anointed · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
Lord
κύριοςkurios
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,…
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Titus 3:4-7 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Luke 1:43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
John 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ…
1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of hi…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Luke 2:8-20
The meanest circumstances of Christ's humiliation were all along attended with some discoveries of his glory, to balance them, and take off the offence of them; for even when he humbled himself God did in some measure exalt him and give him earnests of his future exaltation. When we saw him wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, we were tempted to say, "Surely this cannot be the Son of God." But see his birth attended, as it is here, with a choir of angels, and we shall say, "Surely this cannot be the Son of God." But see his birth attended, as it is here, with a choir of angels, and we shall say, "Surely it can be no other than the Son of God, concerning whom it was said, when h…
unto you is born--you shepherds, Israel, mankind [BENGEL]. Compare Isa 9:6, "Unto us a Child is born." It is a birth--"The Word is made flesh" (Joh 1:14). When? "This day." Where? "In the city of David"--in the right line and at the right "spot"; where prophecy bade us look for Him, and faith accordingly expected Him. How dear to us should be these historic moorings of our faith! With the loss of them, all substantial Christianity is lost. By means of them how many have been kept from making shipwreck, and attained to a certain external admiration of Him, ere yet they have fully "beheld His glory."
a Saviour--not One who shall be a Saviour, but "born a Saviour."
Christ the Lord--"magnifi…
A Savior, which is Christ the Lord - A Savior, σωτηρ, the same as Jesus from σωζειν, to make safe, to deliver, preserve, to make alive, thus used by the Septuagint for החיה hecheiah, to cause to escape; used by the same for פלט to confide in, to hope. See the extensive acceptations of the verb in Mintert, who adds under Σωτηρ: "The word properly denotes such a Savior as perfectly frees us from all evil and danger, and is the author of perpetual salvation." On the word Jesus, see Joh 1:29 (note).
Which is Christ. Χριστος, the anointed, from χριω to anoint, the same as משיה Messiah, from משח mashach. This name points out the Savior of the world in his prophetic, regal, and sacerdotal offices:…
The Church Fathers
(Geometer) He marks the time of our Lord's nativity, when he says, To-day, and the place when he adds, In the city of David; and the signs thereof when it follows, And there shall be a sign, &c. Now the Angels bring tidings to the shepherds of the Chief Shepherd, as of a lamb discovered and brought up in a cave.
But that which is in the middle, namely, Christ, has reference to the adoration, and signifies not the nature, but the compound substance of two natures. For on Christ our Saviour we confess the anointing to have been performed, not however figuratively, (as formerly on kings by the oil,) and as if by prophetic grace, nor for the accomplishment of any work, as it is said in Isaiah, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus; (Isa. 45.) who although he was an idolater was said to be anointed, that he might by the decree of Heaven take possession of the whole province of Babylon; but the Saviour as man in the form of a servant, was anointed by the Holy Spirit, as God He Himself by His Holy Spirit anoints those that believe on Him.
Your faith, which has gathered you all here in this large crowd, is well aware that a Savior was born for us today. He was born of the Father always, of his mother once; of the Father without reference to sex, of his mother without the use of it. With the Father, of course, there was no womb to conceive him in; with his mother there was no male embrace to beget him. By the first nativity from the Father nature was preserved. By the second nativity from his mother the seeds of grace were sown. In the former he retained the majesty of the divine substance. In the latter he took on fellowship with us in our human mortality. And the reason he was prepared to come through this latter birth was so that he might become obedient to the death and by dying might conquer death.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Crucifixion — A common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the…
David, City of — (1.) David took from the Jebusites the fortress of Mount Zion. He “dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David” (1 Chr. 11:7). This was the name afterwards given to the castle and royal palace…
Jesus — (1.) Joshua, the son of Nun (Acts 7:45; Heb. 4:8; R.V., “Joshua”). (2.) A Jewish Christian surnamed Justus (Col. 4:11). Je’sus, the proper, as Christ is the official, name of our Lord. To distinguish…
Angels · Announced: The birth of Christ — Announced: The birth of Christ
Anger Of God, The · Averted by Christ — Averted by Christ
Gospel, The · Is good tidings of great joy for all people — Is good tidings of great joy for all people
Human Nature Of Christ, The · Is proved by his: Birth — Is proved by his: Birth
Jesus, The Christ · .Angels appear to the shepherds (in the vicinity of Bethlehem) — .Angels appear to the shepherds (in the vicinity of Bethlehem)
Joy · The gospel, good tidings of — The gospel, good tidings of
Mary · 1. The mother of Jesus — 1. The mother of Jesus
Shepherd · Angels appeared to — Angels appeared to
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
For unto you is born this day,.... Day is here put for a natural day, consisting both of night and day; for it was night when Christ was born, and the angels brought the tidings of it to the shepherds. The particular day, and it may be, month and year, in which Christ was born, cannot be certainly known; but this we may be sure of, it was in the fulness of time, and at the exact, season fixed upon between God and Christ in the council and covenant of peace; and that he was born, not unto, or for the good of angels; for the good angels stand in no need of his incarnation, sufferings, and death, having never fell; and as for the evil angels, a Saviour was never designed and provided for them;…
Luke 2:8-14
Luke 2:8-14
8. And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the fields, [134] and watching by night over their flock. [135] 9. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them: and the glory [136] of the Lord shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear. 10. And the angel said to them, Fear not: for, lo, I announce to you great joy, which shall be to all the people: 11. For this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. 12. And this shall be a sign to you: [137] you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling-bands [138] laid in a manger: 13. And suddenly there was present with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, [139]…
The Messiah (Greek Christos, a translation of Hebrew mashiakh) means “Anointed One” and refers to the coming savior from David’s line (see study note on 1:32-33). As the Good News moved from a Jewish context to the Gentile world, Christians began to use Christos less as a title and more as a name.
