Christ, used by

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

as both a name and a title, unambiguously refers to

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

. It is also used as a

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

, in the reciprocal use "Christ Jesus", meaning "the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

Jesus", and independently as "the Christ". The Pauline epistles, the earliest texts of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

, often refer to Jesus as "Christ Jesus" or "Christ". The concept of the Christ in Christianity originated from the concept of the messiah in Judaism. Christians believe that Jesus is the messiah foretold in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament. Although the conceptions of the messiah in each religion are similar, for the most part they are distinct from one another due to the

split of early Christianity and Judaism Jewish Christians ( he, יהודים נוצרים, yehudim notzrim) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). The Nazarene Jews integrated the belief of Jesus a ...

in the 1st century. Although the original

followers of Jesus Follower or variants may refer to: People and roles * Follower (Australian rules football), Australian rules position * Follower, a colloquial term for a debt collector * Camp follower, a civilian who follows in the wake of an army *Friending and ...

believed Jesus to be the Jewish messiah, e.g. in the

Confession of Peter In Christianity, the Confession of Peter (translated from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ''Confessio Petri'') refers to an episode in the New Testament in which the Apostle Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Christ ( Jewish Messiah). T ...

, Jesus was usually referred to as "Jesus of Nazareth" or "Jesus, son of

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

", Jesus came to be called "Jesus Christ" (meaning "Jesus the ''Khristós''", i.e. "Jesus the Messiah" or "Jesus the Anointed") by Christians, who believe that his

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

and

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

fulfill the

messianic prophecies In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' i ...

of the Old Testament.

Etymology

Christ comes from the Greek word (), meaning "

anointed Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or oth ...

one". The word is derived from the Greek verb (), meaning "to anoint." In the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, ''χριστός'' was a

semantic loan A semantic loan is a process of borrowing semantic meaning (rather than lexical items) from another language, very similar to the formation of calques. In this case, however, the complete word in the borrowing language already exists; the change i ...

used to translate the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

(, messiah), meaning "⁠ ne who isanointed".Messiah
Retrieved February 4, 2020

Usage

The word ''Christ'' (and similar spellings) appears in English and in most European languages. English-speakers now often use "Christ" as if it were a name, one part of the name "Jesus Christ", though it was originally a title ("the Messiah"). Its usage in "Christ Jesus" emphasizes its nature as a title. Compare the usage "the Christ". The spelling ''Christ'' in English became

standardized Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...

in the 18th century, when, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, the spelling of certain words changed to fit their

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

origins. Prior to this, scribes writing in Old and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

usually used the spelling ''Crist''—the ''i'' being pronounced either as , preserved in the names of churches such as

St Katherine Cree The Guild Church of St Katharine Cree is an Anglican church in the Aldgate ward of the City of London, on the north side of Leadenhall Street near Leadenhall Market. It was founded in 1280. The present building dates from 1628 to 1630. Formerly a ...

, or as a short , preserved in the modern pronunciation of "

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

". The spelling "Christ" in English is attested from the 14th century. In modern and ancient usage, even in secular terminology, "Christ" usually refers to Jesus, based on the centuries-old tradition of such usage. Since the

Apostolic Age Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles () and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christianity ...

, the

... use of the definite article before the word Christ and its gradual development into a proper name show the Christians identified the bearer with the promised Messias of the Jews.

Background and New Testament references

Pre-New Testament references

In the Old Testament, anointing was a ceremonial reserved to the Kings of Israel (

1 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the book ...

19:16; 24:7),

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

17 (18):51), to Cyrus the Great (

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

45:1), to the High Priest of Israel, the

patriarchs The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certa ...

(Psalms 104(105):15 and to the

prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

. In the

text of the

deuterocanonical books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to be ...

, the term "Christ" (Χριστός, translit. Christós) is found in

2 Maccabees 2 Maccabees, el, Μακκαβαίων Β´, translit=Makkabaíōn 2 also known as the Second Book of Maccabees, Second Maccabees, and abbreviated as 2 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which recounts the persecution of Jews under King Antiochus I ...

