Why do Christians refer to Jesus as _the_ Christ? I thought "Christ" was his last name. What is a Christ?

Answer 1

"Christ" comes from the Greek word meaning "annointed". The Hebrew equivalent is "Moshiach," which has also found its way into English as the word "Messiah". Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah. In Judaism, the Messiah is an individual annointed, designated by G-d to lead the Jewish people, and to usher in an era of world peace. In Christianity, it's basically the same thing, except the Messiah can die without doing the job and get a do-over (dubbed by Christian theologians the "Second Coming"), and the definition of Messiah was expanded to also mean G-d incarnate (the idea of G-d in human form is one of the things that took Christianity from being a Jewish cult to being a seperate religion altogether).

So, to re-cap for you:

Christ = "annointed" (from Greek)
Messiah = "annointed" (from Hebrew)

Christian scholars use both terms when referring to Jesus. Jewish scholars would never use the Greek term, nor would they refer to Jesus as the Messiah.

While "Christ" came to be thought of as a surname, it's really more of a title. They didn't really have last names in the way we do today...usually someone would be referred to by his name and his father's name, as is still done in synagogues. Jesus would have been called "Yeshua ben Yosef". His followers who thought him the Messiah might have called him "Yeshua ben Yosef HaMoshiach" (Jesus son of Joseph, the Messiah), much the same way those with honorary tribal distinctions have those distinctions mentioned when given ceremonial duties in synagogue. Aharon ben Shlomo HaKohein would mean a Jewish priest named Aaron, who's father's name was Solomon.

(Interesting historical sidenote: Jesus comes from the Greek Iesous, which in turn is a translation from the Hebrew/Aramaic Yeshua. Had Jesus' name gone straight from Hebrew to English, without Greek in the middle, all Christians today would be praying in the name of a guy named "Josh.")

I hope this clears things up for you.

Answer 2

Christ is simialr to the word Christened. It is a latinised form of the word Christ which is the greek way of translating moshiach or messiah from Hebrew. Messiah means anointed with the understanding of being chosen and sealed. Like a knight who is knighted, the chosen vessel or instrument, made strong for Gods purpose. Jesus is also a translation from the hebrew name yah shuah, or joshua , greek is yaysoo, latin haysu spelled Jesu, ,english is Jesus.
Yah is the ancient name of God used with various different endings, from whence you may have heard the name Yahweh, or
Yahova, or jehova. So Gods name was in Jesus name, it means Yah saves. Hebrew names usually meant something and were not just given for the sound of it, but with purpose. Anyway Jesus' name was given by the an angel to the guardians, as a fulfillment of Gods promises to the fathers.

Answer 3

It's a title- at least, that's what the common christian view is.

Christ is acknowledged to be the English form of the Greek word Χριστός (Christós), which means literally The Anointed One. This word was originally used to translate the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ -that is Messiah.

According to Tom Harpur, a former professor of Theology at the University of Toronto who denies the historicity of Jesus, the Christian usage of the term Christ derives from Egypt. Harpur has argued that the application of the term Christ to Jesus derives from the Egyptian use of the term Karast (covered in embalming oil) to describe Horus, who Harpur also alleges that much of the descriptions of Jesus are copied from. Karast is a false cognate to Christ, and Harpur has alleged that this co-incidence was the reason that Christians chose this appellation of Horus rather than any other, since in Jewish circles, Christ readily brings to mind the Jewish belief in a Messiah.

Answer 4

Jesus name is Joshua ben Joseph. Jesus title is rabbi and Messiah. Rabbi means teacher, a person who know Jewish Law and tradition. Messiah means anointed. Christ is the Greek work for anointed. King of the Jews is the title the Romans gave Jesus.

So you will see Jesus, a Jew, a Rabbi, the Jewish Messiah, so call King of the Jews. You will see Jesus Christ as well as Christ Jesus.

Now to your "Jesus as the Christ" can be rephrase as Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, or just Jesus as the Christ. Just like we can use President Bush or Bush as the President..

Answer 5

I don't think that Jesus has a last name...we don't know last names in the Bible really. A Christ is just a messiah a messiah is a leader type. I am a Christian but don't really say Jesus the Christ so I'm not completely sure but I do know that He is our messiah.

Answer 6

Main Entry: Christ
Pronunciation: 'krIst
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English Crist, from Old English, from Latin Christus, from Greek Christos, literally, anointed, from chriein
1 : MESSIAH
2 : JESUS
3 : an ideal type of humanity
4 Christian Science : the ideal truth that comes as a divine manifestation of God to destroy incarnate error


One entry found for messiah.


Main Entry: mes·si·ah
Pronunciation: m&-'sI-&
Function: noun
Etymology: Hebrew mAshIah & Aramaic meshIhA, literally, anointed
1 capitalized a : the expected king and deliverer of the Jews b : JESUS 1
2 : a professed or accepted leader of some hope or cause
- mes·si·ah·ship /-"ship/ noun

Answer 7

"Christ" is a Greek translation of the Hebrew messiah, meaning “the anointed one.” so it is more correct to say Jesus, the Christ or Jesus the Messiah.

More important then adding "the" when we refer to Jesus is that He wants a relationship with us....a relationship that you can obtain in only a few moments....check the link below.

Answer 8

Christ is a word stemming from Greek (xhristos) which means 'gift'. It was given to Jesus after his death because he gave his life to save humanity, and theregore made humanity a gift.

By the way, to set the record straight : Messiah means King(the anointed one), not Saviour;) Therefore the word Messiah has NOTHING to do with the word Christ;)

Answer 9

Christ is Greek for Messiah or Anointed One

Answer 10

My understanding, anyone feel free to correct me if i'm wrong but explaine don't just state, is that one of the criteria in prophacy for recognizing the messahia was that he would be named Emanuel, (the others important ones were that he raise the dead, be of the line of david, and establish a jewish kingdom in israel). Since he clearly was not named Emanuel they dubbed him something that meant the same thing "christ" as an end run around that pesky scriptural prophacy. ( As to the other three, scripture says he raised the dead, the geneology in the bible is so screwed up its impossible to tell if he was of the line of david ( though clearly he couldn't be via Joseph since joseph was not his father) and he did not establish a Jewish kingdom). Under the best of circumstansas ( assuming he raised the dead) he was only one for four and taking an extra name on brought him up to fifty percent.