Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 1:18-25 (not yet posted to semonaudio.com).
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 (Matthew 1:18).
Matthew 1:18 begins with a heading for the narrative to follow:
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise….”
In one of the earliest confessions of faith, the Apostle’s
Creed, the doctrine of the birth of Christ is rightly affirmed as essential to
orthodox faith, confessing him as one “who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary.”
The Biblical foundation for this is found in Matthew 1:18, which
continues, “When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph….”
In those days among the Jews, it was common to have a formal
engagement or espousal agreement between a man and a woman, as a preliminary
step, before they formally entered into marriage.
Matthew adds, “before they came together.” This is, of course,
a discreet way of saying, “before they shared in conjugal intimacy as husband
and wife.” Such intimacy would not have been allowed during the engagement or
betrothal period.
And he continues, “she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost.” I think the language of the KJV here is just right in its ability to be
circumspect and discreet but also plain about the scandalous circumstances. She
and Joseph had not yet come together, and yet she was found to be with child!
Contrast the KJV rendering with the crassness of some modern translations (like
the NIV).
Matthew gives us privileged information. This conception had
come about not by ordinary generation but by extra-ordinary generation, not by
natural means but by supernatural means. This child was conceived “of the Holy
Ghost.”
In Luke’s account he tells us that the angel Gabriel announced
this to Mary even before the miraculous conception, “And the angel
answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The description brings to mind the work of the
Holy Spirit at creation with the Spirit moving upon the face of the waters
(Genesis 1:2).
How did this conception take place? What were the details? We
are not told. It reminds me somewhat of the way the resurrection will be described.
There is not detailed description of how it came about, but just a declaration
that it did come about.
Christ was conceived in the womb of a virgin of the Holy
Spirit. We know this conception came about in such a way that neither Joseph
nor any other man was the natural father, but in such a way that Mary was rightly
called his natural mother. He shared in the fleshly nature of Mary. One medieval
theologian put it this way: When God made the Eve, the first woman, in the
garden, he did so by taking from the rib of Adam. But when the second Adam, the
Lord Jesus Christ, was conceived by God, he did so by taking “the virginal
flesh [of Mary, a daughter of Eve] without seed” (see St. Symeon the New
Theologian, The First Created Man, 96). We might say: The first woman, Eve, was made
without a woman. The true man, Christ, was made without a man.
There is no naturalistic explanation for this. If there was,
it would not be a miracle, which it is!
Today we affirm and defend the doctrine of the supernatural
conception and the virgin birth of Christ. We can affirm with the Apostles’
Creed that we believe “in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary.”
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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