Meaning of CHRIST

THE CHRIST (gr. "ho christos").
An official title of the Lord Jesus, which came to be used as a name. In Jn. 1:41, 4:25 this title is related to that of Messiah of the OT. The Jews and Samaritans were waiting for the Messiah, "called the Christ."

We find the title "Messiah" in Dn. 9:25, 26 in the Seventy Weeks prophecy. The Hebrew term is "mashiach" and means "anointed one." This term is used of the Lord Jesus in Ps. 2:2, where it speaks of kings and princes taking counsel against Jehovah and against his "Anointed One."

This same term is used of the high priest and the king as God's anointed; but the Lord Jesus is emphatically "the Anointed One," this being the meaning of the term "the Christ."

"The Christ" is how this title should appear in many places in the NT where the King James Version has simply "Christ."

In the Gospels it is almost always "the Christ," and frequently in the epistles, except in those places where it is said Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus, which has more clearly the character of a name.

It refers to the Lord as Man, as anointed with the Holy Spirit.
In Daniel we read that the Messiah Prince would be cut off, and would have nothing (Dan. 9:26, margin).

The old Reina version translates "he will be killed, and will have nothing" and in the margin gives the paraphrase "he will be driven out of possession."

This was fulfilled when, instead of being accepted as Messiah by the Jews, He was rejected, cut off, and received none of the messianic honors that belonged to Him, although, by His death, He laid the foundation of His future glory on earth, working out eternal redemption for the saved.

We read in 1 Cor. 12:12 that as the body is one, and has many members, "so is the Christ." The Head and the members in the power and anointing of the Spirit form one body.

Having been rejected as Messiah on earth, He has been made, already resurrected from the dead, Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), and thus the counsels of God regarding Him and man in Him are fulfilled.

It is revealed that the saints had been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. All things in heaven and on earth must be headed in the Christ (Eph. 1:10).

As Christ is the Head of the body the Church (Eph. 4:15). This is a vast topic that can barely be outlined in an article.