Christ yesterday today the same..." If one goes back in time a single day to what was yesterday, then what was yesterday would be then today and there is still another yesterday. In other words, the phrase ἐχθὲς καὶ σήμερον ὁ αὐτός, (*yesterday today the same*) requires a looking back in time one day at-a-time as long as there is another day in time to go back. Then the last yesterday would be the first day of creation. On the other hand, given the the writer's choice of words it does not seem possible the meaning is that the yesterdays are to begin at Jesus' birth.

How far back in time is "yesterday" in this phrase?