Jesus, the Anointed One
Having emphasized the name of Jesus the creed calls Him the Christ, which, as I've mentioned earlier, is a title rather than a surname.
Alister McGrath points out the significance of this title: "In calling Him 'the Christ,' the new testament writers are pointing to Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah." I Believe, p.38.
Christ, actually Christos, is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word Messiah. In every place the new testament refers to this Hebrew title, the Greek word Christ is used. There is one place, however, where both words are found together.
That place is John 1:41, where Andrew exclaims to his brother Peter, "We have found the Messiah (Greek, Messian)..." and then John adds the editorial comment, "which when translated is Christ (Greek, Christos)." In other words, the Greek text transliterates - spells out the phonetic equivalent - of the word Messiah into Greek letters. Apparently, John anticipated Greek readers of his gospel who needed a translation of the Hebrew word messiah.
Though the Messiah is the promised deliverer of God's people, the word messiah itself does not mean that. It means "anointed one." The significance of anointing is displayed in the account of the prophet Samuel anointing the boy David to be king over Israel.
"So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him... and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power," 1Samuel 16:13.
Certain people in the old testament were so anointed with oil, distinguishing them as of special importance, for instance the high priest, but most notably the king. (Interestingly, the prophets were never anointed). The oil being a symbol of the power of the Holy Spirit upon the man for his calling. Thus anointed, these men became "messiahs" (small m) and symbols of the Messiah (capital M) who was to come.
One last, but by no means trifling, observation about the name and title Jesus Christ needs to be made. In the Hebrew name Jesus the Son of God is presented to the Jews; and in the Greek title Christ He is presented to the gentiles. In other words, He is the Savior of the whole world.
