[Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:15–17)

Christ” is not the last name of Jesus despite the fact that we normally put the term in the “last name” or “surname” position. Such naming conventions are more modern than we realize, but in ancient times, a person would often be referred to by his given name—in this case, “Jesus”—followed by the phrase “son of …” In Jesus’ case that presumably should have been “son of Joseph.”

While it is true that Jesus would have been the adoptive son of Joseph, the husband of His mother Mary, He was not the biological son of Joseph. We say adoptive because His right to the throne of David came through the kingly line, which was Joseph’s, not the biological line, which was Mary’s.

Interestingly, one of Jesus’ favorite self-references was “Son of Man,” a phrase exclusively used by Christ 84 times in the gospel accounts. Yet He was also called “the son of David” 18 times by others. Only three times do we see in the gospels the combination “Jesus Christ.” That terminology is used, though, 132 times in the rest of the NT, along with 91 instances of other forms like “Christ Jesus.” Thus, the Savior came to be known as Jesus Christ.

But where did “Christ” come from? The word is a transliteration of the Greek term “Christos,” which translates the Hebrew word Messiah. The apostle John makes this clear as he recorded Peter’s (Simon’s) exclamation:

He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). (John 1:41)

Messiah means “anointed one,” the long-awaited deliverer of Israel.

Some have tried to divide the historic Jesus of Nazareth of first-century Palestine from the divine Christ who existed from eternity. The idea is that Jesus was just a man, but the concept of Christ was much larger, splashing over into the general concept of the divine that somehow influenced the early centuries of the Christian movement and morphed into an incarnation myth.

This theory, however, does not line up with the historical record. The earliest Christian records show that Jesus was identified as the Christ from the beginning. Peter confessed Him as “the Christ,” the Messiah, the coming One of God. Jesus Himself affirmed this as a truth coming from God.

Lord Jesus, I too believe You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.