While the New Testament often refers to Jesus by simply using this very earthly, everyday, human name given from heaven by the angel, it also quite frequently adds to this name the title “Christ.” While the name “Jesus” conveyed the meaning “the Lord is salvation,” the title “Christ” carried the meaning, “The Anointed One.” With the Hebrew word for anointing as its core, the title “Christ” is the same as “Messiah.”
Readers of the New Testament are quite aware that the double expression “Jesus Christ” is a frequent way of designating the Savior. Very literally, the double reference might be understood as “Jesus the Messiah.” Occasionally the order of the expression is reversed to read “Christ Jesus.” The literal rendering then would be “The Messiah, Jesus.”
Over time the use of Christ with reference to Jesus seemed to become part of His formal name rather than expressly referencing His office as God’s anointed Messiah. However, armed with the understanding that Christ had the basic significance of designating Jesus as the Anointed One or Messiah, what might we glean from this added title?
A helpful and time-honored way of thinking about Jesus as the Anointed One is to view Him in relation to the major anointed roles in the life of God’s chosen people Israel. For example at the institution of the Old Testament priesthood a ceremony of anointing was used. Moses anointed Aaron and his sons as priests (Ex. 28:41). The Book of Hebrews in the New Testament uniquely presents Jesus as the divinely appointed High Priest (Heb. 4:14–16).
God promised Israel a new prophet like Moses, saying to him, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him” (Deut. 18:18). While we do not read of all the Old Testament prophets being anointed with oil, the prophet Elijah did anoint Elisha as his successor in the office of prophet (1 Kings 19:16). In addition the prophet Isaiah referred to a spiritual anointing, which found its ultimate meaning in the Messiah who was to come, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Isa. 61:1). Jesus was prophetic in that the Spirit of God came upon Him at His baptism and He began speaking God’s good news.
Old Testament anointing
The most prominent, frequent and significant Old Testament anointing was that administered to kings. Samuel anointed Saul as Israel’s first king (1 Sam. 10:1) and later anointed David who became the nation’s most prominent king (1 Sam. 16:6–13). Israel’s hope for the future took the form of anticipating another king like David. Jesus, as the Messiah or Christ, was the fulfillment of that hope. However, His kingship and kingdom did not match the common expectation. Rather than an earthly kingdom, Christ came to establish a spiritual kingdom.
The sum of all this is that Jesus fulfilled perfectly the anointed offices of Priest, Prophet and King. As the great High Priest, Christ represents His followers before God, having gone into God’s presence on our behalf. As the Prophet after the likeness of Moses, Christ perfectly declared the mind of God. As the King after the likeness of David, Christ is building an eternal kingdom.
So what’s in a name? If that name is Christ, then it references the One who is Priest, Prophet and King.
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