Matthew 1:18

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. NOW THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST, [Tischendorf and Tregelles read 'the birth of Christ;' a very ancient reading, but otherwise most insufficiently attested.] WAS ON THIS WISE, (OR 'THUS:') WHEN AS HIS MOTHER, MARY WAS ESPOUSED, [ mneesteutheisees (G3423 ) - RATHER, 'BETROTHED'] - TO JOSEPH, BEFORE THEY CAME TOGETHER, SHE WAS FOUND (OR DISCOVERED TO BE) WITH CHILD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. It was, of course, the fact only that was discovered: the explanation of the fact here given is the Evangelist's own. That the Holy Spirit is a living, conscious Person is plainly implied here, and is elsewhere clearly taught ...

18._Now the birth of Jesus Christ _Matthew does not as yet relate the place or manner of Christ’s birth, but the way in which his heavenly generation was made known to Joseph. First, he says that Mary _was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit _Not that this secret work of God was generally known: but the historian mixes up, with the knowledge of men, (97) the power of the Spirit, which was still unknown. He points out the time: _When she was espoused to Joseph, _and _before they came together _So far as respects conjugal fidelity, from the time that a young woman was betrothed to a man, she was regarded by the Jews as his lawful wife. When a “damsel betrothed to an husband” was convicted of being unchaste, the law condemned both of the guilty parties as adulterers: “the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, becau

18-25 Let us look to the circumstances under which the Son of God entered into this lower world, till we learn to despise the vain honours of this world, when compared with piety and holiness. The mystery of Christ's becoming man is to be adored, not curiously inquired into. It was so ordered that Christ should partake of our nature, yet that he should be pure from the defilement of original sin, which has been communicated to all the race of Adam. Observe, it is the thoughtful, not the unthinking, whom God will guide. God's time to come with instruction to his people, is when they are at a loss. Divine comforts most delight the soul when under the pressure of perplexed thoughts. Joseph is told that Mary should bring forth the Saviour of the world. He was to call his name Jesus, a Saviour. Jesus is the same name with Joshua. And the reason of that name is clear, for those whom Christ sa...

Verse Matthew 1:18. _ESPOUSED TO JOSEPH_] The word μνηστευθεισης, from μνηστευω, to _contract_, or _betroth_, refers to the previous marriage agreement, in which the parties mutually bound themselves to each other; without which, no woman was ever married among the Jews. Among the Hindoos, a woman is espoused often a whole year, and even longer before the marriage takes place. _BEFORE THEY CAME TOGETHER_] The woman was espoused at her own, or her father's house; and, generally, some time elapsed before she was taken home to the house of her husband: Deuteronomy 20:7; Judges 14:7. This custom has been immemorially observed among the inhabitants of Ireland, who have not only

NOW THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST - The circumstances attending his birth. WAS ON THIS WISE - In this manner. ESPOUSED - Betrothed, or engaged to be married. There was commonly an interval of ten or twevle months, among the Jews, between the contract of marriage and the celebration of the nuptials (see Genesis 24:55; Judges 14:8; Deuteronomy 20:7), yet such was the nature of this engagement, that unfaithfulness to each other was deemed adultery. See Deuteronomy 22:25,...

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 1:1 JESUS THE CHRIST BY HUMAN ANCESTRY, (Parallel passage: Luke 3:23.) MATTHEW 1:1 THE BOOK OF THE GENERATION. As St. Matthew was writing only for Jews, and they, by reason of their Old Testament prophecies, looked for the Messiah to be born of a certain family, he begins his Gospel with a pedigree of Jesus. In this he mentions, by way of introduction, the two points to which his countrymen would have special regard—the descent of Jesus from David, the founder of the royal line, him in whose descendants the Ruler of Israel must

NOW THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST,.... The Evangelist having finished the genealogy of Christ, proceeds to give an account of his birth, which includes both his conception and bringing forth; and which he says WAS ON THIS WISE, F1 ΟΥΤΩΣ so, "after this manner", and which was very wonderful and astonishing; WHEN AS, F1 ΓΑΡ, for his mother Mary was found with child,, not of man, no, not of Joseph her husband; Christ had no real father as man, Joseph was only, as was supposed, his father; but OF THE HOLY GHOST, according to Luke 1:35. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee", c. and this was done that the human nature of Christ might be clear of original pollution that so being the immediate produce of the Holy Ghost and without sin, it might be fit for union with the Son of God, and for the office of Mediator he had undertook. When Mary is said to

MATTHEW 1:18 VIhsou/ Cristou/ {B} It is difficult to decide which is the original reading. On the one hand, the prevailing tendency of scribes was to expand either VIhsou/j or Cristo,j by the addition of the other word. The Western reading Cristou/ in Old Latin and Old Syriac witnesses seems to have a certain appropriateness, but it may be an assimilation to e[wj tou/ Cristou/ of the preceding sentence. It can also be argued that in the narrative of his birth one would expect to find the personal name “Jesus,” yet VIhsou/ in W may have been conformed to the following command by the angel (ver....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. The King and the Offer of the Kingdom. Chapter s 1-12. _ 1. Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1 .) 2. From Abraham to David. (Matthew 1:2 .) 3. From David to the Captivity. (Matthew 1:6 .) 4. From the Captivity to the Birth of Christ. (Matthew 1:12) 5. The Birth of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:18 .)_ CHAPTER 1 The first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew is divided into two parts. In the first to the seventeenth verse we find the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and in the last

THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH. In Mt., Joseph has the principal rô le; in Lk., Mary. Six inspired dreams are narrated in Mt., three of them with the angel of Yahweh. Five are in chs. 1 and 2, the sixth in Matthew 27. Early writers like Justin Martyr claimed credence for the virgin birth of Jesus because records of pagan religion were full of similar marvels. Philo is witness for similar Jewish beliefs about the patriarchs. One curious early idea was that Mary conceived by a shaft of Divine light through the ear. Matthew 1:18. Holy Ghost: in the OT sense, the power of God in active exercise. Matthew 1:19. righteous: conscientious in observing the Law, and (yet) not willing, etc. Lk. mentions no scruples and no thought of repudiation....