1:10 (referring to the anointed High Priest of Israel) and in the Book of Sirach 46:19, in relation to Samuel, prophet and institutor of the kingdom under Saul. At the time of Jesus, there was no single form of

Second Temple Judaism Second Temple Judaism refers to the Jewish religion as it developed during the Second Temple period, which began with the construction of the Second Temple around 516 BCE and ended with the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The Second Temple ...

, and there were significant political, social, and religious differences among the various Jewish groups. However, for centuries the Jews had used the term ''moshiach'' ("anointed") to refer to their expected deliverer.

Opening lines of Mark and Matthew

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

("The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God") identifies Jesus as both Christ and the Son of God. uses Christ as a name and Matthew explains it again with: "Jesus, who is called Christ". The use of the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

before the word "Christ" and its gradual development into a proper name show that the Christians identified Jesus with the promised messiah of the Jews who fulfilled all the messianic predictions in a fuller and a higher sense than had been given them by the

rabbis A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Confession of Peter (Matthew, Mark and Luke)

The so-called

, recorded in the Synoptic Gospels as Jesus's foremost apostle

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

saying that Jesus was the Messiah, has become a famous proclamation of faith among Christians since the first century.

Martha's statement (John)

In Martha told Jesus, "you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world", signifying that both titles were generally accepted (yet considered distinct) among the followers of Jesus before the

raising of Lazarus Lazarus of Bethany (Latinised from Lazar, ultimately from Hebrew Eleazar, "God helped"), also venerated as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the subject of a prominent sign of Jesus in the Gospel of John, ...

Sanhedrin trial of Jesus (Matthew, Mark and Luke)

During the

Sanhedrin trial of Jesus In the New Testament, the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus refers to the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin (a Jewish judicial body) following his arrest in Jerusalem and prior to the trial before Pontius Pilate. It is an incident reported by all t ...

, it might appear from the narrative of Matthew that Jesus at first refused a direct reply to the high priest

Caiaphas Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD), known simply as Caiaphas (; grc-x-koine, Καϊάφας, Kaïáphas ) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famous ...

's question: "Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?", where his answer is given merely as Σὺ εἶπας (''Su eipas'', "You ingularhave said it"). Similarly but differently in Luke, all those present are said to ask Jesus: 'Are you then the Son of God?', to which Jesus reportedly answered: Ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι (''Hymeis legete hoti ego eimi'', "You luralsay that I am". In the Gospel of Mark, however, when asked by Caiaphas 'Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?', Jesus tells the Sanhedrin: Ἐγώ εἰμι (''ego eimi'', "I am"). There are instances from

Jewish literature Jewish literature includes works written by Jews on Jewish themes, literary works written in Jewish languages on various themes, and literary works in any language written by Jewish writers. Ancient Jewish literature includes Biblical literature ...

in which the expression "you have said it" is equivalent to "you are right". The Messianic claim was less significant than the claim to divinity, which caused the high priest's horrified accusation of blasphemy and the subsequent call for the death sentence. Before Pilate, on the other hand, it was merely the assertion of his

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

dignity which gave grounds for his condemnation.

Pauline epistles

The word "Christ" is closely associated with Jesus in the Pauline epistles, which suggests that there was no need for the early Christians to claim that Jesus is Christ because it was considered widely accepted among them. Hence

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

can use the term ''Khristós'' with no confusion as to whom it refers, and he can use expressions such as "in Christ" to refer to the followers of Jesus, as in and . Paul proclaimed him as the Last Adam, who restored through obedience what Adam lost through disobedience. The Pauline epistles are a source of some key Christological connections; e.g., relates the love of Christ to the knowledge of Christ, and considers the love of Christ as a necessity for knowing him. There are also implicit claims to him being the Christ in the words and actions of Jesus.

Use of ''Messias'' in John

The

Hellenization Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the H ...

Μεσσίας (Messías) is used twice to mean "Messiah" in the New Testament: by the

disciple A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

at John 1:41, and by the

Samaritan woman at the well The Samaritan woman at the well is a figure from the Gospel of John. John 4:4–42 relates her conversation with Jesus at Jacob's Well near the city of Sychar. Biblical account The woman appears in ; here is John 4:4–26: This episode takes ...

at John 4:25. In both cases, the Greek text specifies immediately after that this means "the Christ."

