Matthew 16:15-16 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Simon
Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
We play different roles in our lives, related on what we need to commit to and
accomplish, that when overlapped may cause confusion for the people around us. If we
own a business, that doesn’t mean we should act like a boss toward our own parents.
It’ll be difficult to harmonize this.
This is similar to Jesus, who holds three offices—which we will discuss soon—yet finds
harmony, even supplement and complement one another in Him. That’s why it’s
important to understand what Jesus being the Christ means.
Christ is not Jesus’ last name. The ancient time didn’t have last names like we do today.
They can be identified by attaching their place of origin (e.g., Jesus of Nazareth, Paul of
Tarsus), their father’s name (e.g., Peter son of Jonah, Joshua son of Nun), or their
occupation (e.g., Simon Magus, meaning magician; Matthew the Tax Collector). So
when we call Jesus “the Christ”, we are not simply adding a title—we are affirming His
identity. He was mentioned like so in several bible passages, such as Matthew 1:1,
John 1:17, and 1 Cor 1:2 to cite a few.
Why is this important? The title “Christ” means “The Anointed One.” It is the equivalent
of the Hebrew word Meshiach or “Messiah”. In times before Christ, “anointed” referred
to those set apart for God’s service. They were the prophets, priests, and kings who
were to rule and represent significant areas in God’s plan of redemption. Calling Jesus
as the Christ is affirming that He is the Anointed One of God to redeem His people.
This also implies that God’s people need saving from some sort of bondage, which is
more than from national captivity or temporal struggles, but from an eternal and spiritual
enslavement caused by sin. Jesus came to save His people from their sins (Matthew
1:21), He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), through
His eternal sacrifice (Mark 10:45, Hebrew 9:12).
The work of Jesus as the Christ, as confessed by Peter in Matthew 16, is very
important and should be taken seriously. More than just a name, “Christ” speaks of
what He will do as the anointed from eternity past to give His life in order to save us
from utter destruction. In the words of Paul in Romans 7:24-25 “Wretched man that I
am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord!”
