Messiah

Occurrences in Scripture

The Hebrew word mashiach is usually translated "anointed one" in the Old Testament.

• Kings: Most often it refers to a king. David called Saul "the LORD's anointed" and refused to harm him (1 Samuel 24:6).
• Priests: It is also used of the anointed priest (Leviticus 4:3).
• A foreign king: The term is applied even to the Persian king Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1).
• A figure yet to come: Psalm 2:2 and Daniel 9:25–26 have traditionally been read as texts that look ahead to a figure who is to come.

In the New Testament, the transliterated form Messias appears only twice, both in the Gospel of John: when Andrew tells Simon, "We have found the Messias" (John 1:41), and when the Samaritan woman speaks of the Messiah's coming (John 4:25). The New Korean Revised Version renders the word as Messiya. Elsewhere the translated term "Christ" is used.

Background

In ancient Israel, anointing was a rite by which a person was installed in an office. The Davidic covenant promised that David's dynasty would hold the throne forever (2 Samuel 7:12–16), and Israel later experienced the fall of the kingdom and exile. Over the course of these events, the expectation grew that an ideal king would arise from among David's descendants.

Jewish expectations during the intertestamental period were not uniform. Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are known to contain language anticipating both a royal messiah and a priestly messiah. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, rendered mashiach as Christos, the word from which "Christ" derives.

Significance Across Scripture

The Gospels present Jesus as the Messiah. Peter confessed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). When the high priest asked Jesus whether He was the Christ, Jesus answered him (Mark 14:61–62).

At the same time, Jesus taught that the Messiah would suffer, be killed, and rise again (Mark 8:31). In this He distanced Himself from the contemporary expectation of a political liberator. On the basis of the resurrection, the early church proclaimed Jesus "both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). Accordingly, "Christ" in "Jesus Christ" is not part of a personal name but a title expressing the confession that Jesus is the Messiah.

Interpretations and Issues

• Judaism and Christianity: Mainstream Judaism does not recognize Jesus as the Messiah and continues to await the Messiah's coming. Jewish tradition commonly identifies the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 with the people of Israel, while Christianity reads the passage as a prophecy pointing to Christ.
• Prophecy and typology: Interpreters and traditions differ over whether a given Old Testament text should be regarded as a direct prophecy of the Messiah or as a type (a pattern), in which a king or event in its original context foreshadowed Christ.
• The manner of fulfillment: Dispensationalism tends to hold that the promise of David's throne will be literally fulfilled for Israel in the millennial kingdom after the Second Coming. Covenant theology emphasizes that the promise has already begun to be fulfilled in Christ and the church.
• Messianic claims: Many Korean denominations reportedly treat teachings that present a particular individual as the returning Lord or the Messiah as an important criterion when determining whether a group is heretical.

In the Korean Church

"Messiah" is used in preaching and hymnody as a title for Jesus. Around Christmas, church choirs frequently perform pieces from Handel's oratorio Messiah, especially the "Hallelujah" chorus.