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What and who is…
Christ

Greek: Χριστός or Χριστοῦ or Χριστόν —transliteration: Xristós or Christos

Meaning: anointed (The Annointed One)

“Christos” (Christ) is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word translated “Messiah.”

also known as: Christos and Messiah

Christ is the official title of our Lord, occurring 1,514 in the New Testament. It denotes that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his people. He is Jesus the Christ (Acts 17:3; 18:5; Matthew 22:42), the Anointed One. He is thus spoken of by Isaiah (61:1), and by Daniel (9:24-26), who describes him as “Messiah the Prince.”

The Messiah is the same person as “the seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15), “the seed of Abraham” (Genesis 22:18), the “Prophet like unto Moses” (Deuteronomy 18:15), “the priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4), “the rod out of the stem of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1, 10), the “Immanuel,” the virgin’s son (Isaiah 7:14), “the branch of Jehovah” (Isaiah 4:2), and “the messenger of the covenant” (Mal. 3:1).

This is he “of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.” The Old Testament Scripture is full of prophetic declarations regarding the Great Deliverer and the work he was to accomplish. Jesus the Christ is Jesus the Great Deliverer, the Anointed One, the Savior of men. This name denotes that Jesus was divinely appointed, commissioned, and accredited as the Savior of men (Hebrews 5:4; Isaiah 11:2-4; 49:6; John 5:37; Acts 2:22).

To believe that “Jesus is the Christ” is to believe that he is the Anointed, the Messiah of the prophets, the Savior sent of God, that he was, in a word, what he claimed to be. This is to believe the Gospel, by the faith of which alone men can be brought unto God. That Jesus is the Christ is the testimony of God, and the faith of this constitutes a Christian (1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 John 5:1).

Christ has the sovereign authority to control entrance into the kingdom (Isa. 22:22; cf. Matt. 16:19; John 14:6). In Rev. 1:18 he is pictured holding the keys to death and hell—here [in Isa. 22:22 and Rev. 3:7 “the key of David”], the keys to salvation and blessing. —Dr. John F. MacArthur Jr., John MacArthur Study Bible

Article Version: December 26, 2018

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