Skip to main content

What does Jesus Christ Mean?

Jesus was “Jesus Christ” to me, and I was a “Christ + ian.” My identity was linked to his identity through the word “Christ.” I viewed “Christ” like a “last name” – he was Jesus Christ. Back then, I didn’t know the New Testament was written in Greek. Bible translators have four options for working with those ancient Greek or Hebrew words:

    1. translate – bring the meanings of the Greek word over into English. 

2. transliterate – replace letters of the Greek word with equivalent English letters. 

3. omit – ignore the Greek word and write nothing in their translation.

4. insert – insert a word into the translation for which there is no Greek word.

Bible translators chose option #2, they transliterated the Greek word above instead of translating it. The arrows connect English letters that are equivalent to the Greek letters. The last two letters of the Greek word are dropped, thereby creating the transliteration -- “Christ.”

The translation of the Greek word is “anointed.” In the Jewish culture of the Jesus of history, people were anointed to hold certain offices and do specific things – kings, priests and prophets. Therefore “Christ” is a title related to an office and specific functions.

What was Jesus anointed to do? He revealed the answer to that question on a Shabbat morning at his hometown synagogue in Nazareth. The answer was in the verses he read from Isaiah (61:1-2a):

“The Spirit of God is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the year of acceptance of God. (Isaiah 61:1-2a)

After he finished reading he said – “Today these words are fulfilled.” What the Jewish audience heard was this:

“I am the Anointed One in the passage from Isaiah.

 

This is what Jesus had been anointed to do:


Preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed and proclaim the year of acceptance of God.

 Instead of choosing to transliterate and use “Jesus Christ,” the translators should have translated it “Jesus the Anointed One.” Of course, if they had done that we would have “Anointed One + ians” instead of “Christians.”

Thank you for reading this and please discuss it with others.

Shalom,

Jim Myers

#meaningsofwordsmatter

☼ Your donation makes these emails possible! Click Here to Donate.

☼ Subscribe to this Mail List so you won’t miss future emails. It is FREE! Click Here.

☼ Let people know what we do by “Liking” us on Facebook. Click Here.

☼ Visit the BHC website Click Here.










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It’s a Yod -- NOT a Jot and Tittle!

Not only did Yeshua read and speak Hebrew, so did his followers and disciples! Two very well known, but not accurately understood words in the Gospel of Matthew prove it – jot and tittle . For some reason jot and tittle stick in the minds of Christian Bible readers. But when you ask them what jot or tittle mean, you get a lot of conflicting and some really weird answers. Today, you are going to get the facts about what Yeshua originally said and how they ended up in English translations of the Bible as jot and tittle . Let’s begin by reading Matthew 5:18 from the King James translation: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. If you have not read the article “ From Yeshua to Jesus ” in Yeshua’s Kingdom Handbook please take a moment to read it online by clicking here before you continue. In it you will see how we began with the name “ Jesus ” and traced it through Lati
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Not Say RAQA! - Yeshua on Anger (Part 2)

In the last blog, we covered the first part of Yeshua’s lesson on Anger -- An Angry Person Should be Tried in Court like a Murderer – keep in mind that “anger” is the focus of Yeshua’s lesson. “Whoever says to a brother, ‘ RAKA ,’ shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin.” [i] Yeshua reveals that the seriousness of the offense has become greater by elevating the crime to the next highest court – the Sanhedrin . It is the highest court in the nation and would be the equivalent of our Supreme Court. What makes this offense more serious than murder, to keep things in the context established by Yeshua? It is because of what the angry person said out of anger – “ RAKA !” RAKA is the English transliteration of the Greek word found in the ancient manuscripts of Matthew. Interestingly, the Greek word is also a transliteration of a Hebrew word into Greek. Keep in mind that when a translator working on a translation of a Greek manuscript transliterates a Greek word, he only finds the
Post a Comment
Read more

The Prayer Yeshua Prayed Twice Every Day

One of Jesus’s earliest memories was no doubt watching and listening to his family when they gathered to pray the Shema at sunrise before the day’s work began and after the working work day was over at sunset . He also heard and participated in praying the Shema at their synagogue. He was surrounded by neighbors who also prayed the same prayer in their homes every day. The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah . It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l'hitpalel, meaning “ to judge oneself .” This surprising word origin provides insight into the purpose of Jewish prayer. The most important part of any Jewish prayer, whether it be a prayer of petition, of thanksgiving, of praise of God, or of confession, is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe and our relationship to God. [1] Most of Jewish prayers are expressed in the first person plural, "us" instead of "me," an
Post a Comment
Read more