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Ask what the difference between Messiah and Christ is and nearly every answer lands in the same place: one is Hebrew, one is Greek, both mean “anointed one,” so there is no difference at all. That answer is correct about the nouns, and it stops one step too early. This five-minute word study follows the two verbs underneath those nouns instead, and finds that they do not behave the same way at all. It is for anyone who has read “Jesus Christ” a thousand times without hearing the second word as a claim. The two full word studies it draws on are here: the Hebrew word for Messiah and the Greek word for Christ.
Chapters
- 0:00 — A name and an argument
- 0:10 — “Christ” was never a surname
- 0:43 — Mashiach: anointed, and nothing more
- 1:09 — Priests, kings and prophets
- 1:39 — Two men you would never have chosen
- 2:21 — Christos: the same word in Greek
- 2:50 — John 1:41, Scripture translating itself
- 3:02 — The gap is in the verbs
- 3:22 — Every use of chrio in the New Testament
- 3:42 — The oil is gone
- 3:59 — One of those five is not about Jesus
- 4:33 — Try one thing this week
A name and an argument
You have said two words together your whole life and never really heard the second one. Jesus Christ. One of those is a name; the other is an argument.
“Christ” was never a surname
“Christ” is a title, and behind it sits a Hebrew word that appears fewer than forty times in the whole Old Testament — a word the King James translators printed as “Messiah” in only two of those places. Everywhere else they quietly wrote “anointed,” which is why most of us have read straight past it for years. The two words do mean the same thing. But there is still a real difference between the Hebrew and the Greek, and it is not in the word at all.
Mashiach: anointed, and nothing more
The Hebrew is mashiach, Strong’s H4899, and it means anointed one, nothing more. It comes from the verb mashach — to smear, or to rub with oil — and it is as physical as a word can be. The same verb shows up for a soldier rubbing oil into his leather shield in 2 Samuel 1:21. There was no magic in the oil. Pouring it was a public act, and all it said was that this one had been set apart by God for a job.
Priests, kings and prophets
Priests got that oil, like Aaron in Exodus 29:7. So did kings, like David in 1 Samuel 16:13, when Samuel took the horn and poured it out in the middle of his brothers. So did prophets. Which makes mashiach a record of what someone had been handed, never a description of what they were.
Two men you would never have chosen
That is how the title ends up on two men nobody would have picked. In 1 Samuel 24:6, David has Saul cornered and unarmed and will not lift a hand against him, because Saul — the man hunting him — was still the Lord’s mashiach. Then in Isaiah 45:1 the title lands on Cyrus, a Persian emperor who never worshipped the God who appointed him. Anointing was not proof that someone was holy. It was an assignment, and it could land on almost anyone, because a human being was holding the flask.
Christos: the same word in Greek
Then the language changes. Greek-speaking Jews translating their own Scriptures needed a Greek word for mashiach, so they reached for christos, Strong’s G5547, built on the verb chrio, which also means to smear, to rub with oil. In plain Greek you could chrio a wall with plaster, so taken flatly, christos means oiled one.
John 1:41, Scripture translating itself
Scripture says so out loud. Andrew blurts out the word Messias, and John stops his own story mid-sentence to translate it: “which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” The translation is inside the text, written by the Gospel writer for readers who had never spoken a word of Hebrew.
The gap is in the verbs
So if the nouns match, where is the gap? It is in the verbs. Mashach is something people do — hands, a horn, oil you could just as easily rub into a shield. But chrio, the Greek verb, appears only five times in the entire New Testament.
Every use of chrio in the New Testament
Those five are Luke 4:18, Acts 4:27, Acts 10:38, 2 Corinthians 1:21 and Hebrews 1:9. In every single one of them, God is the one doing the anointing. Not once is it a person tipping a flask of oil.
The oil is gone
By the New Testament nobody is pouring oil at all, and the only hand still doing the anointing is God’s. That is the difference the translation hides, because the word stayed the same while the one holding the flask did not.
One of those five is not about Jesus
This lands closer to home than it looks, because one of those five verses is not about Jesus at all. In 2 Corinthians 1:21, Paul tells the believers in Corinth that God “hath anointed us.” The same verb, and the same one pouring. So if you have been waiting for a person to appoint you to something — a leader, a title, a room that finally lets you in — that may be the wrong flask to watch. Anointing was always for a task and never a trophy, which is why David was anointed and then spent years in caves before anything came of it.
Try one thing this week
Every time you read the word “Christ,” say “the Anointed One” instead, and listen to what the sentence does. Romans 5:8 stops being about a man who happened to have that name.
Sources
- mashiach, Strong’s H4899, and its root verb mashach, H4886 — Hebrew Word for Messiah
- Christos, Strong’s G5547, and its root verb chrio, G5548 — Greek Word for Christ
- Verses cited: Exodus 29:7; 1 Samuel 16:13; 1 Samuel 24:6; Isaiah 45:1; Daniel 9:25–26; John 1:41; Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38; 2 Corinthians 1:21; Hebrews 1:9; Romans 5:8; 2 Samuel 1:21 (KJV)
- Related word study: Hebrew Word for Testimony: What Does “Edut” Really Mean?
Questions people ask
What is the difference between Messiah and Christ?
In meaning, nothing. “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew mashiach and “Christ” from the Greek Christos, and both mean “anointed one.” John 1:41 shows the translation happening inside the text. The real difference sits in the two verbs behind those nouns: the Hebrew mashach is something people do with a horn of oil, while the Greek chrio appears five times in the New Testament with God as the one anointing every time.
Is “Christ” Jesus’ last name?
No. Christos is a title meaning “anointed one,” not a family name. First-century Jews identified people by town or family, as in “Jesus of Nazareth.” So “Jesus Christ” reads as “Jesus the Anointed One” — a claim about an office being filled rather than a label on an envelope.
How many times does the Old Testament say “Messiah”?
The Hebrew word mashiach appears fewer than forty times in the whole Old Testament, but the King James Version prints the English word “Messiah” in only two verses, Daniel 9:25 and 9:26. Everywhere else it is translated “anointed,” as in “the LORD’s anointed” in 1 Samuel 24:6, which is why most readers walk straight past it.
Why does Isaiah 45:1 call Cyrus God’s anointed?
Because mashiach marks an appointment, not a character reference. Cyrus was a Persian emperor who never worshipped the God of Israel, and he still carries the title, because the word describes the job someone was given rather than the state of their heart. The same logic explains why Saul keeps the title in 1 Samuel 24 while he is hunting David.
What does the Greek verb chrio mean?
Chrio (G5548) means to smear or to rub with oil — an ordinary word, used in everyday Greek for spreading plaster on a wall. In the New Testament it appears only five times: Luke 4:18, Acts 4:27, Acts 10:38, 2 Corinthians 1:21 and Hebrews 1:9. In all five, God does the anointing. A free three-day sample of 30 Days Walking with Jesus is available at 30 Days Walking with Jesus.
Watch What’s the Difference Between Messiah and Christ? The Gap Isn’t in the Word on YouTube.
