When Jesus asked Peter who He was, the apostle equated the term “Son” with “Christ” or “Anointed One.” In the book of Matthew, we read:

“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  (Matthew 16:13-18)

Peter associated the term “Son” with “Christ.” In both the Hebrew and Greek, the term “Christ” means “the Anointed One.” This is a man anointed by God, the Messiah. God does not need to be anointed—He is the anointing!

Only in the form of a man did God need to be anointed by the presence and power of God’s Holy Spirit, the “breath” of God sent from heaven. Jesus said that He did not reveal to Peter the truth of who He was, but His Father who dwells in heaven. This teaches that God in the lesser form of a man (experiencing a human life within a human mind) did not teach this to Peter, but the Spirit of the Almighty God moved upon the apostle Peter from heaven (the Father dwells in heaven) to impart the knowledge upon which Christianity would be founded.

© 2008 By Russell Redden. All Rights Reserved