Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Jesus Messiah

Abstract

The consensus of New Testament scholars that the appellation Χριστός in Paul’s letters is a personal name and devoid of messianic convictions is increasingly questioned. Moving beyond philological, tradition-historical, exegetical, and common-sense arguments, the following can be demonstrated. When we treat Paul as a real person who read and studied the Hebrew Scriptures, who proclaimed the gospel in both Greek and Aramaic, using some Hebrew in the synagogues, who taught in local congregations in both Greek and Aramaic, who maintained contact with the Aramaic-speaking Jesus followers in Jerusalem throughout his ministry, and who sang and prayed in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the assumption that, for Paul, Χριστός always stood for מְשִׁיחָא/הַמָּשִׁיחַ, the Messiah of God and the Messiah of God’s people, is highly plausible.