It is right, however, to remark that the merely bearing such a name as either Immanuel or Jesus, even by Divine appointment, is not of itself evi dence of the divinity of him who bears it. The Hebrews were in the habit of giving names, both to persons and places, which were intended not to describe their distinctive properties, but to ex press some important general truth. Jacob called an altar built by him EI-Elohe-Israel (Gen. xxxiii :20), 'God the God of Israel,' i. c., God is the God of Israel. Moses called an altar he built Jehovah-nissi (Exod. xvii :15), 'Jehovah my banner,' i. e., Jehovah is my banner. The name Jehoshua, as borne by him who brought the people of the Lord into the heritage of the Gen tiles, means no more than that by him Jehovah would deliver his people. In many of the proper names in the Old Testament, the name El, or Jehovah, forms a part.. Yet when, as in the case berore us, he who bears such a name, by express divine appointment, is shown `by many infallible proofs' to be indeed an incarnation of Divinity, we cannot but perceive a peculiar pro priety in this divine appointment, and find in it, if not a new argument, a corroboration of the host of arguments which lead us to the conclu sion that He who 'according to the flesh' was the Son of David, 'according to the Spirit of Holi ness' was 'the Son of God,"God over all, blessed forever' (Rom. i :3, 4: ix :5)• The 'name of Jesus' (Phil. ihro) is not the name Jesus, but 'the name above every name,' 6vona ro inrIp rap 6yona, ver. 9; e., the supreme dignity and authority with which the Father has invested Jesus Christ, as the reward of his disin terested exertions in the cause of the divine-glory and human happiness; and the bowing ‘y rip ov6kLarg 'Incroil in or at the name of Jesus, is obvi• ously not an external mark of homage when the name Jesus is pronounced, but the inward sense of awe and submission to him who is raised to a station so exalted.
(2) Official Name. CIIRIST (Gr. Xpeartn, the Anointed One; Heb. tr..11.?, Messiah, the Anointed). Christ is not, strictly speaking, a proper name, but an official title. Jesus Christ, or rather, as it generally ought to be rendered, Jesus the Christ, is a mode of expression of the •"' same kind as John the Baptist, or Baptizer. In consequence of not adverting to this, the force, and even the meaning, of many passages of Scripture are misapprehended. When it is stated that Paul asserted, 'This Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ' (Acts xvii:3), f5rt obrds icrr iv 6 Xptcrrds 'Incoils, etc., that he 'testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ' (Acts xviii :5), the mean ing is that he proclaimed and proved that Jesus was the Christ, ray Xpierrov 'Inaoilv, or Messiah—the rightful owner of a title descriptive of a high offi cial station which had been the subject of ancient prediction. When Jesus himself says that 'it is life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent' (John xvii:3), he repre sents the knowledge of himself as tile Christ, the Messiah, as at once necessary and sufficient to make men truly and permanently happy. When he says, ' What think ye of Christ ?' rept Toi.3 Xpusroi ' whose son is he ?' (Matt. xxii: 42), Ile does not mean, What think ye of ME, or of my descent ? but, What think ye of the Christ—the Messiah—and especially of his pa ternity. There can be no doubt that the word, though originally an appellative and intended to bring before the mind a particular official char acter possessed by him to whom it is applied, came at last, like many other terms of the same kind, to be often used very much as a proper name, to distinguish our Lord from other persons bearing the name Jesus. This is a sense, how
ever, of comparatively rare occurrence in the New Testament.
Proceeding, then, on the principle that Christ is an appellative, let us inquire into its origin and signification as applied to our Lord. CHRIST is the English form of a Greek word, Xplartn, corresponding in meaning to the Hebrew word • NIessiah and the English word Anointed. The Christ is just equivalent to the Anointed One. The important question, however, remains be hind, What is meant when the Savior is repre sented as the Anointed One? To reply to this question satisfactorily it will be necessary to go somewhat into detail.
Unction, from a very early age, seems to have been the emblem of consecration, or setting apart to a particular, and especially to a religious, pur pose. Thus, Jacob is said to have anointed the pillar of stone, which he erected and set apart as a monutnent of his supernatural dream at Bethel (Gen. xxviii :18 ; xxxi :i3; xxxv :14). Under the Old Testament economy high-priests and kings were regularly set apart to their offices, both of which were. strictly speaking, sacred ones, by the ceremony of anointing, and the prophets were occasionally designated by the same rite. This rite seems to have been intended as a public intimation of a Divine appointment to office. Thus Saul is termed 'the Lord's anointed' (I Sam. xxiv :6) ; David, 'the anointed of the God of Israel' (2 Sam. xxiii :1) ; and Zedekiah. 'the anointed of the Lord' (Lam. iv :20). The high priest is called 'the anointed priest' (Lev. iv :3).
From the origin and design of the rite, it is not wonderful that the term should have, in a secon dary and analogical sense, been applied to persons set apart by God for important purposes, though not actually anointed, Thus Cyrus, the King of Persia, is termed 'the Lord's anointed' (Is. xlv: t) ; the Hebrew patriarchs, when sojourning in Canaan, are termed 'God's anointed ones' Ps. cv 15); and the Israelitish people receive the sante appellation from the prophet Habbaktik (Hab. iii:t3). It is probably with reference to this use of the expression that Moses is said by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to have 'counted the reproach of Christ' (Heb. 7-013 Xpw-7-013 (Xaoa), the same class who in the parallel clause are termed the 'people of God,"greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.' In the prophetic Scriptures we find ;his appel lation given to an illustrious personage, who, un der various designations, is so often spoken of as destined to appear in a distant age as a great de liverer. The royal prophet David seems to have been the first who spoke of the great deliverer under this appellation. He represents the heathen (the Gentile nations) raging, and the people (the Jewish people) imagining a vain thing, 'against Jehovah, and against his anointed' (Ps. ii:2). He says, 'Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed' (Ps. xx:6). 'Thou bast loved right eousness and hated iniquity,' says he, addressing himself to 'Him who was to come,"therefore God, even thy God, bath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows' (Ps. xlv :7). In all the passages in which the great deliverer is spoken of as 'the anointed one,' by David, lie is plainly viewed as sustaining the character of a king.