What think ye of Christ?

Well, most of you who are familiar with the Scriptures, will know that Christ means 'the Anointed One', which in Hebrew is Messiah. You may also know that there are three office titles that will be anointed in the old testament: high priests, prophets, and kings, and thus some say that Christ is the office title that has all of those three titles in one. Well, if we stop at that point, we have missed the most essential meaning of Christ. As Christians (which derive the name from Christ, for Christians literally mean 'little Christs'), we should really know better than that, because even the Pharisees agree with that, but that was far from being adequate, as Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees in the following conversation:

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He says unto them, how then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying,

The LORD said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand,
till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? (Matthew 22:41-45, KJV)

We know that the Pharisees were expecting a mere man as their Christ, to setup an earthly kingdom for them, like what David did, only that this time the kingdom should be much more powerful and glorious, and it should last forever. Thus by this conversation Jesus quoted a psalm of David to question their interpretation of the Scriptures.

So, let us take a look at what others of that time were thinking of Christ from the Scriptures. Let us first look at two places of the Scriptures, under quite different circumstances:

But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. (Matthew 26:63, KJV)

He says unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for the flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 16:15-17, KJV)

In the verse of Matthew 26:63, the high priest used that knowledge to condemn Jesus, while in Matthew 16:15-17, Peter confessed his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (this shows that knowledge by itself does not save). But one thing is in common: both acknowledged that the Christ is not just a mere man, but the Son of the living God! From the Gospel of John, we know that the Son of the living God is the Word, and Jesus is the Word became flesh. And so, the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, found its ultimate meaning: the Word became flesh! And the ceremony of anointment in the old testament shadows the ultimate mystery of the Word became flesh. In the Gospel according to John, the purpose of the whole Gospel is simply this:

but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:31, KJV)

And this is such an important issue, that apostle John wrote in his first epistle about antichrist:

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. (1 John 2:22-23, KJV)

So, if anyone denies that Jesus is the Christ, he effectively denies that Jesus is the Son of God, and by denying the Son, he also denies the Father! Such one is antichrist. Now we know from the Scriptures that the Christ is the Son of God. No wonder we are called Christians in the Scriptures: for we also became the sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ, inheriting the Kingdom in glory together with Christ! Rejoice, you sons of the living God! Praise the Lord!