Christology 101 (Part 2): The Theological Significance of Jesus’ Messianic Title

The main character in the Scriptures, as well as all human history, is Jesus Christ.

Since people today typically have a first and last name, we might assume that Jesus is his first name and Christ is his last name.

However, until about the 10th century AD, people typically had one given name.

If they had a surname (last name), it was connected to their father or city of residence.

For example, in the New Testament, we read of:

• Simon son of Jonah,
• Saul of Tarsus, and
• Jesus of Nazareth.

This is to say, Christ is not Jesus’ last name. 🙂

In John 1:41, Andrew tells Simon, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Christ).” In saying, the Messiah, Andrew identifies the term Christ not as a personal name, but as Jesus’ Messianic title.

The term Christ is transliterated from the Greek word Christos, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew word, Messiah (Māšîaḥ, מָשִׁיחַ) which means “anointed one.”