As
we learned in an earlier blog – How
“Yeshua” became “Jesus” – during the life of Yeshua, and for over
another thousand years afterwards, the name “Jesus” was unknown. It didn’t
exist. This isn’t a recent discovery. It has been known in scholarly circles
for centuries. However, when it comes to local pulpits, there are numerous examples
of sermons and theological disputes over the importance of the English word “Jesus.”
Some say there is no salvation without the “name of Jesus.” Others preach that
healing only comes through the name “Jesus.” They use the word “Jesus” like it
has some “magical properties” connected to it. But, as pointed out above, no member
of the Yeshua Movement or anyone else for over the first thousand years of
Christianity would have known who you were referring to if anyone had asked if
they knew “Jesus.”
The
same thing would have been true in Galilee, Samaria and Judah if anyone had
asked about “Christ.” BHC President, Dr. Ike Tennison, provides some very
interesting information about the word “Christ,” including the fact that Yeshua was not the first “Christ.”
A common assumption among people is that Christ was the last name
of Jesus. There is good reason for this assumption, since he was
called Jesus Christ in the New Testament itself. The more accurate
phrase, however, is Yeshua the Christ, because Christ is a title and not a
name.
The name Jesus is a succession of transliterations (i.e., simply
converting the letters of one language into the equivalent letters of another
language): English from Latin from Greek from Hebrew (see Matthew 1:21 and Luke
1:31 for the name).
Christ, on the other hand, is a transliteration
of the Greek word Χριστός (CHRISTOS) into English. The
Greek word CHRISTOS, a form of the Greek verb CHRIO that means "to pour," is a translation of the
Hebrew word MASHIACH
(transliteration), from which we get the word "Messiah." Both words, Christ and Messiah, mean
"anointed" (i.e., the
anointing oil was poured onto their heads). Thus, Yeshua the Christ means Yeshua the Anointed.
In the history of the Hebrew people, those who were anointed
included priests and kings. This raises some questions:
● Why was Yeshua
anointed?
● When was he
anointed?
● Who anointed him?
● Who else was anointed in
the history of the Hebrew people?
● Who did the
anointing? How was anointing done?
(We will address these questions in future blogs.) For a
description of the origin of the process, read Chapters 28 and 29 of Exodus.
As pointed out above, Yeshua was not the first “Christ.” So, who
was the first? The first “Christ” of the Bible was Aaron, the brother of Moses, who was anointed as a priest (Exodus 29:7). Another
“Christ” (a priest) appears in Leviticus 4:5.
The first king to be anointed was Saul
(I Samuel 9:16). Thus, Aaron the Christ
was the first priest to be so anointed, and Saul the Christ was the first king to be so anointed.
Perhaps the most interesting of the “Christs” is the one mentioned
in Isaiah 45:1. This was Cyrus
the Christ, King of the Persians! Interesting. Check
it out.
During
the life of Yeshua, there is no doubt that many Jews argued over whether Yeshua
was “the Anointed One,” because there were other Jews living at the same time
who claimed to be “the Anointed One.” All of the Jewish people knew what “anointed”
meant in their culture. But, when Gentiles became part of the movement, and later
when church leaders came from Gentile cultures, the original meaning of what “anointed”
meant was lost. It didn’t take long for the belief that “Jesus was the only
Christ to ever exist” emerged throughout Christianity.
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