Eric Sammons: Understanding the titles given to Jesus Christ

Many of the titles given to Jesus “have Old Testament connotations. He's called Elijah, Jeremiah, King of Israel, Son of Abraham, Son of David. All these things have connections to the Old Testament. That's something we learn about in the Gospel of St. Matthew. Matthew is writing primarily to Jewish converts, people who have become Christian in the first century; they were Jews. Or, people that were thinking about Christianity from the Jewish background. So he really wanted to tie in that Jesus is that promised Messiah you read about in the Old Testament; here He is," said Eric Sammons, author of books, including “Who Do You Say I Am? Unlocking the 24 Titles Given to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew” (Sophia Institute Press).

Sammons is executive director of Crisis Publications and the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine. Follow him @EricRSammons on Twitter. Listen to a previous Respect Life Radio interview with him: Pope Francis and the Latin Mass conflict.