Christ
{{about|the Christian theological role}}
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- IconChrist.jpg -
Icon of Christ in a Greek Orthodox church
Christ is the
English term for the
Greek {{Polytonic|Χριστός}} (
Khristós) meaning "the
anointed".
(1) In the 3rd- to 1st-centuries BC, the
Tanakh (what Christians would in later centuries come to call the
Old Testament) was translated into a
Greek version called the
Septuagint, in which
Khristós was used to translate the
Hebrew {{Hebrew|מָשִׁיחַ}} (
{{unicode|Mašíaḥ}},) (
Messiah), meaning "[one who is] anointed, typically with
holy anointing oil."
(2) A central doctrine of the
Christian faith is that God took human form in the body of Christ. Therefore, Christ was both fully human and fully God at the same time.
(3) Followers of
Jesus became known as
Christians because they believed that
Jesus is the Christ (
Messiah). Jewish tradition rejects this claim and is still waiting for the messiah to come (see
Jewish Messiah) as a human being without deity or divinity.
(4)The area of
Christian theology focusing on the nature of Jesus as the Christ, particularly with how the
divine and
human are related in his person, is known as
Christology.
Etymology
{{see|Chrism|Christian (word)}}The spelling
Christ in
English was
standardized in the 17th
century, when, in the spirit of
the Enlightenment, spellings of certain words were changed to fit their
Greek or
Latin origins. Prior to this, in
Old and
Middle English, the word was usually spelled
Crist, the
i being pronounced either as {{IPA|/iː/}} (see (Help:IPA for English)), preserved in the names of churches such as
St Katherine Cree, or as a short {{IPA|/ɪ/}}, preserved in the modern pronunciation of
Christmas). The spelling "Christ" is attested from the 14th century.
(5){{Jesus}}The term
Christ (or similar) appears in English and most
European
languages, owing to the
Greek usage of
Khristós (transcribed in Latin as
Christus) in the
New Testament as a
description for
Jesus. In the
Septuagint version of the
Hebrew Bible, it was used to translate into Greek the
Hebrew mashiach (messiah),
meaning "[one who is] anointed."
(6) Scripture asserts that Jesus was conceived, by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of his virgin mother Mary without a human father ({{bibleref2|Matthew|1:18-25}}, {{bibleref2|Luke|1:35}}, {{bibleref2|Luke|3:23}}).
Apostles' Creeds dating from the third century A.D. and still in current use by Christians succinctly describe Jesus as:
- the only Son of God the Father Almighty
- born of the Virgin Mary
- was crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead and buried (having died in the place of all humanity and paid the penalty due to everyone since all have sinned against God)
- rose (resurrected) from the dead on the third day
- ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty
- is coming again to judge the living and the dead
Esoteric Christian views
See also Second Coming and Esoteric Christianity Christian Science
In the theology of
Christian Science,
Mary Baker Eddy, the religion's founder, wrote in her book,
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, that:
"The invisible Christ was imperceptible to the so-called personal senses, whereas Jesus appeared as a bodily existence. This dual personality of the unseen and the seen, the spiritual and material, the eternal Christ and the corporeal Jesus manifest in flesh, continued until the Master's ascension, when the human, material concept, or Jesus, disappeared, while the spiritual self, or Christ, continues to exist in the eternal order of divine Science, taking away the sins of the world, as the Christ has always done, even before the human Jesus was incarnate to mortal eyes."(7)
Eddy wrote that while Jesus, as a material man, was not the exact ontological or quantitative equivalent to God, he thoroughly embodied the spiritual sonship of God's nature. In Christian Science, the Christ, or divine manifestation of God, continues forever to enlighten humanity and to destroy sickness, sin, and death.
Rosicrucian
For the
Rosicrucians there is a distinction to be made between
Jesus and the Christ.
(8) Jesus is considered a high Initiate of the human life wave (which evolves under the cycle of
rebirth) and of a singularly pure type of mind, vastly superior to the great majority of the present humanity.They believe he was educated during his youth among the
Essenes and thus prepared himself for the greatest honor ever bestowed upon a human being: to deliver his pure, passionless, highly evolved physical body and
vital body (already attuned to the high vibrations of the '
Life Spirit'), in the moment of the
Baptism, to the Christ being for his ministry in the physical world. At the
cruxifixion the Christ was released from the bodies of Jesus and entered into the
Earth.
(9) Christ is described as the highest
spiritual being of the life wave called
Archangels, having completed his union ("the Son") with the second
aspect of God:
Wisdom (
Christ the Logos); and this great Archangel still is, according to these
esoteric Christian teachings, the indwelling
Spirit of the Earth: the
Regent of the Earth.
