Title of Christ
Messiah and Christ
The Anointed One, promised through the prophets
What the text teaches
Messiah is Hebrew and Christ is Greek, and both mean . In Israel , and occasionally prophets were anointed with oil to mark them as set apart for God's work.
John 1:41 translates the word for the reader: we have found the Messiah, which is to say, the Christ. Christ is therefore a title before it is ever used like a name.
First in Scripture
1 Samuel 16:13. Samuel anoints David with oil and the Spirit of the LORD comes upon him, the first anointing of a king whose line the promised Messiah would come from.
Verses to carry with you
- Psalm 2:2. The nations conspire against the LORD and his anointed, establishing that opposition to God's king is opposition to God himself.
- Isaiah 61:1. The Spirit of the Lord anoints the speaker to bring good news, a passage Jesus reads aloud and applies to himself.
- Luke 4:18. Jesus stands in the synagogue at Nazareth and announces that Isaiah's anointing has been fulfilled that day, in their hearing.
- Acts 2:36. Peter's Pentecost sermon concludes that God has made this Jesus, whom they crucified, both Lord and Christ.
The original language
מָשִׁיחַ
Used of Israel's kings, and in Daniel 9:25 of one still to come.
Χριστός
The Greek rendering of mashiach, and the word behind the English Christ.
Historical and cultural background
By the first century many in Israel were waiting for a deliverer who would end foreign rule. That expectation explains why Jesus was cautious with the title in public and why the crowd's hopes turned so quickly at his trial. Scripture
Through the whole Bible
Samuel anoints Saul and then David, and the word enters Israel's vocabulary.
A coming ruler is promised from Bethlehem, from David's line, with a government of peace.
Peter confesses him as the Christ, and Jesus immediately speaks of .
The apostles preach a and Christ, not a military liberator.
Where this appears across the Bible
Audela traces messiah and christ through 7 chapters in 7 books, from 1 Samuel to Acts.
Old Testament
Samuel anoints David with oil and the Spirit of the LORD comes upon him, the first anointing of a king whose line the promised Messiah would come from.
The nations conspire against the LORD and his anointed, establishing that opposition to God's king is opposition to God himself.
The Spirit of the Lord anoints the speaker to bring good news, a passage Jesus reads aloud and applies to himself.
New Testament
Jesus stands in the synagogue at Nazareth and announces that Isaiah's anointing has been fulfilled that day, in their hearing.
We have found the Messiah, which is the Christ.
Peter's Pentecost sermon concludes that God has made this Jesus, whom they crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Cross references
- 1 Samuel 16:13. Samuel anoints David and the Spirit comes upon him.
- Psalm 2:2. The rulers take counsel against the LORD and his anointed.
- Isaiah 61:1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.
- John 1:41. We have found the Messiah, which is the Christ.
- Luke 4:18. Jesus reads Isaiah 61 and says it is fulfilled today.
- Acts 2:36. God has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ.
How it points to Christ
Luke 4 is the plainest link. Jesus reads the passage from Isaiah aloud and says the Scripture is fulfilled in the hearing of the room.
Teaching on the subject
with oil in Israel set a person apart for a specific role given by God, most often a , but also and occasionally prophets. When Samuel anoints David, the text says the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward, tying the outward act of oil to an inward reality of empowerment for the task ahead. Mashiach, anointed one, becomes attached to the office of Israel's king from this point on.
The prophets keep the hope of an deliverer alive even as Israel's actual repeatedly fail. Passages like Isaiah 61 describe someone by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor, and Daniel 9 speaks explicitly of an one still to come. By the first century, under Roman occupation, that hope had sharpened into an expectation, for many, of a political and military deliverer who would end foreign rule and restore Israel's kingdom.
It is against that backdrop that Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth and, having rolled up the scroll, says simply, today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. He is applying the of the Spirit directly to himself, in public, in his hometown. Peter's confession later, that Jesus is the Christ, draws an immediate and pointed response from Jesus, who begins to teach that must suffer and be killed, showing that Jesus accepted the title while redefining what it would mean in his case.
The apostles preach a and Christ rather than the military liberator many expected, and Peter's sermon at Pentecost states the conclusion plainly: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. The title survives the disappointment of a crucified Messiah because the resurrection reframes the crucifixion itself as the moment of kingship rather than its defeat.
Often misunderstood
Messiah is the Hebrew word and Christ is the Greek translation of the same word, both meaning one. John 1:41 makes the equivalence explicit, translating Messiah as Christ for Greek-speaking readers.
The hope for a who would restore Israel does have Old Testament roots, but the prophets also describe a suffering figure, as in Isaiah 53. Jesus fulfils both strands, first through suffering and then, still to come, through his return in glory, rather than one to the exclusion of the other.
