In literary terms, christ figures have little to do with Jesus beyond him being an archetypal example. A christ figure is a character who sacrifices himself for others, and the definition can be very all-encompassing, or, perhaps more accurately, in the scope of literary criticism, it's easy to force many different characters into that mold. For example, both Billy Budd from Melville's Billy Budd, a simpleton who sacrifices himself for his shipmates and his draconian commanders, and Joe Christmas from Faulkner's Light in August, a murderous indigent, are both commonly regarded as christ figures, but they have little in common with the specifics of Jesus' life. Interestingly, most christ figures appear as simpletons, probably because the standard mores of society would prevent them from being sacrificial.