(10)Gnostic
{{see also|Sophia (wisdom)|New Thought}}The
gnostics generally believed not in a Jesus who was a divine person with a human form, but in a spiritual christ who dwelt in Jesus. Through the spiritual path of gnosticism, followers of these schools believed that they could experience the same knowledge, or
gnosis. Gnosticism, a non-hierarchical interpretation of the Christian message, was declared
heresy by the formal, hierarchical Christian church at the first
Ecumenical Council, which occurred at
Nicaea in 325 A.D., although condemnation of such beliefs were held by orthodox church leaders for some time.Gnostic texts with Jesus Christ include the
Gospel of Thomas, the
Gospel of Mary, and many more which have been discovered throughout the centuries.
Creation Spirituality
In his book
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ Matthew Fox wrote of "the
Cosmic Christ."
Islamic view
Muslims believe Jesus (
Isa or عيسى) to be the Messiah (Massih) and a prophet. Although they believe in the
Virgin Birth, they do not consider Jesus to be "the son of God". Jesus was neither crucified nor dead, but was raised to Heaven by God while still living.Islamic traditions narrate that he will return to earth near the
day of judgement to restore justice and defeat
al-Masīḥ ad-Dajjāl (
lit. "the false messiah", also known as the
Antichrist) and the enemies of Islam.
(11) Χ
The use of "Χ," derived from Chi, the
Greek alphabet initial, as an abbreviation for Christ (most commonly in the abbreviation "
Χmas") is often misinterpreted as a modern secularization of the term. Thus understood, the centuries-old
English word Χmas, is actually a shortened form of CHmas, which is, itself, a shortened form for
Christmas. In fact, the use of "Χ" to represent the full word goes back to the earliest days of Greek Christianity.
Slang usage
The
interjection "Christ!" is often used as a sign of surprise or anger, without a direct religious reference—that is, as an
exclamation. Some Christians understand this usage to be in violation of the
Commandment against taking the Lord's name in vain, although the severity of the transgression varies among different groups of believers.The prohibition against using interjections was taken more seriously in the past, to the point where it was not only considered socially improper, but a sin against God. This led to the creation of many
circumlocutions which allowed the speaker to express the emotion while avoiding the transgression. Common
euphemisms that have arisen for this usage include "For crying out loud!" (UK and US) and "Crikey" (UK, Aus.), used as an alternative by people reluctant to use "Christ".
(12) Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, the prohibition against using the name of the deity as an interjection has become much more relaxed.
See also
References
-
[Etymology Online weblink]
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[Etymology Online weblink]
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["Incarnation." Online:weblink Accessed 12-28-2008]
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[weblink "The Jewish Messiah: The Criteria." Jews for Judaism.]
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[Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "Christ"]
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Christian views
{{see also|Jesus|New Testament view on Jesus' life}}The New Testament records that the Messiah, long awaited, had come and describes this savior as The Christ (Greek Genitive: {{polytonic|τοῦ Χριστοῦ}}, toú Christoú,; Nominative: {{polytonic|ὁ Χριστὸς}}, ho Christós). The apostle Peter, in what has become a famous proclamation of faith among Christians since the first century, said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" ({{bibleref2|Matthew|16:16}}).Teachings about Jesus and testimonies about what he accomplished during his three-year public ministry are found throughout the New Testament. Core biblical teachings about the person of Jesus Christ may be summarized that Jesus Christ was and forever is fully God (divine) and fully human in one sinless person at the same time.[Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Zondervan, 1994. ISBN 0310286700]
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[Science and Health 334]
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[ Max Heindel, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception (Part III, Chapter XV: Christ and his Mission), November 1909, ISBN 0–911274–34–0]
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[Cf. {{Bibleref2|Ephesians|4:9-10}}]
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[The Rosicrucian Fellowship, Eastern and Western Spiritual Alternatives]
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[Encyclopedia of Islam -- "Isa"]
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[Further euphemisms would include "criminy", "jeepers creepers", and "jiminy cricket".]
Further reading
- Harpur, Tom, The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2004.
- McDowell, Joshua and Don Stewart, Handbook of Today's Religions, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983.
- Ott, Ludwig, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 1957.
- Michalopoulos, Dimitris (2006): "Islam and Christendom: The distorted relationship". Entelequia. Revista Interdisciplinar, 2, Otoño 2006. Págs. 201-206.
External links
{{New Testament people}}{{Christianityfooter}}
مسيحKristusCristKristusCristoKristoKristoمسیحChrist#ReligionCristo그리스도KristusChristoKristurCristoChristusキリストCristoKrishtiХристосKristusகிறிஸ்த்து基督
(...as imported from WP)
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