Six short years having passed, when I returned to my assignment spiritually uplifted and refreshed by the joys of the 1955 London, Paris and Nuremberg assemblies, I prayed to be further enriched by right works, pursuing my purpose in life to stay and complete the preaching of the Kingdom good news at this end of the earth while Armageddon draws on apace.

A few months ago I was given a new assignment as missionary in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. There is much work to be done in this field and it is a real joy to be able to help those of good will to grow in Christian understanding and maturity. I also have the pleasure of visiting the other congregations and isolated publishers from time to time as circuit servant. This is a field where the need is great, and it is grand to be sharing in the spread of the truth. As I write this I too am looking forward to being at the international convention in New York this summer of 1958, and then to return to my assignment here in Malaya.

Questions From Readers

● In Matthew 1:1 we read: “The book of the history of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.” In Romans 3:24 we read: “It is as a free gift that they [the believing sinners] are being declared righteous by his undeserved kindness through the release by the ransom paid by Christ Jesus.” What is the difference between Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus?

The Christian Greek Scriptures open up with the expression Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1 and Mark 1:1. They close with the same expression in Revelation 22:21. The apostle Paul was the one that introduced the expression Christ Jesus, in Romans 3:24, and he is the only Bible writer who uses this expression, except for just two uses of it by the apostle Peter in his first epistle in the King James Version. (1 Pet. 5:10, 14) In the Authorized or King James Version of the Bible the expression Christ Jesus occurs only fifty-four times, whereas the expression Jesus Christ occurs about 184 times, or more than three times as often as Christ Jesus.

The word “Jesus” is a name, meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” The angel told his prospective foster father Joseph: “You must call his name ‘Jesus’, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21) On the other hand, the word “Christ” is a title, meaning “anointed one.” It means the same as Messiah, a word of Hebrew origin. This title Christ or Messiah was used in the prophetic Scriptures before the first year of the Christian Era to foretell the coming of this one whom God would anoint with his spirit to be King of the new world of righteousness, but without directly foretelling his earthly name. (Dan. 9:25, 26; Ps. 2:2) Likewise at his human birth the angel announcer said to the shepherds out in the fields near Bethlehem: “There was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David’s city.” (Luke 2:11) Note the word order, not ‘the Lord Christ,’ but, “Christ the Lord.”

The title Christ could be added to the personal name Jesus after his water baptism and his being anointed with Jehovah’s spirit, at which time he became Christ or the Christ. After Simon Peter made his confession that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus “sternly charged the disciples not to say to anybody that he was the Christ.” (Matt. 16:13-20) When Jesus cast out demons from obsessed Jews and these demons shouted out: “You are the Son of God,” Jesus rebuked them and “he would not permit them to speak, because they knew him to be the Christ.” (Luke 4:41) So, when Jesus was on earth, no one ever called him Jesus Christ. He himself was the only one that referred to his own self as Jesus Christ, and this was only once, privately, when in prayer with his disciples shortly before he was killed. He prayed: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:3.

It is quite evident, therefore, that the expression Jesus Christ, which his apostles took