What’s in a Name?
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
He was known by the very human name of Jesus as He grew up in Nazareth. By the end of His earthly life He was often called Christ. The term had the meaning of “Anointed One.” When Jesus went to Nazareth near the beginning of His public ministry, He was invited to read a selection from the prophet Isaiah. He chose the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me” (Luke 4:18). After completing the passage and returning the scroll, Jesus began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
Christ of God
From early in His ministry, Jesus viewed Himself as the Christ or Anointed One. With time, those closest to Him came to understand Him as more than Jesus of Nazareth but as the Christ of God. Famously, it was part of the disciples’ great confession voiced by Peter: “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29). Pilate reflected this way of identifying Jesus with his famous question in Matthew 27:22: “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”
When transliterated into English the Hebrew term that means “anointed” yields the word “Messiah.” When “anointed” is expressed in Greek it yields the word “Christ” in English.
For centuries the Jews looked for one who would come as the Messiah or Anointed One promised through the prophets. The idea of certain individuals being anointed was common in Israel’s history as reflected in the Old Testament. For example, a king was spoken of as “the Lord’s anointed” (2 Sam. 2:4).
When David became king, at God’s instruction Samuel anointed him (1 Sam. 16:4–13). Also, priests were referred to as “anointed priests” (Num. 3:3). Aaron and his sons were anointed as priests (Ex. 28:40–41). Apparently prophets also were sometimes anointed as when Elijah was instructed both to anoint Elisha as prophet and to anoint Jehu as king (1 Kings 19:16).
With these anointed offices in Israel’s history, believers through the centuries have described the work of Christ the Anointed One in terms of the functions of prophet, priest and king. A prophet was one who declared the mind of God. Sometimes God’s message had to do with the future; hence, we often think of a prophet as a “foreteller.”
Often God’s message had to do with the present, so we might then think of a prophet as a “forth-teller” or one who told forth God’s message to their own generation. Christ came telling forth the mind of God, both for the present time and for time to come. Hebrews 6:20 uniquely asserts that Christ came as a “High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Simply put, a priest both represented the people before God and represented God to the people.
Such are the dual roles of Christ for His followers. The familiar Christmas story refers to Christ as one “born King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2). At the end of His life a placard placed on His cross over His head said, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:37). Just as kings rule, so Christ came to rule our lives and God’s kingdom.
His given name
Over time, its frequent and common use became so prevalent that “Christ” became almost part of His given name, Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. We commonly today refer to Jesus by this name without consciously meaning Messiah but simply as another part of His given name.
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