Living this today
Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ and immediately had to relearn what that meant, since he had expected glory without a cross. It is worth asking whether your own picture of Christ has quietly edited out the suffering, or whether you are ready to follow an whose path to the throne went through Calvary.
Because God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, his authority over your life is not merely advisory. An in Israel was owed allegiance, and the New Testament calls believers to give that same allegiance to Jesus, in obedience now and in hope of his open reign to come.
Related people, places, events and themes
Related chapters
Isaiah 61, Luke 4, Acts 2
Study this further in Audela
- Can anything separate a believer from the love of God, and what is Christ doing now?
- What does "I can do all things through Christ" actually mean?
- What does it actually mean to abide in Christ?
- What does it mean to be in Christ, and how does a person get there?
- I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me
Sources and evidence
Explore the passage
These are questions the text can actually answer. Take one, go back to the passage with it, and read until Scripture answers rather than until you have an explanation you like. Each question names where this study, or another passage, does the answering.
What this reveals about God
Start here, because every passage of Scripture is first about God before it is about us. Read for what He does, what He says, and what He is called.
What does this word in Scripture teach about God?
Underline every verb God is the subject of. What He does tells you who He is.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about God's character?
Look for the words the text itself uses of Him: holy, merciful, faithful, jealous, patient. Take the text's own vocabulary rather than your own.
What this reveals about us
Scripture is honest about people. Read for what it says of human need, human failure, and the kind of response it calls for.
What does this word in Scripture teach about humanity?
Watch what the people in the text want, fear, and trust. Scripture rarely flatters them.
Where this arrives in Christ
Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him. Follow the line the Bible itself draws rather than inventing one.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about Jesus Christ?
Look for what the New Testament does with this text. A connection Scripture makes is a connection you can stand on.
What does this word in Scripture reveal about salvation?
Ask who does the saving, who is saved, from what, and by what means. Let the text answer each part.
The world behind the words
The first readers knew things we have to learn. Recovering what they knew is study, not speculation.
How would the original audience have understood this word in Scripture?
Ask what they had already been told, what they were living through, and what this would have cost them to believe.
What historical or cultural background helps explain this word in Scripture?
Look at the work, the worship, the law and the customs the text assumes you already understand.
What do these words carry in the original: מָשִׁיחַ, Χριστός?
Take the word to its root, its first appearance, and its range of use. Then let the context choose the meaning.
How this connects to the rest of Scripture
Scripture is its own best commentary. The clearest answers usually come from another passage rather than from a scholar.
Which Old and New Testament passages help explain this word in Scripture?
Prefer passages that quote or clearly echo this text. Those links are the Bible's own, not ours.
What biblical themes are developed in this word in Scripture, and where do they begin?
Trace one theme backwards to where Scripture first raises it, then forwards to where it lands.
What this asks of you
Application is the last step, never the first, and it must come out of the passage rather than out of general advice.
What does this word in Scripture teach believers to do today?
Say it as one sentence you could obey this week, and be able to point at the verse it came from.
Questions Audela will not answer
Where Scripture does not answer a question, Audela says so plainly rather than filling the silence. An honest “the Bible does not tell us” is more faithful than a confident guess, and it keeps the reader’s trust in God’s Word rather than in our reasoning.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.
- Ask instead: What does the passage say God did, and what does that reveal about His character?
- Ask instead: What has God told us about His purpose here, in this text or elsewhere in Scripture?
- Ask instead: What does Scripture say about how God acts, and where does it say it?
- Ask instead: What happened, and what does the rest of Scripture make of it?
Study tools
Ask Audela AI about this concept
Where this is taught in full
These are the deepest studies Audela has written that stand on this concept. Start with the chapter study if you want the passage itself, or the topic study if you want the theme traced across the whole Bible.
- Can anything separate a believer from the love of God, and what is Christ doing now?
- What does "I can do all things through Christ" actually mean?
- What does it actually mean to abide in Christ?
- What does it mean to be in Christ, and how does a person get there?
- I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me
Studies standing on the same passages
How this connects across Audela
Scripture teaches one story, so Audela is one library. These are the pages standing on the same passages, themes, doctrines and people as this one.
Same passage
Same chapter
- Genesis 22: The Mountain Where God Revealed the GospelBoth stand in John 1, at different points in the chapter.
- Psalm 23: The LORD Our ShepherdBoth stand in 1 Samuel 16, at different points in the chapter.
- Does Romans 8:28 mean everything that happens to me is good?Both stand in Acts 2, at different points in the chapter.
- Why does Abraham say God will provide a lamb, when God provides a ram?Both stand in John 1, at different points in the chapter.
The Sunday Study
One deep study, every week.
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.