John Calvin Commentary Matthew 1:16

"and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." — Matthew 1:16 (ASV)

Jesus, who is called Christ. By the designation Christ, Anointed, Matthew points out his office, to inform the readers that this was not a private person, but one divinely anointed to perform the office of Redeemer. What that anointing was, and to what it referred, I will not now illustrate at great length.

Regarding the word itself, it is only necessary to say that after the royal authority was abolished, it began to be applied exclusively to Him from whom they were taught to expect a full recovery of the lost salvation. As long as any splendor of royalty continued in the family of David, the kings were accustomed to be called χριστοί, anointed.⁹⁶

But so that the fearful desolation that followed would not throw the minds of the godly into despair, God was pleased to appropriate the name of Messiah, Anointed, to the Redeemer alone: as is evident from Daniel 9:25-26. The evangelical history everywhere shows that this was an ordinary way of speaking at the time when the Son of God was manifested in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16).

⁹⁶ Every reader of the Bible is familiar with the phrase, Every reader of the Bible is familiar with the phrase, the Lord's anointed, as applied to David and his successors, (as applied to David and his successors, (2 Samuel 19:21; ; Lamentations 4:20.) — .) — Ed.