What Does Christ Mean? Why Is the Lord Jesus Called Christ?

by Xie Shang

As Christians, we are all familiar with the word “Christ.” Because we pray in the holy name of Jesus Christ every day, we believe the Lord Jesus is Christ. Some people may say, “Christ means the anointed One.” Some say, “Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God.” Some say, “Christ is the incarnate Lord Jesus.” Others say, “Christ is the Lord Jesus, the Son of man.” Everyone has his own opinion. For these opinions, other people raise questions. Some of them say, “Jesus Christ is the Son of man. Then, according to the record of the Old Testament, Jehovah God called those who were used by Him the son of man.
Are those who were used and called the son of man by God Christ? Just as the Bible says, ‘And he said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you’ (Ezekiel 2:1). ‘And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen this?’ (Ezekiel 47:6). Here, Jehovah God called Ezekiel the son of man. Then was he Christ? In the Old Testament, those who were used by Jehovah God to do work were prophets, priests and other people. God called them the son of man. So, were they Christ?” Some say, “Christ means the anointed One. In the Old Testament, the kings and priests were all the anointed ones. Why weren’t they Christ?” Some say, “Christ is the Messiah; then why do we pray to Jesus Christ, not Messiah Christ?” They all hold to their opinions, and it makes us confused: What on earth is Christ?

By chance I read two passages in a spiritual book, “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; this substance will not interrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will. Therefore, the incarnate God would absolutely never do any work that interrupts His own management. This is what all man should understand. The essence of the work of the Holy Spirit is to save man and is for the sake of God’s own management. Similarly, the work of Christ is to save man and is for the sake of God’s will. Given that God becomes flesh, He realizes His substance within His flesh, such that His flesh is sufficient to undertake His work. Therefore, all the work of God’s Spirit is replaced by the work of Christ during the time of incarnation, and at the core of all work throughout the time of incarnation is the work of Christ. It cannot be commingled with work from any other age” (“The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father”). “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but instead, the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”). From these words, we can see that only the incarnate God is called Christ. Christ has a divine substance and He can express the truth and do the work of God Himself. Christ is the God who assumes flesh to become a man. From His outward appearance, He seems ordinary and normal as man, so He is also called the Son of man. But the one who is called the son of man may not be Christ. Take the apostles, prophets and priests for example. Though they were called the son of man, their substance was humanity, was man and was God’s creation. Hence they couldn’t express the truth, let alone do the work of God Himself, for they were not Christ. Besides, Christ is the flesh that God’s Spirit is realized in and indwells in. Although Christ means the anointed One, the anointed one may not be Christ. This is the difference between Christ and man. Christ has the appearance of a man, but His essence is the incarnate God. In the Old Testament, why was Jehovah God not called Christ? Because God at the time worked, guided men in their lives and led them to worship Him using the Spirit, and He didn’t become flesh to do work, thus He couldn’t be called Christ. Christ is a special word used by God incarnate. Christ is God Himself living within the flesh. Though in outward appearance Christ is an ordinary person, His essence is different from any of created humans’. Christ is God incarnate, is God’s own flesh and is God taking on a flesh and coming to earth; Satan can’t go near and corrupt Him. Therefore, Christ can do the work of God Himself and can express the truth to redeem and save mankind. This is Christ’s particular divinity. Christ’s essence is a combination of a normal humanity and a complete divinity and is God Himself on earth.

Now we may understand more about what Christ is, but we need to continuously seek and ponder this aspect of the truth. Only thus can we deepen our understanding of this truth and welcome our groom—the last Christ!