For an Informed Love of God
Bill Mounce
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Χριστός
Χριστός, Χριστοῦ, ὁ, from the root *χριστο, means “Christ, Messiah; Anointed One.”
“Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Χριστός” (Matt 2:38).
“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Χριστός, the Son of the living God’ ” (Matt 16:16)
“Herod inquired of them where the Anointed One was to be born.” (Matt 2:4)
Mounce's Expository Dictionary (abridged):
Noun: Χριστός (Christos), GK G5986 (S G5547), 529x. Χριστός means “Messiah, anointed one, Christ.” Its root is the verb chriō, which in Greek meant “to smear, rub, spread.” In the LXX, because of the connection with “rubbing or smearing oil,” the term was associated with “one who had been anointed, or set apart, for a special task.” In the Hebrew Bible, the “anointed ones” were the king and the high priest, occasionally a prophet. In later Jewish writings, Χριστός came to mean “the Messiah.” NT preaching, especially among Jews, focuses on presenting Jesus as the Christos (Acts 8:5; 17:2–3; Rom. 9:1–5).