Christos #79

Christos comes from a verb meaning “to anoint,” and it is the standard Greek translation of the Hebrew title mashiach, “anointed one.” In the Old Testament, anointing with oil set apart kings, priests, and some prophets for their office; by the first century, “the Messiah” had become the title for one specific, promised deliverer Israel was awaiting. Christos is a title, not a surname — every New Testament use of “Jesus Christ” is asserting “Jesus, the Messiah.”

Biblical Usage

John’s Gospel records the title being applied to Jesus immediately: Andrew tells his brother Simon, “We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ” (John 1:41), translating the Hebrew term into its Greek equivalent for Greek-speaking readers. Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi makes the identification explicit and central: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). After the resurrection, Peter tells the crowd at Pentecost that this identification has now been publicly vindicated by God: “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

Theological Significance

The New Testament writers treat “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3) as the core claim of the faith they received and passed on — that Jesus is the Messiah promised through Israel’s prophets, whose death and resurrection fulfill that promise. Christian orthodoxy has historically understood this Messiahship to include full deity as well as full humanity, a claim explored further under the doctrine of the deity of Christ; that further claim has been contested since the earliest centuries of the church and remains a dividing line between Christian belief and other traditions that honor Jesus without affirming it.