Christ (Gr. Christos) is the word used in the New Testament and in the Septuagint as the equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah (q.v.). Both words mean 'anointed.' When kings and priests, and sometimes prophets, were set apart for the discharge of their respective functions, it was customary to anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord (1 Sam. x. 1, xii. 3; Exod. xxix. 7, xxx. 23-33; 1 Kings xix. 16); hence the term. Oil was used in the ceremony because it was regarded as emblematical of the Holy Spirit and of salvation (1 Sam. xvi. 13, x. 1, 9, 10; Isa. xi. 1, 2, lxi. 1-3; Acts x. 38).
In a secondary sense the word is applied to persons set apart by God for some special end, though they were not literally anointed. Thus Cyrus, the king of Persia, is spoken of as the Lord's anointed (Isa. xlv. 1), because he was Jehovah's chosen instrument for setting free the captives in Babylon. We find it used, in the plural, regarding the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ps. cv. 15). It is also applied to the chosen people as a whole (Hab. iii. 13, revised version).
As applied to Jesus, the word is used in a two-fold sense—as an appellative, and as a proper name. At first it was used in the former sense with the article—'the Christ'—but at a later period—e.g. in the epistles of Paul, and in 1 Peter, it is found to have passed over into a proper name. When used as a title of office it manifestly looks back to the Old Testament doctrine of the Messiah. That doctrine may be briefly indicated by a reference to three passages. We find the Messiah represented as the messenger of good tidings to men = God's Prophet—in Isa. lxi. 1; as making expiation for sin = God's consecrated Priest—in Daniel, ix. 24-27; and as the King of God's heritage in Ps. ii. 2. When Jesus, therefore, claimed to be the Messiah (cf. John, iv. 26), he undoubtedly meant it to be understood that the Old Testament ideals connected with the title were realised in him. In his person, that is to say, the offices of prophet, priest, and king were united and consummated. That it was thus that his disciples understood his claims is patent to every reader of the New Testament. So thoroughly filled were they with the Messianic idea of his mission that, as we have seen, the official title, 'the Christ,' came to be largely used by them, without the article, as his proper name.
When Jesus came thus to be spoken of as Christ, or Jesus Christ, it was but natural that his followers should be called after him, Christians. This name, Tertullian informs us (Apol. c. 3), was often mispronounced Chrestiani by those who were not conversant with Jewish ideas. They manifestly thought that it was derived from the Greek Chrēstos = good. The Christians, we are told, instead of taking umbrage at this distortion of their current name, gladly accepted it as implying an admission on the part of the heathen of the moral excellency both of their Master and of themselves. For the Life of Christ, see JESUS.