of these we may leave for later reference. The last bears witness to the fact that Jesus was currently known by His contemporaries as " a Nazarene," that is to say, that His ordinary distinctive designation among the people in the midst of whom His ministry was passed would be, ' Jesus the Nazarene,' as the maid, indeed, is recorded to have spoken of Him in the court of the high priest (26'^^). This exact desig- nation, however, does not elsewhere occur in Matthew's narrative, although its broader equivalent, from the Standpoint of a Jerusalemite, ' Jesus the Galilean,' is represented as employed by the companion maid (26®^), and the multitude seeking to do Him honor is rep- resented as describing Him with great fulness as " the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee " (21"). The simple ' Jesus,' as has been already pointed out. He is not represented as called, except by the angel an- nouncing His birth (i"^), but Pilate is quoted as des- ignating Him by His full name, " Jesus, surnamed Christ" (27^'^--), and we are told that there was set over His head on the cross the legend, " This is Jesus, the King of the Jews" (27^^). In both instances the adjunct is, no doubt, scornful, though it is less ob- viously so on Pilate's lips than in the inscription on the cross.
The employment by Pilate of the full name, * Jesus, surnamed Christ,' seems to bear witness that already Early Use of before Jesus' death He had been so pre- ' Christ ' as a vailingly spoken of as the Messiah that Proper Name ^j^jg official designation might seem to have become part of His proper name. The alterna- tives are to suppose that Matthew does not report the exact words of Pilate, who may be thought rather to
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have used the phrase appearing in the parallel passage in Mark — " the King of the Jews ";® or else that the term Christ is employed here in its full official sense as an appellative, — " Jesus who is commonly called the Christ."^** The former, however, is a purely gratui- tous suggestion; Mark and Matthew do not contra- dict but supplement one another. And the latter seems not quite consonant with the language used. There seems, moreover, really no reason why we may not suppose Pilate to have caught the term " Christ " as applied to Jesus, and to have understood it as a proper name, especially when we are expressly told by Luke (23-) that the accusation which was lodged against Him took the form that He had proclaimed Himself to be " Christ, a King." Nor, indeed, does there seem any compelling reason why it may not already have been employed of Jesus by His followers sufficiently constantly to have begun to be attached to Him as at least a quasi-proper name (cf. 11^). On heathen ears, as we know, the term " Christ " was apt to strike as a proper name;" and, in any event, the title * Christ' began very early, at least in Christian circles, to be appropriated to Jesus in much the connotation of a proper name, because men did not wait for His death before they began to hope it would be He who should deliver Israel.'^^ If we may suppose, as in any event we must, that even as a proper name, or as a quasi- proper name, there clung to the term ' Christ ' a sense of its honorific character, it would appear quite possible
9 So Dalman.
1° So e.g. Alexander and Weiss,
11 Suetonius, " Chresto impulsore," and note Acts ii^^.
12 Lk 2421.
66 The Designations of Our Lord
that Pilate, " knowing that it was from envy that they had delivered Him up," meant by giving Jesus His full and evidently honorific name, to play upon the multitude, that they should demand " Jesus, surnamed Christ," rather than Barabbas.^^
Like Mark, Matthew represents Jesus as customarily addressed by the simple current honorific titles. The Simple actual Aramaic form, ' Rabbi,' how- Honorific ever, oddly enough, is retained only in
Addresses repeating the only two remarks recorded in Matthew's narrative as made to the Lord by Judas Iscariot (26-^'^^)." Its usual Greek rendering, 'Teacher' (dcodaxah) ^ also takes a relatively infe- rior place in Matthew, being largely supplanted by the more Greek ' Lord ' ( xupie ) , perhaps as the representative of the Aramaic Mdri}^ A tendency seems even observable to reserve 'Teacher' (dcoda- xah ) for the non-committal, respectful address of those who were not followers of Jesus (12^^ 22^^'^*'^^; 9^^ 17-^ cf. 19^^). It is employed, however, in
13 If the reading ' Jesus Barabbas ' in Mt 27^^-1^ could be accepted, it would supply a reason why Pilate should have employed the full name ' Jesus surnamed Christ.' He would have wished to ascertain which Jesus the people wanted. But see A. Plummer in Hastings' Diet, of the Bible, art. 'Barabbas' (i. 245).