Translating Χριστός as Messiah instead of Christ?

A.ModerateOne

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Why do modern translations render Χριστός as Messiah instead of Christ so often in the NT?

The Greek word for Messias/Messiah, 'Μεσσίας' is found only twice in the NT, John 1:41 & 4:25.

The Geneva, KJV, ERV, ASV, RSV use Messias/Messiah only the two times, in those two verses, and render Christ for 'Χριστός' in the rest of the NT.

The NRSV translates 'Χριστός' as Messiah 62 times, the REB 59 times and the NET2 3 times. I've tried to find out the reasoning for this but have found none. Anyone know why this is so often done in the modern versions? One possible reason I considered is that the early church was mainly Jewish, so maybe they would be using 'Messiah' in their speech as in John 1:41, 4:25; but, that is not what is written down for us in the NT Greek.
 

CMDRExorcist

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It’s most likely a personal preference of the translators as Christ and Messiah are synonymous. The CSB also renders it as Messiah.

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A.ModerateOne

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It’s most likely a personal preference of the translators as Christ and Messiah are synonymous. The CSB also renders it as Messiah.

View attachment 295598

According to the Merriam-Webster, a synonym refers to words in the same language: "one of two or more words or expressions of the same language that have the same or nearly the same meaning in some or all senses".

Even within the same language, synonyms have varied differences in shades of meaning. Since the Greek text did have separate words for Messiah and Christ, it seems it requires more than the whim of translators, to in modern translations making the change from Christ to Messiah in so many passages. I can't imagine anything other than some change in our culture, similar to the changes based on feminism and gender inclusivity. Both words mean "anointed", but since a literal word for word translation of the OT does not have the word "Messiah" it seems odd to use it in the NT other than for the two references: John 1:41; 4:25.
 
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