What does Christ mean?

There are several names throughout Scripture spoken of by Jesus or given by Jesus himself. One of the most popular titles is "Christ" (or the Hebrew equivalent, "Messiah"). This descriptive epithet or phrase is used regularly throughout the New Testament at a rate of 569 times.

For example, in John 4: 25-26, Jesus declares to a Samaritan woman standing by a well (aptly called "Jacob's Well") that he was the Christ who was prophesied to come. Also, an angel gave the good news to the shepherds that Jesus was born as “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11, ESV).

But this term "Christ" is used so commonly and impertinently today by people who do not know what it means or who assume it is nothing more than Jesus' surname instead of a meaningful title. So, what does "Christ" mean, and what does it mean about who Jesus is?

The word Christ
The word Christ comes from the similar-sounding Greek word "Christos", which describes the divine Son of God, the Anointed King, and the "Messiah" who is positioned and proposed by God to be the Liberator of all people in a way that no ordinary person, prophet, judge, or ruler could be (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2: 7).

This is made clear in John 1:41 when Andrew invited his brother, Simon Peter, to follow Jesus by saying, "'We have found the Messiah' (which means Christ)." The people and rabbis of Jesus' time would seek the Christ who would come and righteously rule God's people because of the Old Testament prophecies they were taught (2 Samuel 7: 11-16). The elders Simeon and Anna, as well as the Magi kings, recognized the young Jesus for what he was and worshiped him for it.

There have been many great leaders throughout history. Some were prophets, priests or kings who were anointed with the authority of God, but none were ever called "the Messiah." Other leaders even considered themselves a god (such as the Pharaohs or Caesars) or made bizarre claims about themselves (as in Acts 5). But Jesus alone fulfilled some 300 secular prophecies about the Christ.

These prophecies were so miraculous (like a virgin birth), descriptive (like riding a colt) or specific (like being a descendant of King David) that it would have been a statistical impossibility for even some of them to be true for the same person. But they were all fulfilled in Jesus.

In fact, he fulfilled ten unique Messianic prophecies in the last 24 hours of his life on earth alone. Furthermore, the name "Jesus" is actually the historically common Hebrew "Joshua" or "Yeshua", which means "God saves" (Nehemiah 7: 7; Matthew 1:21).

Jesus' genealogy also indicates that he was the prophesied Christ or the Messiah. While we tend to skip the lists of names in the Mary and Joseph family trees at the beginning of the books of Matthew and Luke, Jewish culture has maintained extensive genealogies to establish a person's inheritance, inheritance, legitimacy and rights. Jesus' lineage shows how his life was intertwined with God's covenant with his chosen people and with his legal claim to the throne of David.

The stories of the people on those lists reveal that Jesus' lineage itself was miraculous because of how many different paths the Messianic prophecies had to take because of humanity's sinfulness. For example, in Genesis 49, a dying Jacob passed over three of his sons (including his rightful firstborn) to bless Judah and prophesy that it was only through him that a lion-like leader would come and bring peace, joy and prosperity (hence the nickname "Lion of Judah", as we see in Revelation 5: 5).

So while we may never be too excited to read genealogies in our Bible reading plans, it is important to understand their purpose and implications.

Jesus the Christ
Not only did the prophecies point to the person and purpose of Jesus Christ, but as New Testament professor Dr. Doug Bookman teaches, Jesus also publicly claimed to be the Christ (meaning he knew who he was). Jesus emphasized his claim to be the Messiah by quoting 24 books of the Old Testament (Luke 24:44, ESV) and performing 37 recorded miracles which clearly demonstrated and confirmed who he was.

Early in his ministry, Jesus stood up in the temple and read a scroll that contained a familiar Messianic prophecy from Isaiah. Then, as everyone listened, the son of this local carpenter named Jesus let everyone know that it was indeed the fulfillment of that prophecy (Luke 4: 18-21). While this was not good for religious people at the time, it is exciting for us today to read Jesus' moments of self-revelation during his public ministry.

Another example is in the Book of Matthew when the crowds argued about who Jesus was. Some thought he was a resurrected John the Baptist, a prophet like Elijah or Jeremiah, simply a "good teacher" (Mark 10:17), a Rabbi (Matthew 26:25) or simply the son of a poor carpenter (Matthew 13:55). This led Jesus to suggest to his disciples the question of who they thought he was, to which Peter replied: "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus responded with:

“Lucky you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it ”(Matthew 16: 17-18, ESV).

Oddly, Jesus then commanded his disciples to keep his identity hidden because many people misunderstood the Messiah's reign as physical and unspiritual, while others had misguided expectations from unscriptural speculation. These misconceptions led some religious leaders to want Jesus to be killed for blasphemy. But he had a timeline to keep, so he regularly ran away until the right time came for him to be crucified.

What does Christ mean to us today
But although Jesus was the Christ to Israel then, what does he have to do with us today?

To answer this, we need to understand that the idea of ​​a Messiah began long before Judas or even Abraham with the beginning of humanity in Genesis 3 as a response to humanity's sinful fall. Thus, throughout Scripture, it becomes clear who the liberator of humanity would be and how it would bring us back into a relationship with God.

Indeed, when God set the Jewish people aside by establishing a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, confirming it through Isaac in Genesis 26, and reaffirming it through Jacob and his descendants in Genesis 28, his goal was for "all the nations of the earth "(Genesis 12: 1-3). What better way to impact the entire world than to provide a remedy for their sinfulness? The story of God's redemption through Jesus extends from the first to the last page of the Bible. As Paolo wrote:

for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, by faith. For all of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, because you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are of Christ, then you are the offspring of Abraham, heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26 –29, ESV).

God chose Israel to be his covenant people not because it was special and not to exclude everyone else, but so that it could become a channel for God's grace to be given to the world. It was through the Jewish nation that God demonstrated his love for us by sending his Son, Jesus (who was the fulfillment of his covenant), to be the Christ or Savior of all who would believe in Him.

Paul pushed this point further home when he wrote:

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more will we be saved by him from God's wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, we will be saved from his life. Furthermore, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Romans 5: 8-11, ESV).

That salvation and reconciliation can be received by believing that Jesus is not only the historical Christ, but is our Christ. We can be disciples of Jesus who follow him closely, learn from him, obey him, become like him and represent him in the world.

When Jesus is our Christ, we have a new covenant of love that he made with his invisible and universal Church which he calls his "Bride". The Messiah who came once to suffer for the sins of the world will one day come again and establish his new kingdom on earth. I for one, want to be on his side when that happens.