Good news! According to a recent Harris poll, 93% of all Americans who claim to be Christians also believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. Better news! 27% of non-Christian Americans also believe in the Virgin Birth.
The Church continues to make progress. "I shall build my Church, and the gates of Hell well not withstand it," is what Jesus proclaimed to Peter and the other Apostles. The Church continues to grow throughout the earth, and every day thousands of men and women and children are becoming Christians.
The four Gospels were all written to evangelize different reading audiences. The Gospel of Luke was designed to appeal and be understandable for Greeks. The Gospel of John was written to explain deeper theological issues about Jesus. The Gospel of Mark was probably dictated by Peter the rough unlettered fisherman to his nephew Mark, and is designed to give a quick and simple Gospel for those who are less educated. The Gospel of Matthew is a very elegant and deep presentation of the Gospel to the people of Jesus Himself, the Jews.
And so here in Matthew we constantly read allusions to the Old Testament, and Matthew brings up issues that would have been extremely interesting to the Jewish readers of the first century. Let's dive into this passage!
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
The Jews were intensely interested in genealogy, so Matthew begins with Jesus' genealogy. Furthermore, the Jews were Patriarchal, and would have cared much more about the genealogy of Jesus' supposed father, than the genealogy of Mary (which we find in Luke).
Joseph is called the "son of David" in Matthew 1:20, and his ancestry is given in Matthew 1:1-17...
From a prophetic viewpoint it was very important that Joseph be the adopted father of Jesus, because Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem, and it was Joseph's descent from David that took the Holy Family to Bethlehem, in just the nick of time, in order to be registered for taxation by the Roman empire.
From an evangelism viewpoint, we know that the ancestry of Mary is ACTUALLY the human ancestry of Jesus. But Matthew starts out with Joseph's ancestry as an "entering wedge" to get he Gospel to the Jews. They wanted to know about Jesus "father."
What do we know about Mary, the mother of Jesus?
She was a teen ager, for that would have been the normal age for becoming "pledged to be married."
(See John MacArthur page 16, Matthew Commentary, Vol. 1)
"It is possible that both Joseph and Mary were quite young when they were betrothed. Girls were often betrothed as young as twelve or thirteen, and boys when they were several years older than that. By Jewish custom, a betrothal signified more than an engagement in the modern sense. A Hebrew marriage involved two stages, the hiddushin (betrothal) and the huppah (marriage ceremony). The marriage was almost always arranged by the families of the bride and groom, often without consulting them. A contract was made and was sealed by payment of the mohar, the dowry or bride price, which was paid by the groom or his family to the bride's father. The mohar served to compensate the father for wedding expenses and to provide a type of insurance for the bride in the event the groom became dissatisfied and divorced her. The contract was considered binding as soon as it was made, and the man and woman were considered legally married, even though the marriage ceremony (huppah) and consummation often did not occur until as much as a year later. The betrothal period served as a time of probation and testing of fidelity. During that period the bride and groom usually had little, if any, social contact with each other."
Mary was a descendent of David, like Joseph, but through a different branch of David's family. She had a sister, also named Mary (John 19:25). Elizabeth, the wife of the priest Zacharias, was Mary's cousin. After the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had other children (Matthew 13:54-56).
Matthew immediately clarifies the innocence of Mary, and the reality of the Virgin Birth...
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
"Before they came together." i.e. no sexual relations
"Through the Holy Spirit." She was pregnant by God's power, not man's.
The Virgin Birth is not an optional doctrine. It is not minor. It is essential to the Gospel story. For in order for Jesus to be our Savior He had to be both truly man (to act as the 2nd Adam) and truly God (to be sinless and for his death to have infinite value). (See Luke 1:30-35)
Incidentally, since Mormonism is so strongly in the news this past week, I would like to point out that Mormonism denies the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ. Here are some quotations from the founders of Mormonism:
** Brigham Young (1801-1877) was the successor to Joseph Smith, the founder of the church. He delivered a sermon in 1852 which stated, in part:
"When the Virgin Mary conceive the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family.... Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in Heaven."
He delivered a speech in 1860 which said, in part:
"The birth of the Savior was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood-was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers."
** Prophet Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918) was the 6th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He wrote:
** "Christ is not the Son of the Holy Ghost, but of the Father." Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, Page 18-20.
** "...how are children begotten? I answer just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father. We must come down to the simple fact that God Almighty was the Father of His Son Jesus Christ...God the Eternal Father is literally the father of Jesus Christ." Box Elder Stake Conference, 1914-DEC-20, as quoted in Brigham City Box Elder News, 1915-JAN-28, Page 1 & 2.
