In the Middle East, 2,000 years ago, people didn't have last names, which meant, of course,

that they needed a way to distinguish between people who shared the same name.

One way to solve the problem was by using the name of your hometown, hence Jesus of Nazareth.

Or you might be identified by the name of your father.

So people might have referred to me as Barry, son of Graham.

Although, to be fair, according to most scholars,

there don't seem to have been many Barry's wandering around first century Judea,

so you could probably just go with Barry.

Others were known by their profession.

Paul refers to Alexander the Coppersmith.

Or you might be known by a distinctive nickname, Simon the Zealot, for example.

This potential name confusion explains why, at one point in the Gospels,

there's a reference to Judas, not Escariat.

Because after all, who wants to be confused with that guy?

Other people were identified by adding titles that were specific to them.

Given that there was no shortage at that time of men with the name Jesus, the subject of the

Gospels is often identified by

his given title. He is Jesus Christ. And what a title that is. In the original New

Testament Greek, it's Christos, which is a translation of the Hebrew word, Maschia, from which we get our word

Messiah.

It's a word that means anointed one.

So when we say Jesus Christ, what we're actually saying is Jesus the Messiah, or Jesus

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