{"id":118493,"date":"2026-10-09T19:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T23:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=118493"},"modified":"2026-10-09T19:12:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T23:12:03","slug":"greek-word-for-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/articles\/greek-word-for-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Greek Word for Christ: What Does “Christos” Really Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>9 Minute, 9 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

Greek Word for Christ: What Does “Christos” Really Mean?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Quick answer:<\/strong> The Greek word behind “Christ” in the New Testament is \u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2 (Christos)<\/strong>, pronounced khrees-TOSS<\/em> — Strong’s G5547<\/strong>. It is not a surname. It is a title, and it means “anointed one” — the exact Greek translation of the Hebrew mashiach<\/em>, which comes into English as Messiah<\/em>. Every time you read “Jesus Christ,” you are reading “Jesus the Anointed One.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word Study: Where “Christos” Comes From<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Christos<\/em> is built from an unremarkable Greek verb: \u03c7\u03c1\u03af\u03c9 (chri\u014d, G5548)<\/strong> — “to smear,” “to rub with oil,” “to anoint.” There is nothing religious about the verb itself. In everyday Greek you could chri\u014d<\/em> a wall with plaster or chri\u014d<\/em> your own skin with oil after a bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Christos<\/em>, taken flatly, means “smeared one.” “Oiled one.” It is about as ordinary as a word can be — and that ordinariness is the point, because of what Israel did with oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pouring oil over someone’s head was how an office was publicly conferred. Priests were anointed into their work (Exodus 29:7). Kings were anointed into theirs (1 Samuel 16:13). So were prophets. The oil did not make a person holy. It marked them as chosen, set apart by God for a particular job that nobody could simply appoint themselves to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrew had a word for the person this was done to: \u05de\u05b8\u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05d9\u05d7\u05b7 (mashiach, H4899)<\/strong> — “anointed one.” When Greek-speaking Jews translated their Scriptures into Greek (the Septuagint, widely read in Jesus’ day), they needed a Greek equivalent for mashiach<\/em>. They reached for christos<\/em>. Two languages, one identical meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the whole word, and it is worth sitting with before moving on: “Christ” is not a name Jesus was given at birth. It is a claim about who He is and what office He holds.<\/p>\n\n\n