The Greek proper name Ēlias (Ἠλίας) is the NT form of the Hebrew Elijah (אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒliyyāhû), meaning 'My God is Yahweh.' It appears about 29 times in the NT. Elijah — the prophet who confronted Baal worship, called down fire from heaven, and was taken up in a chariot of fire — became the paradigmatic figure of prophetic power and the expected forerunner of the Messiah.
The NT's use of Ēlias revolves around two themes: (1) the expectation that Elijah would return before the Messiah (Mal 4:5), and (2) Elijah as a model of prophetic power. Jesus identified John the Baptist as the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy (Matt 11:14; 17:12). At the Transfiguration, Ēlias himself appeared alongside Moses, speaking with Jesus about his coming 'exodus' (Luke 9:30–31). James holds up Elijah as proof that 'the prayer of a righteous person has great power' — he prayed and the rain stopped for three and a half years, then prayed again and it rained (James 5:17–18). At the cross, bystanders confused Jesus' cry of 'Eli' with a call to Elijah (Matt 27:47).