CHRIST

an appellation synonymous with Me iah. The word Χριϛὸς, signifies anointed , from χρίω, I anoint . Sometimes the word Christ is used singly, by way of auto nomas is , to denote a person sent from God, as an anointed prophet, king, or priest. “Christ,” says Lac tanti us, “is no proper name, but one denoting power; for the Jews used to give this appellation to their kings, calling them Christ, or anointed, by reason of their sacred unction.” But he adds, “The Heathens, by mistake, call Jesus Christ, Chrestus.” Accordingly, Suet on i us, speaking of Claudius, and of his expelling the Jews from Rome, says that “he banished them because they were continually promoting tumults, under the influence of one Chrestus:” “ Judæos, impulsore Chresto, a iduè tumultuantes, Româ expulit ,” taking Christ to be a proper name. The names of Me iah and Christ were originally derived from the ceremony of anointing, by which the kings and the high priests of God’s people, and sometimes the prophets, 1 Kings xix, 16, were consecrated and admitted to the exercise of their functions; for all these functions were accounted holy among the Israeli tes. But the most eminent application of the word is to that illustrious personage, typified and predicted from the beginning, who is described by the prophets, under the character of God’s Anointed, the Me iah, or the Christ. As to the use of the term in the New Testament, were we to judge by the common version, or even by most versions into modern tongues, we should receive it rather as a proper name, than an appellative, or name of office, and should think of it only as our Lord’s surname. To this mistake our translators have contributed, by too seldom prefixing the article before Christ. The word Christ was at first as much an appellative as the word Baptist, and the one was as regularly accompanied with the article as the other. Yet our translators, who would always say “the Baptist,” have, it should seem, studiously avoided saying “the Christ.” The article, in such expre ions as occur in Acts xvii, 3; xviii, 5, 28, adds considerable light to them, and yet no more than what the words of the historian manifestly convey to every reader who understands his language. It should therefore be, “Paul testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ,” or the Me iah, . Many other similar instances occur. Should it be asked, Is the word Christ never to be understood in the New Testament as a proper name, but always as having a direct reference to the office or dignity? it may be replied, that this word came at length, from the frequency of application to one individual, and only to one, to supply the place of a proper name. It would also very much accelerate this effect, that the name Jesus was common among the Jews at that time, and this rendered an addition nece ary for distinguishing the person. To this purpose, Grotius remarks, that in proce of time the name Jesus was very much dropped, and Christ, which had never been used before as the proper name of any person, and was, for that reason, a better distinction, was substituted for it; insomuch that, among the Heathens, our Lord came to be more known by the latter than by the former. This use seems to have begun soon after his ascension. During his life, it does not appear that the word was ever used in this manner; nay, the contrary is evident from several pa ages of the Gospels. The evangelists wrote some years after the period above mentioned; and therefore they adopted the practice common among Christians at that time, which was to employ the word as a surname for the sake of distinction. See Matt. i, 1, 18; Mark i, 1.