** President Ezra Taft Benson, 13th President of the Church (1899-1994) stated:"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the most literal sense. The body in which He performed His mission in the flesh was sired by that same Holy Being we worship as God, our Eternal Father. Jesus was not the son of Joseph, nor was He begotten by the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of the Eternal Father."** Elder Bruce R. McConkie, Ordained Apostle (1915-1985) said:
"God the Father is a perfected, glorified, holy Man, an immortal Personage. And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the Son of God and that designation means what it says." Mormon Doctrine, (1979) Page 742.Satan is attacking the Virgin Birth now, but he began attacking the Virgin Birth long before Jesus was born.
"Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers." Mormon Doctrine, (1979) Page 546.THERE HAVE BEEN MANY COUNTERFEITS.
During Old Testament days there were many religions, both Eastern and Western, which claimed that their gods were virgin born. The Romans taught that Dionysius was virgin born. The Babylonians taught that Tammuz was virgin born. The Buddhists say that Buddha was born of a virgin. The Hindus say that Krishna was born of a virgin.
Unbelieving critical scholars have put forth their challenge to Christianity, and said that Christianity proves itself to be just another religion, and is imitating the virgin birth stories of the Pagan religions.
But the Bible tells us that the false religions are doctrines of demons. Satan knew God's plan for salvation from the fall of the human race, and Satan has been busy sowing counterfeit religions around the world in his opposition to God.
How do you tell a copy from an original? How do you recognize counterfeit money? How do you know if you have a genuine Rolex watch, or a $20 copy from a New York street vendor? How do you know if your sweater is a genuine designer original, or a cheap knock-off? Answer: quality, durability, honest value. Are the lines slightly fuzzy? Does the watch lose time, or stop working after a year? Is the material coming unravelled? Where do the Pagan religions take you? Do they take you to God and a life of joy, or do they plunge you into lust and despair?
From an apologetics viewpoint we Christians should welcome the proliferation of copies. Because where many similar copies exist, the existence of AN ORIGINAL is proved. And Christianity shows itself to be the original.
19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
Joseph was God's choice to be the step-father of Jesus, and Joseph had two excellent qualities:
- 1. Joseph was a righteous man.
- 2. Joseph was a merciful man.
He was righteous, and his righteousness is seen in his decision to divorce his espoused wife Mary, who to his mind must have been unfaithful to him, because she was obviously pregnant.
He was a merciful man in that he did not want to have Mary put to death, as was demanded in the Law of God in Deuteronomy 22:22-24...
man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
- 22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
- 23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her,
- 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the
Back to Matthew chapter one... 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
An angel confirmed the Virgin Birth to Joseph.
Joseph is named the "son of David."Both of these items would have been of great interest to the Jewish readers. Like us today, they were fascinated by angels. And they would have been impressed that Joseph was a descendent of King David.
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
The name Jesus is Greek. It is the Greek form of Joshua. Joshua means: Jehovah is our Savior. Jesus' name was to be an indication of His function: He came to save His people from their sins.
This would have been offensive to the Jews, especially the leaders, who were religious hypocrites and legalists. They thought they were righteous, and did not need a Savior from SIN. They wanted a military savior from Roman rule. They expressed their self-righteousness in John 9:30-34 and 39-41...
- 30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
- 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.
- 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
- 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
- 34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.
- 39 ¶ Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
- 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
- 41 Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
Paul addresses this stumblingblock in I Corinthians 1:18-24.
- 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
- 19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
- 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
- 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
- 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
- 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
- 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
How does the Gospel of the cross appear to you? Are you so self-righteous that it is a stumbling block? Or are you so religiously sophisticated that it seems foolishness? Your reaction to the cross says more about YOU, than it does about the Gospel.
Back to Matthew one... 22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"- which means, "God with us."The Jews would have recognized this prophetic passage immediately as coming from Isaiah 7:14...
- 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
The word "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14 engendered a huge controversy in the 1950's, when the National Council of Churches of the USA brought out the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, and changed the word "virgin" to "young woman." The RSV also altered many other Old Testament Messianic prophecies to make them conflict with the message of the New Testament. The Greek word "parthenos" IS properly translated virgin, and it was chosen by the LXX translators of the 2nd century BC to translate the Hebrew word "almah," virgin. Again, the Virgin Birth was under attack, this time by Liberals who called themselves Christians, but really weren't. If you are a genuine Christian you WILL believe and defend the Virgin Birth of Christ.
Immanuel: Jesus is "God with us." He is the Word made flesh.
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.Finally, two other qualities of Joseph become evident:
- 1. He was obedient.
- 2. He was reverent.
He was obedient to the angel's message from God. He took Mary home as his wife. Secondly, he had no sexual relations with Mary until after she had given birth. This act proved and guaranteed that Jesus was not Joseph's son, but was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, he obediently named the baby Jesus.
Conclusion: Mary and Joseph and the story of the Virgin Birth emphasize two aspects of Christian living which are embodied in the hymn "Trust and Obey."