In brief, Kyrios Christos is Greek for the Lord Christ, Christ the Lord, or the Lordship (or Kingship) of Christ. The full expression is Kyrios Iesous Christos: Lord Jesus Christ.
In this post, we’ll therefore reflect on this very basis and core of the Christian faith: the Kingship of Christ and what it emphatically means.
Kyrios
To start with, let’s look at the Greek word Kyrios itself. This is what the BLB (Blue Letter Bible) gives us:
Root Word (Etymology): From kuros (supremacy)
Outline of Biblical Usage:
I. he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
A. the possessor and disposer of a thing
i. the owner; one who has control of the person, the master
ii. in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor
B. is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master
C. this title is given to: God, the Messiah
Strong’s definition (Strong’s G2962): κύριος kýrios, koo’-ree-os; from κῦρος kŷros (supremacy); supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun) controller; by implication, Master (as a respectful title):—God, Lord, master, Sir.
With this in mind, let’s get into the meaning behind the statement Kyrios Christos.
Note : The following is based on Oscar Cullman’s The Early Church – chapter V. The Kingship of Christ and the Church in the New Testament.
Christ rules as king
In the New Testament, the classical expression of the belief in the kingship exercised by Christ is found in all the Scriptures referring to Christ “sitting on the right hand of God” and to the “subjection of all his enemies”.
This follows the prototype of Psalm 110, which is taken as referring to the kingship of Christ:
A Psalm of David.
The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.fn
The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefsfn
over the wide earth.
He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
However, the supreme expression of this belief is to be found in Philippians 2:6, a creed-like early Christian psalm :
“wherefore God also highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
As it stands, God conferred, from a particular moment in time, on Jesus Christ the title “Lord” (Hebrew: Adonai; Greek: Kyrios), which belongs to him (God) alone (Phil. 2:10), meaning that Christ rules as King not only over us men but over the invisible powers in heaven, on earth and under the earth. The “enemies” cited in Psalm 110 refer to the invisible hostile powers.
Christ, ruler of the whole creation
One of the oldest Christian creeds consists of the three words: Kyrios Jesus Christos – Jesus Christ is Lord.
For the first Christians, this meant that Christ was not merely the true ruler of men, as the Roman emperor claimed to be, but the ruler of the whole visible and invisible creation. It is essential to take this into account to grasp the true meaning contained in this first early Christian creed.
In Romans, what Paul calls ‘confessing with the mouth’ also consists of a confession that Jesus is the Kyrios (Rom 10:9). Wherever this short creed (Kyrios Jesus Christos) is elaborated in greater detail, the subjection of the invisible powers to Christ is always mentioned explicitly, as Philippians 2:10 already quoted.
It is to be understood that the subjection of the powers and principalities to Christ was specifically referred to after the ‘sitting on the right hand of God’.
Besides Philippians 2:10, we may mention I Peter 3:22, stating: … “who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him”. To this may be added I Timothy 3:16: ‘seen by angels’.
It should also be noted that in Matthew 28:18, the risen Lord introduces the command to baptize all nations with the words: “all power (πãσα Çovoía) has been given to me in heaven and on earth”.
Christ, the mediator of creation
This belief in the present rule of Christ over all things was the core of the early Christian faith. Moreover, it accords with the fact that in the New Testament, Christ also appears as the mediator of the original divine work of creation: … by him (Christ) were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things and in him all things consist’ (Col. 1:16).
We find the same thought in I Corinthians 8:6 and John 1: “all things were made by him’, and in Hebrews….: “by whom also he made the worlds”.
It is therefore natural to think that at the end of time, when God will create a ‘new heaven and a new earth’, Christ will also be the mediator of that new creation. The final catastrophe of the end-times upon Christ’s second coming, which the early Christians were already awaiting, will be a sovereign act of God just in the same manner as the creative act of Genesis 1 ‘in the beginning’; with a command (I Thess. 4:16) that can only be compared with that first command: ‘Let there be light’.
Christ was the mediator of creation ‘in the beginning’; Christ is to be the mediator of the new creation at the end of time.
The original Christian confession of belief in Christ the ‘Lord’, according to which Christ now rules over the whole creation, visible and invisible, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth has to be understood in this context.
Christ, the head of the church
In Colossians 1:14-17, Christ appears not merely as the creative mediator of all ‘visible and invisible things’ but also as the one who effets the ‘reconciliation’ with God ‘of all things, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven’. And in this wide cosmic setting, we read in verse 18 that Christ is also the head of the body, the Church.
Colossians 1:14-17 is essentially a passage about the preeminence of Christ:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Furthermore, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, we are given a clear insight into the relationship between the Church and creation: ‘he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the Church’ (Eph 1:22). And according to Hebrews 1:14, even the angels are sent out to serve under Christ ‘for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation’.
How beautiful and powerful is that!
There is clearly a relationship between redemption and creation, and pondering upon this brings the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to a new level.
Kyrios Christos: Lord of creation and Lord of the Church
The New Testament relationship between the kingship of Christ and the Church of Christ is founded on the solidarity which binds the whole creation to man. We shouldn’t be surprised therefore, that in Matthew 28:18, when the risen Christ issues the command to establish the Church (which is implicit in the command to baptize all nations), also reminds his disciples of the power over the whole creation which has been given to Him: “all power is given to me in heaven and on earth”.
As Kyrios (Adonai), Christ is, in the first place, Lord of creation.
As basileus (a sovereign, a king), he is King of the Jews (Matt 2:2, 27:11; Mark 15:2, 26, Luke 23:3, 37, John 18:33, 39), King of Israel (Matthew 27:42, Mark 15:32, John 1:49, 12:13), and above all Lord of the Church. And wherever there is resistance to the Roman emperor’s claim to be Kyrios, the title of Kyrios also refers to Christ’s dominion over Israel and the Church.
Moreover, Christ’s kingship covers his rule over creation when he is described as the ‘king of kings and the Lord of lords’ in I Tim 6.15 : “he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords”. And also in Matthew’s Gospel, which emphasizes Christ’s kingship over Israel from the very first chapter onwards, and ends with an unsurpassable emphatic reference to his power over heaven and earth. Here, too, then, we have the same close connection between the kingship of Christ and the Church.
Christ the King
Christ laid the foundation of his kingship in his death and resurrection, through which he secured the victory over the power that are henceforth subject to him.
Even though the final destruction of the enemies is reserved for a future phase, in which the “last enemy”, death, will be destroyed along with other hostile powers (1 Cor 15:24-26), the decisive defeat of death has already been accomplished in the death and resurrection of Christ (2 Tim 1:10). That’s why the Apostle can write : “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55).
It is the risen Lord who tells the disciples that all power has been given to him in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28.18).
Regnum Christi
Note: this post is based on a portion of Oscar Cullmann’s study on The Kingship of Christ and the Church in the New Testament. His complete study revolves around the concept of Regnum Christi (the Kingdom of Christ). Oscar Cullmann intends to discuss the relations between the Regnum Christi and the Church and to illuminate the much-discussed problem of Church and State which is anchored in the very nature of Christianity.
Amen. Amen. Amen.