Theological Term of the Week: Messiah

Messiah
The English rendering of the Hebrew word mashiach, which means “anointed one.” The Old Testament predicted a coming deliverer chosen by God to redeem Israel, and the Jews called this deliverer the Messiah. The Hebrew word for Messiah comes into the Greek as christos, from which we get the English word Christ. 

• In scripture:

  One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). (John 1:40–41 ESV)

  The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” [26] Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 

  (John 4:25–26 ESV)
  

• From the IVP Bible Background Commentary by Craig S. Keener:

  Messiah. The rendering of a Hebrew term meaning “anointed one,” equivalent to the original sense of the Greek term translated “Christ.” In the Old Testament, different kinds of people were anointed, and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls mention two main anointed ones in the end time, a king and a priest. But the common expectation reflected in the biblical Psalms and Prophets was that one of David’s royal descendants would take the throne again when God reestablished his kingdom for Israel. Many and probably most Jewish people in Palestine believed that God would somehow have to intervene to put down roman rule so the Messiah’s kingdom could be secure; many seem to have thought this intervention would be accomplished through force of arms. Various messianic figures arose in first-century Palestine, expecting a miraculous intervention from God; all were crushed by the Romans. (Jesus was the only one claimed to have been resurrected; he was also one of the only messiahs claiming Davidic descent, proof of which would be more difficult for any claimants arising after A.D. 70.)

Learn more:

1. Compelling Truth: What does Messiah mean? What does Christ mean? Is Jesus the Messiah?
2. Ligonier Ministries: Jesus the Messiah, The Messiah in Prophecy
3. Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Messiah
4. Simply Put: Messiah/Christ (audio and transcript)
5. The Bible Project: The Messiah (video)

Related terms: 

• ascension of Jesus
• baptism of Jesus
• incarnation
• offices of Christ
• resurrecton of Jesus
• temptation of Jesus
• Transfiguration
• triumphal entry

Filed under Person, Work, and Teaching of Christ

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