CHRIST. — Greek equivalent (χριστός “anointed,” verbal adjective of χρίω) of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ “messiah.”
מָשִׁיחַ, a passive participle, like מָשִׁיחַ, of the verb מָשַׁח “to anoint” (generally with the sense of consecrating someone for a high religious-social function: priest [Ex. 28:41 and 30:23–32; Lev. 8:12], prophet [1 Kgs 19:16], or king [1 Sam 10:1; etc.]), occurs 35 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is rendered by the Septuagint as χριστός (only Lev 4:3 χειρισμένος), but by Aquila as χειρισμένος (cf. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis, XV, 11; PG 33, 885). In the Hebrew Bible it is used 5 times as an adjective (Dan 9:25 “the anointed leader”; Lev 4:3, 5:16 and 6:22 “the anointed priest”)
and twice as a substantive (Ps 105:15; 1 Chron 16:22). Usually (30 times), however, it is a substantive. The substantivized מָשִׁיחַ always means the “king” or “sovereign” chosen and established by God (cf. 1 Sam 16:6–7), and is always (except Dan 9:26 and Sir 46:19) followed by the genitive of Yahweh (or an equivalent pronoun): “the anointed of Yahweh” (ὁ χριστός Κυρίου); 15 times in 1–2 Samuel; Ps (Heb.) 2:2; 18:51; 20:7; 28:8; 34:10; 39:39, 52; 132:10, 17 (the plural in Ps 105:15 and 1 Chron 16:22 is a unique case); Isa 45:1; Hab 3:13. This regal title מָשִׁיחַ—χριστός is used twice for Saul, once for Solomon (2 Chron 6:42), once for Zedekiah (Lam 4:20), once (by analogy) for Cyrus (Isa 45:1), but almost always for David, idealized from 1 Sam 2:10, 35 as the instrument of God’s salvation. Twice the Anointed par excellence appears, the ideal King indissolubly united to Yahweh (Ps 2:2; Dan 9:25–26; cf. Isa 61:1), in whom the flourishing of the Davidic line will culminate (cf. Isa 11:1). His kingship will be of a charismatic-prophetic character, as with the first “anointed” Saul (1 Sam 10:6–13). Later, when the divine name was no longer pronounced, מָשִׁיחַ יהוה became (Aramaic) מְשִׁיחָא, ὁ Χριστός, to denote the King promised by God, the awaited founder of the “kingdom of God” on earth. After Dan 9:26, the earliest examples of this absolute use of מְשִׁיחָא—Χριστός in a transcendent sense are found in the apocrypha (2nd–1st c. BC): 1 Enoch 48:10; 52:4 and Psalms of Solomon 17:32 (cf. 18:5, 7).
In the New Testament the term CHRIST is of capital importance, as it qualifies Jesus and his mission. The New Testament, in which χριστός occurs at least 560 times, proclaims and demonstrates the message: Jesus is the CHRIST or Messiah (John 1:41 and 4:25 interpret ὁ Μεσσίας = Χριστός). From the Nativity (Matt 2:4) to Peter’s confession (Matt 16:16, 20; Mark 8:29; John 6:69) and Nathanael’s (with the synonym “King of Israel”: John 1:49), Martha’s (John 11:27), the demons’ (Luke 4:41), and the revelations of the Risen One (Luke 24:26, 46; Acts 26:23), the announcement resounds. Apostolic preaching has as its central theme that Jesus is the CHRIST, from Peter (Acts 2:36) and Paul (Acts 9:22; 17:3; 18:5, 28) to John (John 20:31; 1 John 2:22; 5:1; 2 John 7, 9). Yet in this regard the polemic against the Jews, who expected the CHRIST (John 1:20, 25, 41; 3:28; Luke 3:15), suspected that it was Jesus (John 4:29; 7:26–27, 31, 41; 10:24; 12:34) and questioned him in the Sanhedrin (Matt 26:63; Mark 14:61; Luke 22:67), then demanded his condemnation by accusing him of proclaiming himself CHRIST the King (Luke 23:2, 35, 39; John 18:33, 37; 19:14–15, 19–21). In the Gospels, Jesus does not publicly insist on his title of CHRIST before his Passion, but warns against the antichrists (q.v.) who will usurp that name (Matt 24:5, 23–24; cf. John 5:43b), and with clear allusion claims for himself the appellation ὁ Χριστός (Matt 24:42; 23:10; 24:5; Mark 9:41 [without the article, as in St. Paul, 1 Cor 1:12; 3:23; 2 Cor 16:7; 12:35; 13:21]).
Χριστός explicitly equals “King of the Jews” in Matt 2:2 and 4; 27:11 and 22; Luke 23:2, 37, 39; Mark 15:32. This primitive meaning remains implicit elsewhere. Alongside the traditional integral form ὁ χριστός Κυρίου (Θεοῦ), which persists only in Lucan writings (Luke 2:26; 9:20 [cf. Matt 16:16]; Acts 3:18; 4:26), the Gospels (as already in Psalms of Solomon 17:32; cf. Sir 46:19) present Χριστός Κυρίου (Luke 2:11), a title in which messianity culminates in the divinity that Jesus claims (Matt 22:42–45), and of which St. Paul was the herald. Yet even ὁ Χριστός alone expresses the full faith in the nature and mission of Jesus (Mark 8:29b). The appellation ὁ Χριστός designates Jesus in the mouths of believers in his transcendent messianity (Matt 1:17; 11:2; Acts 8:5; St. Paul) or of unbelievers who mock him (Matt 26:68; 27:17 and 22 with ὁ λεγόμενος). Moreover, it is equivalent to “Lord” (Κύριος):