Chinese Translation of Christ
The English word “Christ” means “the Anointed (受 膏 者),” which corresponds to the Hebrew term “messiah.” In the Textus Receptus New Testament, when the Hebrew term for the Anointed was translated into Greek, apart from a few instances of transliteration, it was mostly rendered as “the Anointed (Greek: χριστός).” In Latin and English translations, the Greek pronunciation “christos” was directly adopted as “Christ.” In the earliest complete Chinese translation, “神 天 圣 书”, the English transliteration “Christ” was adopted and transliterated into Chinese as “基 利 士 督”. In subsequent revisions of the Chinese Union Version (CUV), for the sake of simplification, the four characters “基利士督” were reduced to two characters “基 督”(Jī dū). Therefore, “基督” is a shortened transliteration of the English “christos” or “Christ.” If a direct transliteration of the Hebrew pronunciation from the Textus Receptus is desired, it would be “messiah.” If an equivalent translation of “messiah” is preferred, it would be “the Anointed.” Hence, the term "基督" should indeed no longer appear in the CTRBible. The translators of the CTRBible suggest using an equivalent translation, following the practice of the translators of the Greek Textus Receptus, “Christ” in English should be translated as “受 膏 者 (the anointed).”