The Names of Christ
One Person, and a hundred ways to say who He is
No single name could hold Him, so Scripture gives Him many. Each one is a doorway: a need He meets, a truth He embodies, a face of the same Lord. Read them together and you are not collecting titles; you are circling a Person too large for one word, and finding that every name is finally the same gospel said again.
✦ The Words of Christ — not only His names but His own words, every red-letter verse in biblical order →
Jesus (Yeshua, "the LORD saves")
The name given by the angel: "thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). His name is His mission. Salvation is not something He brings; it is who He is.
Immanuel ("God with us")
"they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matthew 1:23). Not God watching from a distance, but God come near, in our flesh, on our side.
Christ (Messiah, "the Anointed One")
"We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ" (John 1:41). The long-promised King, prophet, and priest, anointed by God to set everything right.
The Word (Logos)
"In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God… and the Word was made flesh" (John 1:1, 14). God's own self-expression: to see Jesus is to hear what God has always been saying.
The Lamb of God
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The sacrifice every altar was pointing toward, given once for all.
The Son of Man
His favorite name for Himself (Matthew 8:20), drawn from Daniel's vision of one "like the Son of man" given an everlasting kingdom. Fully one of us, and yet the coming King.
The Son of God
Peter's confession: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Of one substance with the Father, God of God, light of light.
The Good Shepherd
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). The Shepherd who does not flee the wolf but dies for the flock.
The Bread of Life
"I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger" (John 6:35). The one food that finally fills the soul.
The Light of the World
"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness" (John 8:12). The light no darkness has ever put out.
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Not a way, but the way; the road and the destination both.
The Resurrection and the Life
"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). Life is not a thing He gives; it is a Person you have.
The True Vine
"I am the true vine… he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit" (John 15:1). The source of all the life that runs through us.
Wonderful, Counsellor, the Prince of Peace
"his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Isaiah's fourfold name for the child who is also the mighty God.
The Lion of Judah & the Lamb
"the Lion of the tribe of Juda… hath prevailed" (Revelation 5:5) — and John turns to look and sees "a Lamb as it had been slain." The conquering Lion who conquers as a slain Lamb.
King of kings, and Lord of lords
"he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16). Every other crown is on loan from Him.
The Alpha and Omega, the Bright and Morning Star
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (Revelation 22:13); "I am… the bright and morning star" (22:16). The first word and the last, and the dawn after the long night.
Scripture from the King James Version, linked to BibleHub. Companion pages: the names of God and the names of the Holy Spirit.