them all. And we shall be prepared by this observation to note that with Matthew as with Mark, the presentation of Him as the promised Mes- siah belongs among the primary ends of the evan- gelist, and that in the process of this presentation a considerable number of Messianic titles are ascribed to Him. Matthew bears witness, like Mark, to be sure, that the people recognized in Him a prophet (21^^ 21^^ 16^'*) and that Jesus Himself was far from repelling this attribution (13^^); but little stress is laid upon this and it may be easily understood that prophetic powers were conceived by Matthew, as by Mark, to be included in His Messianic endowment. We have seen that he himself calls Jesus in the formal opening of his Gospel (i^), at the beginning of the narrative proper (i^^), and at the new beginning marked by His open proclamation of His dignity
74 The Designations of Our Lord
(i6"^), by the solemn compound name of 'Jesus Christ,' thus carefully announcing His Messianic claims as governing the very frame-work of his Gos- pel. And we have seen him following up this cere- monious use of the full name ' Jesus Christ ' in the opening of the Gospel, by explaining the term ' Christ,' which forms a part of it, as a surname of Jesus due to the recognition of Him as the Messiah (i^*^), on which account He forms the natural termination of the gen- ealogy begun In Abraham (i^^); and by Implying that His works marked Him out as the Messiah ( 1 1") , so that the Imprisoned John, hearing of them, was impelled to Inquire Into their meaning. How wide- spread the knowledge of His Messianic claims was Is witnessed by the adjuration of the high priest at His trial, " I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ" (26^^), and the bitter sport His judges made of Him (26*^^) as they smote Him and demanded, " Tell us, Christ, who smote thee."
Evidently our Lord's claim to the Messianic dig- nity Is intended to be represented as having been
Our Lord's clear, constant and emphatic: so a part Own Messianic of Himself In the popular understand- Claims jj^g ^Yi^it His heathen judge already con- ceived the title ' Christ' as only His surname (27^'-", cf. 11^). And Indeed Matthew's narrative leaves us In no uncertainty that Jesus had claimed this title for Himself from His earliest ministry. When the Bap- tist, having heard of the works He did, sent from his prison to ask Him whether He was ' the Coming One ' (11^), He replied with no doubtful Indication that He was Indeed 'the Christ.' When Peter (16^®) in his
The Designations in Matthew 75
great confession declared Him " the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus pronounced the declaration a revelation from heaven (16^''^), and only charged His disciples not as yet to reveal the fact that He was "the Christ" (i6-°). It was evidently to elevate the conception current as to the Christ whom He repre- sented Himself as being that He put to His opponents the searching question, how could the Christ be merely 'David's son, when David himself, in the Spirit, spoke of Him as his Lord — a Lord seated on the right hand of God (22'*^"^*^). Because He was, as 'the Christ,' the sole ' Guide ' to His followers. He would not have them be called guides, even as they should put no earthly person in the place of their one Father In heaven (23^^). The name 'the Christ,' He explained [(24^), was exclusively His own, and it would be a usurpation, therefore, which could only lead astray, if others should come " in the strength of His name, say- ing " — therefore falsely, — " I am the Christ." When the high priest adjured Him to tell whether He were " the Christ, the Son of God " (26®^) He, accordingly, solemnly accepted the title and explained that in ac- cepting it He took it in its highest connotation (26*^^) ■• — in so high a connotation indeed that His judges promptly pronounced what He had spoken blasphemy. It is, therefore, only in imitation of Jesus Himself that Matthew treats the designation of ' the Christ ' as Jesus' peculiar property and — though of course with- out emptying it of its lofty connotation — deals with it as His proper name by which He might be currently des- ignated.
The ascription of the title ' Christ ' to Jesus carries with it naturally certain other Messianic titles which
76 The Designations of Our Lord