Let me begin by saying when one says “Jesus Christ,” they are speaking of “WHO He is and WHAT He is.” JESUS is the “human NAME” that was given to the Son of God at the time of His Incarnation. The angel Gabriel told Joseph that Mary would “bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21; see also verses 22-25 to see the fulfillment of this). CHRIST is His “Divine TITLE” which means “Messiah, Anointed One.” This teaches us that CHRIST was not His “last name,” but that Jesus (His personal human name) was “the Christ” (the Messiah/Anointed One) and thus Jesus speaks of His “humanity” and Christ speaks of Him (being “Chosen of God” to be Israel’s Messiah/King). When Jesus asked His disciples “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15), Simon Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (verse 16). He was saying You (Jesus) are the Christ (Israel’s Messiah), the Son of the living God (God the Son).

It was not until Jesus died, rose again, and ascended to heaven that believers began calling Him “Christ Jesus.” Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and CHRIST” (Acts 2:36). A. J. Pollock writes: “He was both Lord and Christ when on earth, but the titles take on a new significance once He is the ascended glorified One at God’s right hand. When it comes to the titles, ‘Christ Jesus’ in that order, the thought begins with Christ in glory. This expression connects itself with the unfolding of the truths of Christianity in a remarkable way. ‘Redemption…is in Christ Jesus’; ‘the love of God…is in Christ Jesus’; we are ‘sanctified in Christ Jesus’; ‘we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works’; God’s ‘eternal purpose’ is ‘in Christ Jesus’; ‘the high calling of God’ is ‘in Christ Jesus’; the believer’s ‘riches in glory’ are ‘in Christ Jesus.’ And so, the list might be extended with profit. It is a great moment in the life of the believer when his thoughts are centered in glory, and our blessings and standing and joys are connected with ‘Christ Jesus,’ The One who has established Christianity in His own blessed Person. It was not, and could not be, till He took His place on high that the Holy Spirit was given, and the body of Christ be formed upon the earth. It is significant that the Gospels never use these titles in this order.”

I believe it is so important to see “this difference,” for before Christ’s ascension to heaven, a godly Jew spoke of “Jesus the Christ” because He was their “promised Messiah,” but after Christ’s ascension to heaven and the formation of the church (God’s “heavenly people”), believers began to call Him “Christ Jesus.” In fact, the apostle Paul, who never knew Jesus until He had ascended to heaven, used that order (Christ Jesus) nearly every time he spoke of Jesus. This is not to say he never referred to Jesus as “Jesus Christ,” but Paul’s focus was on “Christ glorified” and not on His walk here below as the “lowly Jesus.” By contrast, the apostle John, in his epistles, never writes of Jesus as “Christ Jesus” but as “Jesus Christ.” Unlike Paul, he walked on earth with Jesus as one of His disciples and when inspired to write of him in his letters he is more focused on His humanity and the truth that “God was manifested in the flesh” (see John 1:1, 14; 20:30-31; 1 John 1:1-4; 2:22; 4:1-3; 5:1, 5).

In closing, I’m NOT saying we should never think of our Savior and Lord as “Jesus Christ,” but as a heavenly people we should always keep in mind that it is Christ in the glory that has brought us into the blessings we have. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is IN CHRIST, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” H. A. Ironside had this to say on those two verses, “It is not the incarnate Christ with whom we are linked, it is the resurrected Christ…We do not think of Him merely as the promised Messiah of Israel…He, the risen, exalted Christ, has now become the Head of an altogether new creation.”  (DO)  (655.3)