What Does "Christ" Mean?

[Richard Aberdeen]

Greek "christos" means "anointed" or "the anointed one". In Hebrew, "mashiach" means the same thing, which is translated as "Messiah" into English. Most English bibles leave this untranslated as "Christ", which is based on the Greek for Messiah. Whether we say Jesus Christ or Jesus Messiah is perhaps of little importance, but it is extremely important to understand that Christ means Messiah, the anointed one, the chosen one of God to save us from our sins.

Likewise, whether we call Jesus of Nazareth, "Jesus" or "Yeshua", the same name will save us as long as we are referring in our hearts to Jesus of Nazareth, who is called "Messiah", rather than to someone else. The name "Jesus" traces from Latin; in Aramaic, it is "Yeshua" and in Hebrew "Yehoshua" or "Yeshu". Regardless of translation, there is ultimate power in the name of Jesus, who is able to save us to the uttermost when referring to Jesus of Nazareth.

It is important to remember that the Lord does "not see as people see; for people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" I Samuel 16:7. God understands our intentions regardless of our understanding, what language we speak or what translation we are familiar with.

 

[Hillsage]

Greek "christos" means "anointed" or "the anointed one". In Hebrew, "mashiach" means the same thing, which is translated as "Messiah" into English. Most English bibles leave this untranslated as "Christ", which is based on the Greek for Messiah.

Strong's 4899 mashiyach: anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); spec. the Messiah

I like what I'm reading, but especially because you see that it was that "anointing", that made Jesus the messiah, or "the anointed one". I do have a problem in the Hebrew though, where KJV translators capitalized "mashiach" as Messiah and capitalized it. All other 37 times they never capitalized it once. And it was always interpreted as what it simply meant..."anointed".

Ancient Hebrew had no uppercase or lowercase distinctions. Capitalization was introduced centuries later by English and European translators and editors to add modern grammatical formatting or to show reverence. But they also added their 'theological' opinion when they applied it. I think that has been a huge error.

Whether we say Jesus Christ or Jesus Messiah is perhaps of little importance, but it is extremely important to understand that Christ means Messiah, the anointed one, the chosen one of God to save us from our sins.

Here we disagree a bit maybe. I think 'Jesus christ' and 'Jesus the messiah' should both still be lower case, in the NT, just like it was 37 out of 39 times in the OT.

Likewise, whether we call Jesus of Nazareth, "Jesus" or "Yeshua", the same name will save us as long as we are referring in our hearts to Jesus of Nazareth, who is called "Messiah", rather than to someone else. The name "Jesus" traces from Latin; in Aramaic, it is "Yeshua" and in Hebrew "Yehoshua" or "Yeshu". Regardless of translation, there is ultimate power in the name of Jesus, who is able to save us to the uttermost when referring to Jesus of Nazareth.

I agree. In the Hebrew and the Greek, the word "name", has two definitions. Def. one is 'literal' and two is 'figurative' A literal definition, is your given name (Bill) or surname (Smith). But a figurative definition, pertains to your 'authority or character'.

For example; If you hear a loud knock on your door in the middle of the night demanding that you; "Open up in the NAME of the law!!!" Are you going to look through the peephole for someone with a name-tag that says LAW on it? No, you are going to be looking for the CHARACTER of a uniform or badge and the AUTHORITY of a gun.

We are appealing to the NAME above ALL NAMES....The name NO ONE KNOWS

REV 19:12 His eyes are like a flame of fire/POWER, and on his head are many diadems/AUTHORITy; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself.

It is important to remember that the Lord does "not see as people see; for people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" I Samuel 16:7. God understands our intentions regardless of our understanding, what language we speak or what translation we are familiar with.

He also sees the errors in translations which theologians have made.

 

[Richard Aberdeen]

Strong's 4899 mashiyach: anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); spec. the Messiah

I like what I'm reading, but especially because you see that it was that "anointing", that made Jesus the messiah, or "the anointed one". I do have a problem in the Hebrew though, where KJV translators capitalized "mashiach" as Messiah and capitalized it. All other 37 times they never capitalized it once. And it was always interpreted as what it simply meant..."anointed".

Ancient Hebrew had no uppercase or lowercase distinctions. Capitalization was introduced centuries later by English and European translators and editors to add modern grammatical formatting or to show reverence. But they also added their 'theological' opinion when they applied it. I think that has been a huge error.


Here we disagree a bit maybe. I think 'Jesus christ' and 'Jesus the messiah' should both still be lower case, in the NT, just like it was 37 out of 39 times in the OT.


I agree. In the Hebrew and the Greek, the word "name", has two definitions. Def. one is 'literal' and two is 'figurative' A literal definition, is your given name (Bill) or surname (Smith). But a figurative definition, pertains to your 'authority or character'.

For example; If you hear a loud knock on your door in the middle of the night demanding that you; "Open up in the NAME of the law!!!" Are you going to look through the peephole for someone with a name-tag that says LAW on it? No, you are going to be looking for the CHARACTER of a uniform or badge and the AUTHORITY of a gun.

We are appealing to the NAME above ALL NAMES....The name NO ONE KNOWS

REV 19:12 His eyes are like a flame of fire/POWER, and on his head are many diadems/AUTHORITy; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself.



He also sees the errors in translations which theologians have made.

I only use capitalization for proper names and God. You can see my writings at this link, where typical biblical capitalization is not used. However, I think it's appropriate to capitalize Jesus Messiah, as it refers to a specific title of a specific person, rather than just to any anointed one. The Greek "christos" is emphasized repeatedly in the NT as the correct title for Jesus, who is the only Messiah who can save us from our sins. Koine Greek, which the entire NT was written in, except for James, is written in ALL CAPITALS LIKE THIS.
www.FreedomTracks.com/revolutionb.html

 

[Lambano]

What Does "Christ" Mean?​

God's designated King of Kings.