Christology

Christology, literally "the understanding of Christ," is the study of the nature (person) and work (role in salvation) of

Jesus in Christianity Jesus is called the Son of God in the Bible's New Testament, and in mainstream Christian denominations he is God the Son, the second Person in the Trinity. He is believed to be the Jewish messiah (the Christ) who is prophesied in the Hebrew Bi ...

. It studies Jesus Christ's humanity and divinity, and the relation between these two aspects; and the role he plays in

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

. From the second to the fifth centuries, the relation of the human and divine nature of Christ was a major focus of debates in the early church and at the first seven ecumenical councils. The

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bi ...

in 451 issued a formulation of the

hypostatic union ''Hypostatic union'' (from the Greek: ''hypóstasis'', "sediment, foundation, substance, subsistence") is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one h ...

of the two natures of Christ, one human and one divine, "united with neither confusion nor division". Most of the major branches of Western Christianity and

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

subscribe to this formulation, while many branches of

Oriental Orthodox Churches The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...

reject it, subscribing to

miaphysitism Miaphysitism is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the " Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' ('' physis'')." It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and differs from the Chalcedonian pos ...

. According to the ''

Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...

'' of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

, in the singular case of Jesus, the word ''Christ'' has a twofold meaning, which stands for "both the Godhead anointing and the manhood anointed". It derives from the twofold human-divine nature of Christ (

dyophysitism In Christian theology, dyophysitism (Greek: δυοφυσιτισμός, from δυο (''dyo''), meaning "two" and φύσις (''physis''), meaning "nature") is the Christological position that two natures, divine and human, exist in the person of ...

): the Son of man is anointed in consequence of His incarnated flesh, as well as the Son of God is anointing in consequence of the " Godhead which He has with the Father" (ST ''III'', q. 16, a. 5).

Symbols

The use of "Χ" as an abbreviation for "Christ" derives from the Greek letter Chi (χ), in the word (). An early Christogram is the '' Chi Rho'' symbol, formed by superimposing the first two Greek letters in Christ, chi (Χ) and rho (Ρ), to produce ☧. The centuries-old English word '' Χmas'' (or, in earlier form, ''XPmas'') is an English form of χ-mas, itself an abbreviation for Christ-mas. The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

'' (''OED'') and the ''OED Supplement'' have cited usages of "X-" or "Xp-" for "Christ-" as early as 1485. The terms "Xpian" and "Xren" have been used for "Christian", "Xst" for "Christ's" "Xρofer" for Christopher and Xmas, Xstmas, and Xtmas for Christmas. The ''OED'' further cites usage of "Xtianity" for "Christianity" from 1634. According to ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', most of the evidence for these words comes from "educated Englishmen who knew their Greek"."Xmas" article
''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', Merriam-Webster, 1994, p 968, , retrieved via Google Books, December 27, 2008 The December 1957 ''News and Views'' published by the Church League of America, a conservative organization founded in 1937, attacked the use of "Xmas" in an article titled "X=The Unknown Quantity". Gerald L. K. Smith picked up the statements later, in December 1966, saying that Xmas was a "blasphemous omission of the name of Christ" and that "'X' is referred to as being symbolical of the unknown quantity." More recently, American evangelist Franklin Graham and former

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

contributor

Roland S. Martin Roland Sebastian Martin (born November 14, 1968) is an American journalist. He was a commentator for TV One, the host of ''News One Now'', and ''Washington on Watch With Roland S. Martin''. He was also a CNN contributor, appearing on a variety ...

publicly raised concerns. Graham stated in an interview that the use of "Xmas" is taking "Christ out of Christmas" and called it a "war against the name of Jesus Christ." Roland Martin relates the use of "Xmas" to his growing concerns of increasing commercialization and secularization of what he says is one of Christianity's highest holy days.Martin, Roland (December 20, 2007)
Commentary: You can't take Christ out of Christmas
CNN. Retrieved on December 29, 2009.