Christ

Hedcut illustration of In the Hebrew Bible, the anointed role—reserved for prophets, priests, and kings—designates those set apart for an earthly mission. The title “Christ,” translated from the Greek for “anointed,” carries that same appointing, service-oriented meaning into the New Testament. — In the Hebrew Bible, the anointed role⁠—reserved for prophets, priests, and kings⁠—designates those set apart for an earthly mission. The title “Christ,” translated from the Greek for “anointed,” carries that same appointing, service-oriented meaning into the New Testament.

Hedcut illustration of Within this interpretive tradition, anointing is not limited to the covenant community’s own offices; it can designate rulers whose actions are treated as preparing for the coming Messiah. Isaiah 45:1’s reference to Cyrus illustrates how the title can be extended to a liberating mission outside Israel’s immediate boundaries. — Isaiah 45:1’s reference to Cyrus illustrates how the title of Christ can be extended to an individual outside Israel’s immediate boundaries.

Christ is not so much a name as it is a title. It means "anointed," a Greek equivalent of the Hebrew mashiach. In ancient Israel, the title was mostly reserved for prophets, priests, and kings who were anointed and set apart to serve as earthly archetypes for Jesus Christ. Generally speaking, anointing broadly designated anyone whose earthly mission prefigured the Messiah to come. This explains why Isaiah 45:1 extends the title even to Cyrus of Persia⁠—a ruler outside the covenant who is venerated for liberating captive Jews.

Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the messianic office more fully than anyone before or after, which is why the title attached to him as though it were his surname. Mormon scripture nowhere treats the office as exhausted by him. Obadiah prophesies that “saviours shall come up on mount Zion” (Obadiah 1:21), pronouncing the plural even on this divine title. Furthermore, Paul writes of Christ formed in the Galatians (Gal 4:19) and dwelling in the Colossians (Col 1:27).

The CHRISTological Expansion of the Messianic Office

Jesus prayed that his disciples be one with him as he is one with the Father (John 17:21) and promised that believers would do his works and greater (John 14:12). Paul calls the faithful joint-heirs “if so be that we suffer with him” (Romans 8:17). Baptism, the sacrament, and proxy work for the dead are all ritual enactments of this shared messianic burden. The atonement, properly understood in its participatory nature, cannot be a unilateral imposition of grace; rather, the logic of reconciliation dictates that those who are reconciled must themselves take up the mantle of reconcilers.

One Body, Differing Functions

Hedcut illustration of Paul’s body metaphor presents interdependence as the shape of shared vocation: every member’s function matters, and no part can claim completeness. The model supports decentralized cooperation, where coordinated differences enable the whole community to act. — When the Savior refers to Himself as the vine and us the branches, He is sharing that very anointing with us, allowing His sacred calling, purpose, and power to flow directly into our lives.

Paul develops the office structurally. “Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27), he tells the Corinthians, listing eyes, hands, and feet that need each other precisely because no single member can perform the whole task by itself. An eye contributes sight, a foot contributes motion, and the body suffers when either withholds its function or claims sufficiency alone. A hand that becomes an eye adds nothing; a hand that does what hands do sustains the eye’s usefulness. The image supplies a working model for decentralized cooperation, where specialization and mutual dependence outperform any single member acting in isolation.

Wanting what christ wanted

Doing the works of Christ, in the end, depends on wanting what Christ wanted, and scripture doesn't leave that ambiguous. Christ wanted the anointing shared rather than hoarded, suffering entered rather than avoided, and salvation extended to bodies rather than confined to some purer, disembodied realm. That's a claim with a moral demand attached. It asks whether the power available to us, medical, technological, or otherwise, is being distributed the way Christ distributed his own titles and roles, or whether it's being kept as a possession the powerful hold apart from everyone else. Christ is a title anyone can qualify for. It was never claimed to be anyone's alone.