Featured Should χριστός be translated Messiah?

OK, some thoughts:

Yes, why not translate it? But how best? Jesus the Anointed. Jesus the Anointed One. Jesus Anointed. Jesus Anointed One. Anointed Jesus. Anointed. The Anointed. Hmmm.

Going from Greek to English, but transliterating from the Greek is not really translating. It is avoiding translating.

Choosing one transliteration over another should have no bearing, other than how meaningful it will be to those reading the target language.

A native speaker, or one truly bilingual, reading in the original might experience a different impact depending on which one was used originally.

On the other hand, the Latin uses Christus, evidently a transliteration from the Greek. It could be thought of as a link between the Orthodox and Catholic traditions. Using Christ would maintain that.

Or perhaps it would be better to use Messiah as a distinctive for “Protestants.” Kind of like using the Hebrew for translating the OT.

Wait. Does the Vulgate use a transliteration for Messiah also, e.g., Messia?

My preference would be to use whichever sounds better in context, whether in Scripture, or in a song or poem, etc. Gotta leave it as choice to avoid legalism.

Whoever is reading, preaching, or teaching might get to decide. Much as they might prefer otherwise, translators don’t have the final word. (But don’t tell JoJ!)

 

Ive often wondered about setting the context something like this

.... (the Messiah), Jesus the Christ

Or

Jesus Christ ( the Messiah)

Or

?????

 

When the intended audience is Gentile, the obscure Hebrew term Messiah would have little or no meaning to them. Jews on the other hand would understand both Messiah and Christ —the latter since Greek was the lingua franca of that day.

Given that both NT occurrences of Messiah are also immediately interpreted for the reader, I see no reason not to retain Christ everywhere else.

Notably, the Septuagint never uses Μεσσίας, even though translated by Jews.

 

Thanks. Keep in mind those were thoughts on it, not necessarily my beliefs or opinions. Bottom line, I think translators are not meant to be the final word, but those mentioned in Ephesians 4:11—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

I concur that the words Messiah and Christ are part of the language, but this does not mean they are or will be automatically properly understood, which is the problem. It will be up to those with right understanding to explain. Translators can put a footnote. Publishers can provide study Bibles and commentaries. Those making disciples and mentoring can provide the proper guidance.

BTW, hasn't the transliteration 'baptism,' now part of English, lost significant meaning from the original as understood by those of NT times?

That's likely a big part of it, and if cults are abusing the opportunity, perhaps they should vary it up. But also adding a footnote might be wise.

 

Messiah to me conveys the idea of being tied directly into the Jewish promised coming messiah, while Christ would be more used for a formal term used to reach out to non Jewish audiences. Almost as use referring to a King.

 

Ziggy nailed it!

 

I see no purpose in translating it as Messiah. What is the purpose? (I understand the "purpose" I am talking about the need when I say that.)

 

Christ is a transliteration of χριστός. And χριστός is the Greek translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁ֖יחַ Messiah. Now Messiah is an English transliteration for the Hebrew. Now "Anointed One" would be an English translation.

 

Because people buy what they accepted in the past, we are stuck with Jesus rather than Yeshua when a good rule would be to translate names phonetically. And titles or designations should be translated literally thus Messiah and Christ should be translated "the Anointed."

 

Just in case some have not discerned this truth, Jesus was equipped for service by being "anointed" with the Holy Spirit and Power at His water baptism. Subsequently He performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit. So when you see "Christ" or "Jesus Christ" or "Christ Jesus" picture God (Second Person of the Trinity) within Jesus, and surrounded (anointed) with the Holy Spirit and Power. Awesome. This is our LORD

 

I prefer "Christ" in every instance.

 

I am under the impression it is based on a phonic rendering of the Greek found in the NT. Thus more likely to be the sound Mary made when she called her eldest Son.
Here is a link
Yeshua - Wikipedia

 

If Mary was speaking Greek, she would have called Him Iesous, with the "e" being long.

Unfortunately, the Japanese Protestant transliteration is simply Iesu, which sounds like the Japanese transliteration of the English "yes." one day I was on a train in Tokyo which had the windows fogged up. Standing next to a woman and her little girl, I wrote on the window, "Believe in Jesus Christ." In Japanese syntax, that becomes "Jesus Christ in believe." The little girl had studied some English, so misreading it she said, "Mom, it says, 'Yes, believe on Christ.'" Mom shushed her, but a unique type of evangelism had occurred.

 

One downside if one were to insist on "Yeshua" — why not then do the same for all other Hebrew names? This includes Moshe, Shlomo, Eliyahu, etc.