It should not surprise us that John indicated his Gospel was written to demonstrate that Jesus was the Christ and that salvation was dependent upon recognizing Him as such. Nor should it surprise us that the focus and spread of the Gospel through the Book of Acts was directly linked to the recognition and proclamation of Jesus as the Christ—because in Matthew 16: 13-18, Jesus specifically indicated that in fact this would be the case.
When Jesus asked the disciples who they believed Him to be, Peter responded on their behalf that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus then declared that He would build His church upon that foundational understanding (obviously there has been great debate over the years as to the identity of the “rock” in this passage, but as I point out in “Getting the Most from God,” regardless of one’s interpretation of who or what the rock is, it cannot be separated from the recognition and declaration of Jesus as the Christ.) The spread of the Gospel and the building of the church that we read about in Acts is in fact the beginning of Jesus’ fulfillment of that declaration—He was building His church upon and through the recognition and declaration of Jesus as the Christ!
So, what is the significance of the title “Christ?” When Peter declared it here and in Acts 2 and 3, what did he have in mind? When John declared the same, what was his perspective on that title? When the church in Jerusalem—as well as Philip, Paul, and Apollos—devoted so much energy to convincing people that Jesus was the Christ, what was their understanding of that concept?
The reality today is that we throw the term around almost flippantly—for many of us it seems as though it is no more than the completion of Jesus’ name—as if His first name is “Jesus” and His last name is “Christ.”
But that was not the case in the first century—in fact the Jews and first century Christians held a view of the significance, reverence, awe, deity, history, power, majesty, and authority associated with that title that has been all but forgotten among Christians some 2000 years later. Oh we readily refer to the title, and we sing of it, but I fear much—if not most—of our recitation is done in ignorance.
So, what was the significance of that title among those first century followers? First we must recognize that the title “Christ” was synonymous with the titles “Messiah” and “King.” In John 1, Andrew announced to Peter that they had found the Messiah/Christ, then later in the chapter Nathanael fell down and identified Him as the “King of Israel.” The Christ was the Messiah and King.
For many, the reaction to that bit of information is: “Yeah—so?” But that’s probably because we have lost sight of the biblical significance of those synonymous titles. For those in the first century, they were not merely titles, they also focused on the role, particularly as King, this Person was to have over the lives of His followers.
In the next few blogs, we will examine the biblical/historical background surrounding those terms and then consider some of the dramatic implications—implications that profoundly impact the very core of a Christian’s faith and existence.
In the meantime, feel free to download the first section of the book I’m working on related to making disciples; I’m suggesting in the book that the first identifying mark of a true disciple is recognizing Jesus as King. I haven’t found a publisher yet, but I think it will be helpful for the readers of this blog (both of them) to get the bigger picture that will support what I’m addressing in the next few blogs.
You can download it at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bibbjg8yxjz
