Hebrew word meaning "anointed one." It is the equivalent of the New Testament word "Christ" which also means "anointed." Jesus, as the messiah, was anointed by God (Matthew 3:16) to carry out His three-fold ministry of Prophet, Priest, and King. As the messiah He has delivered the Christian from the bonds of sin and given to him eternal life. In that sense, Messiah means deliverer, for He has delivered us. The Messiah was promised in the Old Testament in the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15).
In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ) Aramaic משיחא see also: Aramaic of Jesus) initially meant any person who was anointed by a prophet of God. In English today, it is used in two major contexts: the anticipated saviour of the Jews, and one who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a saviour or liberator. Jews, however, do not generally use the word "saviour" in reference to the messiah, primarily because of the Christian connotation of the word "saviour."
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