2
Ne 10:3 his name should be Christ
Some
have criticized the Book of Mormon because Book of Mormon prophets use the term
¡°Christ¡± before the birth of the Savior. The word ¡°Christ¡± is the Greek form of
the Hebrew word for Messiah and means literally ¡°the anointed one.¡± As the
critics point out, this word was not used in the Old Testament. Some of the Old
Testament terms for Christ are Shiloh (Gen 49:10), Prophet (Deut 18:15), Holy
One of Israel (Ps 16:10), King (Ps 24:10, Zech 9:9), Immanuel (Isa 7:14),
Redeemer (Isa 59:20), Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6), righteous Branch (Jer 23:5,
Zech 3:8), and Messiah (Dan 9:26).
Jacob
helps us understand this apparent ¡°anachronism.¡± He explains that the angel of
the Lord told him what his name should be. The Book of Mormon prophets often
speak plainly about the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. Their writings
and prophecies were inspired by direct revelation and the Spirit of God. The
Book of Mormon prophets will continue to use the term Christ or Christians long
before the terms are found in the Bible.
Edward
J. Brandt, in the Book of Mormon Symposium Series, explains the use of
these names in the Book of Mormon in a lecture entitled, ¡°The Name Jesus Christ
Revealed to the Nephites:¡±
¡°The
use of the sacred name of Christ in a record of Hebrew origin (see 1 Nephi 1:2;
Mosiah 1:4; and Mormon 9:32-34) is of some unusual significance since the name,
Jesus Christ, is of Greek derivation.
The English form Jesus is a transliteration via Latin and Greek of the
Aramaic name Yeshua given him at birth1
The older Hebrew form, Joshua in English, originally meant ¡®Savior¡¯
(Talmage 35). The title Christ is an
English transliteration via Latin of the Greek translation of the ancient
Hebrew title ¡®the Anointed One¡¯ (Grundmann 493-509; Durham 16). The direct English transliteration of that
Hebrew term is Messiah (Durham 15; Talmage 35-36).
¡°Did
the prophet Joseph Smith, as translator, substitute these later and more familiar
names and titles, or were they terms precisely known and used by the Book of
Mormon prophets? If they knew, how did
they come to know them? Those names were
supposed to be of much later usage. The
record itself reveals the remarkable way the ancient prophets learned these
terms. All the scriptures contain many
names and titles for the Messiah. The
Book of Mormon alone provides over 100 names and titles for Christ (Easton
60-61) However, the name ¡®Christ¡¯ does not appear until Jacob's sermon to the
Nephites in 2 Nephi 10:3.
¡°¡¦.Jacob
had seen the Savior as a youth and on a later occasion reaffirmed his
experience of receiving the ministering of angels (2 Nephi 2:3-4; Jacob 7:5;
compare Moroni 7:22). The language of
this manifestation uses the future designation of the term Christ for covenant
Israel.
¡°The
name Jesus first appears in the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 25:19. As Nephi was teaching the people concerning
the Jews and their eventual acceptance of the Messiah, he declared:
¡°¡¦For according to the words of the prophets, the Messiah
cometh in six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem; and
according to the words of the prophets, and also the word of the angel of God,
his name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God (2 Nephi 25:16, 18-19;
emphasis added).
¡°Here
Nephi acknowledges that through the ministry of an angel it was revealed to him
that in the future ¡®his name shall be Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.¡¯ Verse 19
contains both the English transliteration of the Hebrew term for ¡®the anointed
one¡¯-Messiah-and also the transliteration of the Greek term extended to the
English for ¡®the anointed one¡¯- Christ.
¡°The
continued use of the name Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon, in view of all
the other names and titles used in the scriptures, shows it had an important
influence on the Nephites throughout their history. Centuries later the prophet leader Benjamin
taught what the future name of the Lord would be:
¡°And
he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and
earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be
called Mary (Mosiah 3:8, emphasis added; see also Mosiah 4:3).
¡°¡¦Other
Book of Mormon prophets also bore testimony that the Savior would be known by
these names in future records. Abinadi
testified before the wicked priests of Noah concerning the resurrection of
Christ, ¡®for so shall he be called¡¯ (Mosiah
15:21). The prophet Alma (formerly one
of Noah's priests) organized those who entered the gospel covenant of baptism,
and they were called ¡®the church of God, or the
church of Christ, from that time forward¡¯ (Mosiah 18:17; see also Mosiah
26:18, 24). In teaching the people, he
often reminded them of the future atonement and mission of this Christ (see
Alma 5:48; Alma 6:8; Alma 7:11-13; Alma 45:4 [his son Alma]).
¡°The
effect of calling the members of the church after this future title-Christ-led
to calling them as ¡®Christians.¡¯
¡°And
those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true
believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians
as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come (Alma
46:15; emphasis added.)¡± (Edward J. Brandt, Book of Mormon Symposium Series,
edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD Tate, Jr., 1988, p. 201-4)