Messiah and Son of God

Messiah is a word based in Hebrew meaning “the anointed one.” Its Greek equivalent is “Christ.” At the time of Jesus, the Jews were looking for a messiah, a person who would come to deliver their nation from the Romans and restore the glory of King David’s reign, Israel’s golden age. They believed a messiah would come based on their interpretation of certain Old Testament scriptures. Looking at the New Testament, you can find that Jews were also expecting other attributes in a Messiah: a teacher, will do miracles, and live forever. The Jews of Jesus’ time had a very clear image of what they expected from a Messiah. 

Acts 18:28 says Apollos proved from the Scriptures that Jesus as the Messiah. Acts 9:22 says Paul baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving Jesus is the Messiah.

Proving something requires a very high standard. The early Christian teachers had only the Old Testament scriptures to use as a standard. First, they agreed with their Jewish opponents that the Messiah would be a teacher, he would do miracles and would live forever. The first two were easy because everyone agreed that Jesus was a teacher and undeniably did miracles.

They maintained that the Messiah was meant to deliver salvation in a spiritual way, not necessarily just a physical way.