The brief formula “Jesus is the Christ” expresses the core of the Christian faith: Jesus, the simple carpenters’s son from Nazareth, is the long-awaited Messiah and Savior. [436-440, 453]
Both the Greek work “Christos” and the Hebrew word “Messiah” mean the “Anointed one”. In Israel kings, priests, and prophets were anointed. The Apostles learned that Jesus was anointed “with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:38) We are called Christians after Christ, as an expression of our exalted vocation.
