Joseph accepts Jesus as his Son Matthew 1:25 | 1505
She al ti el the fa ther of Ze rub ba bel , l 13 Ze rub ba bel the fa ther of Abi hud , Abi hud the fa ther of Eli a kim , Eli a kim the fa ther of Azor ,
14 Azor the fa ther of Za dok , Za dok the fa ther of Akim , Akim the fa ther of Eli hud ,
15 Eli hud the fa ther of El e a zar , El e a zar the fa ther of Mat than , Mat than the fa ther of Ja cob ,
16 and Ja cob the fa ther of Jo seph , the hus band of Mary , m and Mary was the moth er of Jesus who is called the Mes si ah . n
17 Thus there were four teen gen er a tions in all from Abra ham to Da vid , four teen from Da vid to the ex ile to Bab ylon , and four teen from the ex ile to the Mes si ah .
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Mes si ah came about a : His moth er Mary was pledged to be mar ried to Jo seph , but be fore they came to geth er , she was found to be preg nant through the Holy Spir it . o 19 Be cause Jo seph her hus band
1:12 l 1Ch 3:19 ; Ezr 3:2
1:16 m Lk 1:27 n Mt 27:17
1:18 o Lk 1:35
1:19 p Dt 24:1
1:21 q Lk 1:31 r Lk 2:11 ; Ac 5:31 ;
13:23 , 28
1:23 s Isa 7:14 ; 8:8 , 10
1:25 t ver 21 was faith ful to the law , and yet b did not want to ex pose her to pub lic dis grace , he had in mind to di vorce p her qui et ly .
20 But af ter he had con sid ered this , an an gel of the Lord ap peared to him in a dream and said , “ Jo seph son of Da vid , do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife , be cause what is con ceived in her is from the Holy Spir it . 21 She will give birth to a son , and you are to give him the name Jesus , c q be cause he will save his peo ple from their sins .” r
22 All this took place to ful fill what the Lord had said through the proph et : 23 “ The vir gin will con ceive and give birth to a son , and they will call him Im man u el ” d s ( which means “ God with us ”).
24 When Jo seph woke up , he did what the an gel of the Lord had com mand ed him and took Mary home as his wife . 25 But he did not con sum mate their marriage un til she gave birth to a son . And he gave him the name Jesus . t
a
18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this b
19 Or was a righteous man and c
21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua , which means the Lord saves . d
23 Isaiah 7:14
1:16 – 17 The original Greek emphasizes that Mary is the biological parent , preparing the reader for the virgin birth .
APPLICATION 1:1 – 17 The covenantal promise includes all humanity . Matthew shows us that we have another set of roots — roots of faith . Once a person becomes a Christian , he or she is immediately adopted into a family of faith that has a long and well- documented genealogy .
1:18 – 19 The marriage customs of Jewish culture at that time usually included two basic stages of the relationship , the betrothal and the wedding . The betrothal stage involved a legally binding contract and could only be broken by a formal process of divorce . In a formal ceremony about a year after the betrothal , the wedding took place . 1:20 – 21 The angel dramatically announces to Joseph in a dream that the conception of the child is from the Holy Spirit . Here at the beginning of the NT age , the Holy Spirit plays a crucial role . Jesus Messiah is God incarnate , whose miraculous conception and origin are only explained through the work of God the Holy Spirit .
The name Jesus was popular in Judaism of the first century , given to sons as a symbolic hope for Yahweh ’ s anticipated sending of salvation . Many expected a messiah who would save Israel from Roman oppression . The angel draws on a less popular theme : salvation from sin . 1:22 – 23 At the time of Ahaz ( 734 BC ) Isaiah prophesied that a woman who was a virgin would bear a son named Immanuel . Since Isaiah ’ s prophecy was first fulfilled in his time ( Isa 7:16 ), this prophecy
UNCORRECTED PROOF
is fulfilled in a more incredible way with Jesus . In Isaiah the reference is to a woman who had yet to bear a child , but Matthew clarifies that not only had Mary not yet born a child , she had also never had a sexual experience . So Matthew declares that Jesus ultimately fulfills the prophecy of Isa 7:14 . 1:24 – 25 When Joseph awakes from his sleep , he is obedient to the angel ’ s directive and carries out the second phase of the marital process by engaging in the formal wedding ceremony . Matthew emphasizes Joseph ’ s remarkable character . Not only is Mary seen as a godly woman , but Joseph takes the lead in carrying out the angel ’ s instructions .
1:18 – 25 The explicit nature of the role of the Holy Spirit in this passage enables us to begin to see the unfolding revelation of God throughout Scripture . This activity of the Spirit is more plain in the expansion of the church in the book of Acts and in the teaching of later NT authors , but we begin to see it come into play with the conception and birth of Jesus Messiah .
What a privilege and responsibility we now have to live at this stage of history . In their obedience to the work of the Spirit , young Joseph and Mary give us a precursor of how godly relationships can be pure and characterized by serving one another . Today , that is the real basis on which we can pursue a godly marriage and family and , indeed , see the transformation of any of our relationships , both within and outside the church , through the transforming work of God ’ s Spirit .