Is Christ another name for Jesus or, as some postulate, the translation of Messiah into Greek? Let's look at the scriptures themselves.

A text from the Apostle Paul says:
"But concerning Israel, Isaiah cries out: Though the number of the children of Israel be like the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will fulfill his word on the earth, completely and quickly, as Isaiah has already said: If the Lord of hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah. What shall we say, then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained it, that is, the righteousness that comes from faith; but Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, has not attained that law. Why? Because it was not based on faith, but as if it were based on works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in it will not be put to shame.” Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Now Moses wrote that the man who practices the righteousness that comes from the law will live by it. But the righteousness that comes from faith says: Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to raise Christ from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach.” Romans 9:27-33 and 10:1-8.

The beginning of the text we reproduce speaks of Israel, and contrasts it with the Gentiles, mentioned in verse thirty.
Verse four of chapter ten speaks of Christ, saying that he is the end of the law, for the righteousness of all who believe. But who is Christ? Let's see:

Paul, the apostle considered the apostle to the Gentiles, was chosen by God to clarify the ancient scriptures, bringing to light what seemed to be veiled from the eyes of both orthodox Jews and Gentiles.

The text in which the apostle says, “Do not ask in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’, that is, to bring Christ down from above; or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’, that is, to raise Christ from the dead,” was borrowed from another text by Moses, see:

"For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult, nor is it far from you. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it? ’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?  But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.” Deut. 30:11–14.

What Moses calls this commandment and this word is what Paul calls Christ in his epistle to the Romans in the text quoted at the beginning. So Christ is the word of God, his commandments.

And the Jews who were contemporaries of Jesus knew from the prophecies that the word would become flesh and dwell among humans. That is why they asked Jesus, “Are you the Christ?” And Jesus told them that he had already told them, but they did not believe.

Furthermore, Paul says that the Israelites who sought righteousness from the law did not attain it, while the Gentiles, who did not seek it, attained it through faith.

But this does not mean ordinary belief. For “faith” is one of the seventeen names of God's law.

And when the text also says that “the Israelites who sought righteousness from the law did not attain it,” it does not refer to God's law, but to that of Moses, in which sacrifices were established for the forgiveness of the daily sins of the people, and to which the Israelites clung as a lifeline. Thus, Judah, the last tribe to be rejected by God, also claimed to be righteous by the law of sacrifices, while the Gentiles, by faith in Christ, the word of God, which in essence corresponds to his law.

Thus, Christ is the word, which became flesh and, in this form, dwelt among men. For one of his names is The Word of God or The Word of God, according to the translation, and who is also God, according to John 1:1-3.

Thus, the arguments put forward to this day about Christ being another name for Jesus or its translation from Greek fall flat. Therefore, when biblical quotations speak of Jesus Christ, they should be Jesus, the Christ. That is, Jesus, the Word of God.

Manaus-AM, 12/20/2015

Oli Prestes
Missionary

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