Matthew 1:22

τοῦτο δὲ … ἵνα πληρωθῇ. ἵνα is to be taken here, and indeed always in such connections, in its strict telic sense. The interest of the evangelist, as of all N. T. writers, in prophecy, was purely religious. For him O. T. oracles had exclusive reference to the events in the life of Jesus by which they were fulfilled. The virgin, ἡ παρθένος, supposed to be present to the eye of the prophet, is the young woman of Nazareth betrothed to Joseph the carpenter, now found to be with child. Ἰδού … Ἐμμανουήλ : in the oracle as here quoted, ἕξει (cf. ἔχουσα, Matthew 1:18), is substituted for λήψεται, and καλέσεις changed into the impersonal καλέσουσι. Emmanuel = “with us God,” implying that God's help will come through the child Jesus. It does not necessarily imply the idea of incarnation.