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This is a minor issue, but I’m curious about whether any of you have thoughts about why the Book of Mormon uses the term ‘Christ’ as the primary,though far from the only, appellation, for the Savior? Christ of course, is the anglicized version of the Greek Term, Khristos, meaning the ‘Annointed One’. My point being that the greek term would not have come into common usage until after Jesus life, and certainly was not in use age the time of Lehi. I know there are a couple of simple answers: revelation, or that Joseph chose a term that was familiar to his audience, but I would appreciate your thoughts.
Yes, Silent Struggle, you make a great point. Another translation for Christ means “Messiah”. It seems odd to me when people refer to Jesus Christ–as if Christ is his last name. Or when people say that Jesus Christ is the Messiah–that’s like saying Jesus Messiah is the Messiah. As we know, Joseph didn’t do a literal word for word translation of the plates. So, I think Joseph picked the word that modern people would be familiar with–which is the Greek term Christ. Some might call this an anachronism, as your post seems to imply. I guess it could be considered that way, but I think Joseph knew the term referred to Jesus, and just picked the term that modern Christians would identify with.
Yeah, the familiarity of the term is a good an explanation as any. It’s kind of like how we, and the brethren, constantly refer to the heart as an emotional organ. We know it’s not, yet that is the metaphor that people still understand.
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