sacred name * Jesus Christ ' was in easy use by our ^ Lord's first followers, whenever they
Christ' wished to speak of Him with special solemnity. Luke himself so employs it in his narrative (8^"), and he quotes it from Peter (2^^ ^34 jo36,48^ ^^^ Vzul (16^^) — in each instance as employed in circumstances of great ceremoniousness, in demanding faith or in working cures by this great Name. It is in similar conditions that the even more complete designation 'Jesus Christ the Nazarene ' (3^ 4^*^) oc- curs; and that a designation which occurs very fre- quently in the Epistles, 'the Lord Jesus Christ' (11" 28^^) or 'our Lord Jesus Christ' (15^^ 20"^), appears as in use by the Apostles, — Peter (11^'^), Paul (20"^), and the whole Apostolic body (15^^), — as well as by Luke himself (28^^). In all these instances it seems clear that the compound name ' Jesus Christ ' is treated as a proper name, but of course not with any loss of the high significance of the element ' Christ.' Perhaps It would not be too much to say that the compound name is dealt with as the ' royal name ' of our Lord, the name which is given Him when He is to be designated with special ceremony and solemnity.
In 3^^ 5*^ 24"^j' on the other hand, it is questionable
whether we are to read the names together so as to
^ . yield the compound ' Christ Jesus,'
which in that case meets us here for the
Tcsus
first time in the New Testament, or are to take ' Christ ' as the predicate, — ' Jesus as the Christ.* The commentators seem inclined to follow the
' 17^ i85'28, -where also the two names stand in conjunction, are dif- ferent: the presence of the substantive verb renders the construction of the " Christ " as predicate necessary.
2o6 The Designations of Our Lord
latter course.* But in 24-*, where the question is about Paul, who, we know from his Epistles ( i Thess 2" 5^^ Rom passim)^ was accustomed, at an earlier date than this, to use the compound ' Christ Jesus ' freely, it seems difficult not to read that compound.^ And this increases our hesitancy with reference to the two earlier passages. Paul's familiar use of ' Christ Jesus ' must have had a history back of it: and it seems, there- fore, natural that its employment in the primitive com- munity should emerge into light in such passages as we now have before us.^
Another compound designation of Jesus, which does not occur in the Gospels,' meets us with some frequency
^ in Acts — ' the Lord Jesus.' This is em-
Jesus' ployed by Luke himself in the course of
the narrative (4^^ 8^^ 11"^ iq^-i^-i?)^ and Is also attributed to speakers whose words are reported,
■* So e.g. the Revised English Version at 3-° 5*-, and Meyer- Wendt at s'-O; and so also A. H. Blom, De Leer van het Messiasrijk bij de eerste Christenen, pp. 292 and 303. On 3-*^ Blom says: "There can be no doubt . . . but that Xptsruv ^I-qaouv is not to be taken as one name, but that 'Itj(touv is the epexegetic appositive of Apcffruv, which has here its original significance of a dignity." On the other side, of. Gloag, Barde, Rackham at s-**.
5 So e.g. R. V.
^ Paul Peine, Jesus Christus und Paulus, 1902, p. 35, is among those (see note 4) who take the opposite view. He says: "This formula is a specifically Pauline one. The compound name 'Ir^aou'^ Aptfrro'^ is found also in the other N. T. writings. . . . But the reverse sequence meets us only in Paul. No doubt it may be possible to dis- cover it if we wish to do so in Acts. But even in Acts ^-^ 17^ iS^--^, the Xpc<TT6(}, standing before 'Irjaou?, is the predicate; $*' tneans similarly, * they preached the Messiah Jesus.' Then only 24-* is left T^? eT? Xpiavov ^I-qffouv TrtVreoi?. Even here, however, it is pos- sible that we do not have the Pauline formula, but what is spoken of is faith in the Messiah Jesus."
■^ In Mk 16^^, Lk 24^, it is not genuine.
The Designations in Acts 207
— or to be more specific, to both Peter (i-* 15") and Paul (16^^ 20-'*'^ 21^^). It Is even used as an address by Stephen (7^"). Indeed the fuller designation, ' the' or ' our ' ' Lord Jesus Christ,' is employed by Luke him- self (28^^) and attributed alike to Peter (11"), the whole body of the Apostles (15^®), and Paul (20-^). In this last formula we have combined the three most usual designations of Christ, and It seems charged with the deepest reverence and affection for His person.