What Does “Messiah” Mean?

“Messiah” and “Christ” are not two different figures, or even two different words — they are the same title in two languages, and it means something very specific.

Messiah is the Hebrew Mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ), meaning “the Anointed One” — literally, one who has had oil poured on them. When the New Testament was written in Greek, that title was translated Christos (Χριστός) — from which we get “Christ.” So “Jesus Christ” means “Jesus the Messiah,” “Jesus the Anointed One.” Christ is not a surname; it is a coronation.

Why anointing?

In ancient Israel, you were anointed with oil to be set apart for God's purpose — kings (David, 1 Samuel 16:13), priests (Aaron), and prophets. The oil signified the Spirit of God coming upon a person to equip them for their calling. To be “the Anointed One,” then, is to be the ultimate King, Priest, and Prophet all at once — the one on whom God's Spirit rests without measure.

A promise centuries in the making

Israel waited for the Anointed One — a coming deliverer promised through the prophets. Daniel names Him: “the Anointed One” (Daniel 9:25–26). The Psalms speak of God's Anointed reigning (Psalm 2). Isaiah's coming servant says, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me” (Isaiah 61:1) — the very passage Jesus reads in the synagogue and declares fulfilled in Himself (Luke 4:18–21).

Messiah is not a description of what He looked like. It is a declaration of who sent Him and what He came to do.

The King who reigns from a Cross

The surprise of the gospel is the kind of King the Messiah turned out to be — one crowned with thorns, enthroned on a Cross, anointed not only with oil but, at Bethany, with burial perfume before His death. The title Israel longed for was fulfilled in a way no one expected. See more in Is Jesus in the Old Testament? and The name Yeshua.