since when Christ?

Originally posted on October 16, 2009 – by Andre Piet

QUESTION:
Was Jesus not already the Anointed (=Christ) from His baptism in the Jordan onward?

ANSWER:
Jesus was indeed anointed with holy spirit and power at His baptism by John (Acts 10:38). For when He came up out of the water, the holy spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove (Matt. 3:16). This event was a type of what would later take place, namely, when Jesus rose from the tomb. For on that occasion He received the Spirit (=Life) definitively, nevermore to be dying (Acts 2:33). On the day of Pentecost Peter declared openly to his fellow countrymen that “this Jesus Whom you crucify,” God makes “Him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

The anointing with the holy spirit in the Jordan was only a type and, moreover, provisional. Jesus would first still have to die and “give up His spirit.” That is why, when Peter declares prior to Jesus’ death, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), Jesus emphatically charges them that they may be telling no one that He is the Christ (Matt. 16:21). Only after His resurrection was the entire house of Israel to hear this (Acts 2:36). For only since then is Jesus fully and definitively the Christ.

Delen: