Christ

At Caesarea Philippi, we are told that Peter called Jesus ‘the Christ’ (Mark 8: 29), which is translated from the Greek word  which means the same as the Hebrew ‘Messiah’, ‘the anointed one’.  This statement, ‘Jesus is the Christ’ probably was one of the confessions of the early Christian movement and has come to us through both the New Testament and the creeds of the church.  

The title ‘Messiah’ was originally given to the ancient kings of Israel, anointed by God. (Pannenberg, p 54) It had become for the Jews the name of the longed-for king who would come and restore God’s rule in Israel and over all the world.  Originally the nation of Israel was made up of the twelve tribes, led by prophets and governed by judges. They saw themselves as being ruled by God. In Samuel’s time, they decided they wanted to be like other nations and be ruled by a king, so Samuel, on God’s behalf, installed Saul as king. He was corrupted by his power and became unfaithful to God.  The next king was David who remained faithful. He brought the ark of the covenant to Mt Zion, so that Zion became known as the place where God ruled. The king who reigned from Zion became the ‘son of God’ and was both a king and priest.  The prophet Nathan’s prophesy to David about the future of his house (2 Samuel 7: 12-14) became for the Israelites a prophesy of the Messiah.  The kind of king, from the line of David, who would rule in God’s name was described in Psalm 72: 4, 12-14  and also in Isaiah 11: 4 as one who would be ‘defending the rights of the poor, having mercy on humble, unimportant people, protecting the weak, and liberating the oppressed’(Moltmann, p 7).   When Jesus spoke in the synagogue at Nazareth he read from the book of Isaiah which describes the same kind of Messiah. (Luke 4: 18)

At the time of Jesus, it was expected that the Messiah would be one who would come and deliver them from the rule of foreigners, specifically the Romans, and restore Israel to the kind of glory they remembered having under David.  ‘Messiah’ was a political title.  Jesus himself avoided accepting the title of ‘Messiah’ in this way.  Mark’s gospel tells us that he often expressly forbade any mention that may lead to anyone thinking he might be this kind of saviour of the Jewish nation.  The gospels describe how he attempted to explain to his disciples a different kind of ‘Messiahship’ from that which was commonly expected; that of being a servant who would suffer, be killed and rise again.   When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the expected Messiah, he left it to them to decide for themselves, pointing them towards the miracles and exorcisms he had performed. (Luke 7: 18-22)   He was presented to the Romans as a pretender to the Messiahship, which was not uncommon amongst men who attempted to raise revolts against Roman rule. 

After his death and resurrection, Jesus’ followers, recalling his earthly ministry, saw in the things he said and did the fulfilment of the prophesy to David.  The title Messiah or Christ came to have a deeper meaning in that it became for the church the title of the one who brought salvation in a different form: ‘the reconciliation of men which overcomes death’.(Pannenberg, p 56)  ‘The justice of calling Jesus the Messiah, or Christ, therefore lies in the fact that no other bringer of salvation was now to be expected … so that all men’s expectations of salvation could be transferred to Jesus, since the aspects of truth which those expectations possessed were fulfilled in him.’ (Pannenberg, p 9)

Son of God.

The early creeds called him ‘Son of God’, which was a title not uncommon in the world at that time, both in Jewish and gentile thinking. Both Egyptian and Roman rulers were known by titles which labelled them as ‘sons’ of divine beings.  The title ‘Son of God’ was also given to people who were miracle workers or in some other way stood out from the ordinary run of human beings.  In the Jewish Scriptures, the nation of Israel was called by God ‘my son’ and kings of the house of David were also given that title, as people who were ‘elected’ by God to rule in his name.  The early Christians saw in Jesus one who was ‘elected’ by God and was especially obedient to God in doing his will, even so far as willingly going to the cross.

In the way Jesus talked about God and interacted with God, they saw a unique relationship.  Jesus spoke of God as ‘Father’ and in his prayers used the very personal name ‘Abba’ to address God, just as a loved son would do his father.  They also heard in Jesus’ teaching an authority that they felt could be of God.  From their experience of Jesus before and after his resurrection, the early Christian church came to see Jesus Christ not only as fully human, but also as divine.  They worshipped him as God, which they could only do without becoming idolaters if they saw him as truly God.

