Christ, the Christ (ὀ χριστός)

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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An official title of the Lord Jesus, which became used as a name. In John 1:4141He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. (John 1:41); John 4:2525The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. (John 4:25) this title is linked with the Messiah of the Old Testament The Jews and Samaritans were expecting THE MESSIAH, “which is called Christ.” We find the title “Messiah” in Daniel 9:25-2625Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:25‑26) in the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. The Hebrew word is mashiach and signifies “anointed.” This term is employed as to the Lord Jesus in Psalm 2:22The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, (Psalm 2:2): the rulers set themselves against Jehovah and His “Anointed.” The same word is used in reference to the high priest and the king as God’s anointed; but the Lord Jesus is emphatically “the Anointed,” this being the signification of the word “the Christ” which should be read in many places in the New Testament where the A. V. simply has “Christ.” In the Gospels it is nearly always “the Christ,” and often in the Epistles, except where it is Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus which has more the character of a name. It refers to the Lord as Man, being anointed with the Holy Ghost.
In Daniel we read that Messiah the Prince would be cut off and have nothing (margin), which was fulfilled when, instead of being hailed as Messiah by the Jews, He was rejected, cut off, and had, at the time, nothing of His Messianic honors, though, in His death, He laid the foundation of His future glory on earth, as well as effecting eternal redemption for the saved. We read in 1 Corinthians 12:11Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. (1 Corinthians 12:1)2 That as the body is one, and hath many members, “so also is the Christ:” the Head and the members in the power and the anointing of the Spirit form but one body.
Being rejected as Messiah on earth, He is made as risen from the dead both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:3636Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)), and thus the counsels of God with regard to Him, and man in Him, are effectuated. Saints now are spoken of as having been chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world. All things in heaven and on earth are to be headed up in the Christ (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)). As the Christ, He is the Head of the body the church (Eph. 4:1515But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (Ephesians 4:15)). But the subject can be merely touched on in a short article.