Is "Christ" a title of Jesus, or a name?

Upvote:-1

Just to add to what both Ryan Frame and Andreas Blass answered.

The word translated Messiah in the Old Testament:

מָשִׁיַח (Hebrew)

mashiyach (maw-shee'-akh) n-m.

  1. anointed

  2. usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint)

  3. (specifically) the Messiah, the Anointed One

and Christ in the New Testament:

Χριστός (Greek)

Christos (khris-tos') n/p.

  1. (literally) Anointed

  2. (transliterated) "Christ"

  3. (properly) the Messiah, the Anointed One of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

  4. (by function) the (kinsman) Redeemer, the Saviour

  5. (by identity) Jesus, Yeshua, Ἰησοῦς, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, יֵשׁוּעַ

were originally used only as a title, but in modern usage; since the invention of the Gutenberg press; have been used as both a title and name. In modern usage the title has been relegated be used only in description of Earthly Kings, Emperors, and so on. Where as the usage of the word Christ, in the English speaking world and increasingly in other languages has come to be more exclusive as a name for Jesus. In most of the world now the word 'Christ' pronounced (Krist) in all languages refers to Jesus as the only savior of mankind.

Upvote:7

As some existing answers and comments already note, the boundary between a "name" and a "title" can be murky or fluid.

Another possibility has recently been argued at length by Matthew Novenson in his book, Christ among the Messiahs: Christ Language in Paul and Messiah Language in Ancient Judaism (OUP, 2012). He spends 30+ pages on the question, attempting to demonstrate that Paul's use of "Christ" is neither "name", nor "title", but a kind of half-way house: an "honorific" -- a kind of illustrious secondary name (see Novenson's discussion of definition and applicability on pp. 87ff.).

A good example of the kind of thing Novenson argues for is in a designation like "Antiochus Epiphanes", in which "Antiochus" is the name, and "Epiphanes" (meaning "god-manifest") the honorific.

Novenson's book is quite accessible, and those interested in this question would find the time spent with his work well invested. There are several substantial reviews of it around the web, too, notably Nijay Gupta's for the Review of Biblical Literature.

Update (10.06.2017) - Those who find Novenson's work helpful might be interested in his newly published follow-up: The Grammar of Messianism: An Ancient Jewish Political Idiom and Its Users (OUP, 2017).

Upvote:11

The word "Christ" is derived from the Greek translation of the Hebrew word (that is commonly rendered as) "Messiah"; it means "anointed". So "Jesus Christ" means "Jesus the Messiah" or "Jesus the anointed One". The phrase "Christ the Lord" could be understood as "The anointed One, the Lord" but I suspect it's actually a case of people using "Christ" as a name even though it's technically a title.

Upvote:11

"Christ" is from the Greek "christos," which means anointed - it's the same as the Hebrew Messiah. "Christ" as such is solely a title, though it has come to be both a title and a name; you can see it rather clearly in some of Paul's writings. Jesus is not just a christ but is the Christ. It identifies Him, and is therefore a name.

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