about: the Christian theological role

Followers of Jesus became known as Christians because they believed that Jesus is the Messiah, or Christ. The majority of Jews reject this claim and are still waiting for the messiah to come (see Jewish Messiah).

The area of Christian theology focusing on the nature of Jesus as the Christ, particularly with how the divine and human are related in his person, is known as Christology.

Etymology

see: Chrism

The spelling Christ in English was standardized in the 17th century, when, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, spellings of certain words were changed to fit their Greek or Latin origins. Prior to this, in Old and Middle English, the word was usually spelled Crist, the i being pronounced either as /iː/ (see Help:pronunciation), preserved in the names of churches such as St Katherine Cree, or as a short /ɪ/, preserved in the modern pronunciation of Christmas). The spelling "Christ" is attested from the 14th century.

The term Christ (or similar) appears in English and most European languages, owing to the Greek usage of Khristós (transcribed in Latin as Christus) in the New Testament as a description for Jesus.

Jesus Christ as believed by his followers is the living son of God and will return to judge mankind one day.

Khristós in classical Greek usage could mean covered in oil, and is thus a literal translation of messiah. The Greek term is thought to derive from the Proto-Indo-European root of *ghrei- ("to rub"), which in Germanic languages, such as English, mutated into gris- and grim-. Hence the English words grisly, grim, grime, and grease, are thought to be cognate with Christ, though these terms came to have a negative connotation, where the Greek word had a positive connotation. In French the Greek term mutated first to creŝme and then to crème, due to the loss of certain 's' usages in French, which was loaned into English as cream. Indian ghee, from Sanskrit घृत ("sprinkled") is another obvious cognate, and indeed, has a sacred role in Vedic and modern Hindu libation and anointment rituals.

Christian views

Some may refer to "Jesus" when emphasizing his human nature in an event in the New Testament, and refer to "Christ" in discussing his divine nature.

In the New Testament

In the New Testament it says that the Messiah, long awaited, had come and describes this savior as the Christ (Greek Genitive: , toú Christoú,; Nominative: , ho Christós). The apostle Peter, in what has become a famous proclamation of faith among Christians since the first century, said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" ( ).