Tag: Christ is Lord AND Christ - Acts 1-2

Acts 2:36

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Tag:  Christ is Lord AND Christ

The Greek Words in the above verse are important.  The word for Lord is:

kyrios; from κῦρος kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun) controller; by implication, Master (as a respectful title): — God, Lord, master, Sir.

The word for Christ is:

Christos; anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus: — Christ.

To the nation of Israel this would mean something (Peter’s audience for this message is primarily Jews who are in Jerusalem for Pentecost).   Christos is the Messiah whom all Jews were waiting for.  What they had hoped was the the Messiah would come and deliver them from the rule of the Roman emperor.  They were controlled and dictated by the Romans.  Remember that the religious leaders motivated Pilate to crucify Jesus by implying that Jesus said he was a king and that meant he was against Caesar.   Pilate did not want to appear to be against Rome and gave into them out of political pressure.  The irony of that pressure is that the religious leaders of the day were teaching the Jewish nation that the Messiah would deliver them from Caesar.   Yet, they convinced Pilate to approve of the crucifixion by appealing to the authority of Pilate.   

Jesus is not just the Messiah, however. He is the “kyrios” of the world; the controller, the master.  Christ is not only the deliverer of mankind’s souls, He is to be Lord and Master of their soul.  Jesus is Lord.    We don’t decide to make him our master.  He is based upon the fact that God made Him Lord and Master of the universe.  We only come to the point to recognize that in our lives and to yield to His authority.   Note the phrase “God made him both Lord and Christ ...”.   God did that. You and I don’t make Him Lord of our lives.  We either yield to that in faith, or we reject it and suffer the consequences.   

We can rejoice that Jesus is both Lord and Savior.  That means anything that is happening in our lives is in His control and He will assure that, in the end, we come out on top; assuming we have yielded to his control.