This post is part of a series of communion mediations working through the Apostles’ Creed. You can read the creed here, and the last installment here.
When we think of the name of our Savior, we often think Jesus Christ. And that is good, and well. The New Testament speaks in this way, using both Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus interchangeably when speaking of the Only Mediator between God and man. However, technically speaking, our Lord’s name - the one given to him at birth by Mary and Joseph - is Jesus.
Christ, on the other hand, is a title. It’s the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Messiah, or anointed one. What does it mean that Jesus is the anointed one, and how could this be so important as to make it into a creedal formula like we have in the Apostles’ Creed?
Well, as for its creedal significance, it’s likely tied to the fact that this combo name-title is used specifically of the Lord Jesus in Scripture to set him apart from all of the others Jesuses running around. Jesus was a common Jewish name. So to denote Jesus Christ functioned to point us to this specific Jesus, the one who is the only Son of God, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, etc.
But to be Messiah, the Christ, has deep Old Testament significance. To be anointed marked one out for special service. Exodus 28 describes the anointing of the priests as the sign of their consecration to the Lord - their being set apart for service. Likewise, in 1 Samuel 16, the prophet Samuel is sent to anoint David as the King of Israel. Though he was not yet in that role, he was consecrated, or set-apart to that task. Anointing with oil was a way of representing physically that God had marked this person out for a specific task, and they were given his Spirit as a means of carrying out their duties in that task (hence David’s request in Psalm 51 that God not remove the Spirit from him). Where did Jesus receive such an anointing?
Matthew 3:16-17, ‘And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”’
The Father himself anointed the Son by sending the Spirit in visible form at his baptism. The Father anointed the Son for ministry. The three-fold ministry of Jesus, as classically understood, is as our prophet, priest, and king. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him to carry out all three of these offices. Speaking the word to us, as our great prophet; offering himself up as the one-for-all sacrifice, as our great high priest; now ruling and reigning, our everlasting king.
When we come to the table, we who have confessed Christ as Lord and been baptized in water have received the physical sign of his gift of the Spirit to us. And so we speak of One Spirit, One Lord, One Faith, one Baptism. One body of the anointed Christ was broken for us, his people. He now welcomes all who have believed in him to partake, to symbolize our unity with him and with one another, as those who have been saved by Jesus Christ.