Romans 8: 3 and Galatians 4: 4 state that the Son was sent by God.  Even in those very early years, the church had come to understand that the Son was not simply a human being used by God, but existed before he came into the world as Jesus of Nazareth.  John’s gospel also develops this understanding when it tells us that the Word (the Logos) was with God at the beginning of creation, that in fact the whole of creation came into being through him, that the Word became flesh, took on human form and came to live among us, and that God’s Son has made God known to us. (John 1: 1 - 17)  That gospel links the Son of God with the Word who was present at the beginning of creation.  

Lord 

Closely related to the title ‘Son of God’ was the title ‘Lord’.  As with the ‘Son of God’, the title ‘Lord’ was given in the New Testament world to rulers.  Also, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the name for God was translated as ‘Kyrios’, which means ‘Lord’.  An early confession of the church was that ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’.  For a Christian, to confess that Jesus is Lord means that Jesus is to be worshipped and obeyed as God in all areas of life and leaves no room for any other deity.  The church sees Jesus not only as Lord of individual Christians and of the church, but of all creation. (Lochman, pp 94, 95)

Moltmann quotes Romans 14: 9 which says that Christ is Lord both of the dead and the living and points out that this means that, ‘in community with him, those who are separated by death again find their community with one another.’  He goes on to say that it also means that Christ is the ‘head of the new humanity’ which has been brought into being.  Moltmann also quotes Philippians 2: 11 which tells us that the purpose of Christ’s lordship is the glory of God the Father through a redeemed world.  (pp 182, 183)

Pannenberg makes the comment about these two titles, ‘Son of God’ and ‘Lord’, that ‘Taken literally, the title Son of God describes primarily and expressly the relationship of Jesus to God, to the Father, and only implicitly his position with regard to the world.  Conversely, the title, Kyrios, Lord, seems primarily to express  this relationship to the world in the sense of rule… ’  He further qualifies this in pointing out that acceptance of Jesus as Lord depends greatly on belief in Jesus as Son of God (pp 69, 70).  

Son of Man

Another title which was used by Jesus of himself was ‘Son of Man’.  It has been suggested that he used this title to affirm his humanity.(McGrath, p327)   Jesus used the title when he was identified as Messiah, to stress the suffering servant nature of the Messiah.  This has led to the suggestion that it is meant to bring to mind the picture of the suffering servant in Isaiah 52. (Stacey, p 112)   But it seems more likely that it refers to Old Testament images in Daniel 7: 13 - 14 which describe a vision of a human figure coming before God to be appointed to represent a new Israel and to bring in the kingdom of God.  It was a figure associated with the last days and the coming of divine judgement.  In Mark 14: 62, Jesus replied to the accusation that he was the Christ by quoting the passage from Daniel and his use of the Son of Man in predictions of the last days seems to indicate that he thought of himself in that role.

Each of the titles given to Jesus in the New Testament and in the creeds give us a picture of Jesus not only as a man in his own time, but as a Christ who is present to bring freedom to both individuals and to humanity as a whole.  He therefore also bring a promise and a hope for the future.  Moltmann comments that ‘The Lord – the messiah –the Son of man are representatives of God’s rule …. For through them the coming of God himself can be seen’ (Moltmann, p325)

1.  J.M. Lochman, The Faith We Confess, Fortress Press, USA, 1984

2.  Alister E. McGrath,  Christian Theology: An Introduction (2nd Ed ), Blackwell Publishers,  USA,  1997

3.  D.L. Migliore,  Faith Seeking Understanding,  Wm B Erdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1991 

 4.  J. Moltmann,  The Way of Jesus Christ,  SCM Press, Lond., 1990

5.  W. Pannenberg,   The Apostles’ Creed ,  SCM Press,  Lond., 1972

6.  John Stacey,  Groundwork of Theology, Epworth Press,  Lond., 1984